A starter can dominate for six innings and still leave the hardest outs undecided. For Samuel Coquillard, that late-game uncertainty raises an important postseason question: who gets the ball when a strong start is no longer enough?
The Los Angeles Dodgers enter the 2026 postseason with a rotation built around Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow. Yet October rarely allows a team to rely exclusively on starting pitching. Close games, difficult matchups, shorter series, and the possibility of elimination can change how teams use pitchers and how long they stick to traditional roles.
That makes the bullpen much more than a supporting part of a playoff roster.
October Changes the Meaning of a Quality Start
During the regular season, six strong innings from a starter can represent exactly what a team needs.
The postseason changes the calculation.
A manager may have less patience when a starter encounters trouble because every inning carries greater consequences. Waiting for a pitcher to work through a difficult stretch can mean allowing a close playoff game to change before the bullpen enters.
That does not diminish the importance of starting pitching.
Strong starters still provide one of baseball’s greatest postseason advantages. They can limit exposure to weaker portions of the bullpen and prevent opponents from repeatedly seeing favorable matchups.
The difference is that October makes the transition from starter to reliever especially important.
The Most Important Outs May Come Before the Ninth
Baseball traditionally associates the closer with the final three outs.
Postseason strategy can make that structure less rigid.
Imagine a team leading by one run in the seventh inning while the opponent’s strongest hitters are approaching. Saving the best available reliever exclusively for the ninth may mean allowing a less effective option to face the most dangerous portion of the lineup.
October encourages managers to think about leverage rather than inning numbers.
The most serious situation might occur in the seventh, eighth, or ninth. It might even appear in the sixth if a starter leaves runners on base with the middle of the opposing lineup coming up.
That uncertainty rewards bullpens with several pitchers capable of handling pressure.
Matchups Can Become More Important
A postseason series allows teams to study the same opponent repeatedly.
That creates opportunities for highly specific bullpen decisions.
Managers can consider which hitters handle certain pitch types well, whether a batter performs differently against left-handed or right-handed pitching, and which relievers are best suited to particular portions of a lineup.
A reliever may therefore enter because of the three hitters scheduled to bat rather than because it happens to be the eighth inning. The next night, that same pitcher could appear at an entirely different point in the game.
Flexible bullpens give managers more ways to respond to the situation rather than forcing every game into an identical late-inning formula.
Starting Pitchers Can Become Relief Options
One of October’s most interesting pitching developments occurs when starters become available from the bullpen.
A playoff roster generally doesn’t need as many starting pitchers as a 162-game regular season. Off days between games also create additional opportunities for teams to use pitchers differently.
A starter not scheduled to start may suddenly become an intriguing relief option.
There are potential advantages.
Starting pitchers are accustomed to facing strong major-league lineups and may be capable of covering multiple innings. Their presence can also give a manager another option when a traditional reliever is unavailable or a game extends beyond the expected bullpen plan.
The transition is not always simple, however.
Relievers prepare differently, often with much less notice. A starter accustomed to a detailed pregame routine may need to adjust to warming up quickly and entering with runners already on base.
A Deep Bullpen Protects Against the Unexpected
Postseason games rarely follow a perfect script.
A starter may struggle early. A game may go into extra innings. A reliever who was expected to cover the eighth could require too many pitches the night before.
Depth becomes important because managers need alternatives.
A bullpen built around only two dependable pitchers can become vulnerable during consecutive close games. Even dominant relievers cannot reasonably handle every high-pressure inning throughout a long postseason run.
Multiple trustworthy options allow workloads to be distributed. They also give managers flexibility when a matchup develops differently than expected. The value of depth becomes particularly visible when the original plan fails.
The Dodgers Have Several Possible Late-Inning Paths
Los Angeles enters October with unusual flexibility in its relief planning.
MLB has reported that the Dodgers may use some pitchers who spent much of the regular season as starters in relief, while the club has also been evaluating several possibilities for high-leverage innings. Manager Dave Roberts has indicated that matchup considerations could influence who handles the final outs rather than automatically assigning every save situation to one pitcher.
That approach illustrates a broader postseason reality.
The title of “closer” can matter less than having several pitchers capable of recording difficult outs.
A manager who trusts multiple arms does not have to preserve one pitcher for a situation that may never arrive.
Short Series Magnify Bullpen Decisions
The regular season provides time for mistakes to become relatively small parts of a much larger schedule.
A playoff series does not offer the same margin.
One poorly managed inning can influence an entire best-of-five series. A reliever who escapes a bases-loaded situation can have an equally significant effect in the opposite direction.
That pressure makes bullpen decisions some of the most closely examined choices of October.
Managers must weigh several questions quickly:
- How much longer can the starter remain effective?
- Which hitters are coming up?
- Which relievers are rested?
- Could the game reach extra innings?
- Will a pitcher used tonight also be needed tomorrow?
There may not be one objectively perfect answer.
The goal is to create the best available matchup without leaving the team unprepared for what could happen later.
Bullpen Momentum Can Change Quickly
Relief pitching is especially vulnerable to small samples.
A reliever may face only a handful of hitters in an appearance. One misplaced pitch can transform an otherwise strong outing into a difficult one.
Postseason results can therefore change perceptions quickly.
A pitcher who struggled during parts of the regular season may find the right mechanics or command at the ideal time. Another who performed consistently for months may encounter a difficult matchup in October.
Teams have to balance recent performance with the larger body of evidence they have collected throughout the season.
React too slowly, and an ineffective pitcher may receive another critical opportunity.
React too quickly, and a team can abandon a reliable option because of one bad inning.
Bullpen Success Depends on More Than the Pitchers
Late-inning performance also involves preparation and communication.
Catchers need to understand how each reliever wants to attack hitters. Coaches must communicate roles that may change from game to game. Pitchers need to know whether they should prepare for a clean inning or could enter with runners already on base.
Defensive positioning matters as well.
A reliever can make the desired pitch and still need a well-positioned defender to convert contact into an out.
The bullpen may receive the statistical result, but postseason run prevention remains a team effort.
Finishing Games Is Its Own October Challenge
A dominant rotation can establish control of a postseason series.
It cannot guarantee the outcome.
The later innings create different demands, particularly when opposing teams become aggressive with pinch hitters, baserunners, and matchup decisions. Managers respond with their own substitutions, and a game that looked straightforward in the fifth inning can become tactically complicated by the eighth.
That is why bullpen depth matters so much in October.
The strongest postseason pitching staffs are not necessarily those that follow the same formula every night. They are the ones capable of adapting when the expected formula stops fitting the game.
Starting pitching can provide the foundation for a championship run. The bullpen often determines whether that foundation survives the final nine outs.