It’s no secret that the Washington Nationals had a bullpen problem for the first half of last season. Their relief corps entered play on July 16 with just 251.1 innings pitched — the fewest in baseball — yet had allowed the second-most homers in the NL (46) and owned a staggering .825 OPS against.
It was on that day, however, when the front office acquired Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from the Oakland A’s. Two weeks later, the Nats picked up Brandon Kintzler in a trade deadline deal with the Minnesota Twins to round out a new-look late-inning trio.