Colorado Rockies: the importance of a good bullpen in the postseason

Entering Monday, the Colorado Rockies have a bullpen ERA of 4.36 on the season, which is 17th in baseball. However, in the months of August and September, their bullpen ERA has been 4.04. That success will be something that the Rockies will need in the postseason.

The Colorado Rockies bullpen has performed much better since the beginning of August. Going into October, this is something that the Rockies will rely on a bit more. Teams that do well often rely on it for the whole season. Let’s look at the postseason teams in the past ten seasons (since 2008).

Playoff teams in 2008

In 2008, there were only eight playoff teams as there, of course, was no second Wild Card at the time. None of the playoff teams had a bullpen ERA of 4.13 (the MLB average bullpen ERA was 4.09).

The two World Series teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays, were 2nd and 5th in baseball in bullpen ERA at 3.22 and 3.55, respectively.

2009

Of the eight playoff teams, none of the playoff teams had a bullpen ERA higher than the Rockies 4.53 ERA, which was 24th in baseball (4.08 was league average).

The two teams who made it to the World Series were the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. Both were tied for 13th in baseball with a 3.91 ERA.