Relievers run baseball. Their usage in the big leagues sits around 41% during the regular season, then jumps to 52% in the postseason. At the trade deadline, teams scramble to find them.
Come down to the Cape, and the principle is the same.
There’s no trade deadline in the CCBL, but fresh arms are constantly coming and going. Y-D has used 58 players this summer, including 32 pitchers. Sixteen remain on the current roster.
After a 12-9 loss to Harwich in Game 1 of the East Division Championship Series, when Y-D’s relievers surrendered eight runs and the staff allowed a season-worst six homers, the Red Sox need to piece together a solution with their season on the line.
“It’s hard right now,” Y-D pitching coach Eric Beattie said. “We’ve got some guys that have come in, trying to make some adjustments, and we’re also trying to figure out who they are and what puts them in the right spot. It’s weird in that way in this league, where you have guys who’ve just come in in the last two weeks, and they’re learning us, while we’re learning them.”
Y-D’s bullpen was dominant early, posting a league-best 1.74 ERA through 17 games and holding opponents below .100 with runners in scoring position.
That dominance hasn’t carried into the postseason.
Y-D’s relievers have allowed 18 earned runs across 19 2/3 innings in four playoff games. They’ve surrendered 10 homers — one fewer than the 11 they allowed across the entire 40-game regular season.
“Everybody’s got to go out there and do their job, and do a better job of focusing on the next pitch,” Beattie said. “The next pitch is always the most important pitch that we throw throughout our whole career.”
There is reason for hope. Friday’s Game 1 loss to Harwich looked similar to Tuesday’s Game 1 loss to Chatham: rough pitching followed by a late offensive surge. Y-D responded to that loss by winning two straight to advance.
Beattie’s message Friday was just as simple.
“You know what? We’re all going to go to bed tonight,” Beattie said. “We’re going to wake up tomorrow. We’re going to be 0-0, and are looking to go 1-0 tomorrow.”
With the season on the line at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Zach Robinson (Cincinnati) projected to start Game 2, it’s all arms on deck.
Connor Hamilton, Evan Hoeckele, Joe O’Regan, Kadan Roach and Peyton Robidoux all pitched Friday and are unlikely to be available. Four other arms will have one day of rest, Peyton Rodgers and Brock Ketelsen will have two, and four others will have at least three.
There’s no tomorrow to save an arm for. Y-D just has to find enough of them to get to Sunday
