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Last season, fans of all shapes and sizes marveled at the Kansas City Royals‘ shutdown bullpen. In fact, many say it was the main reason the team was 90 feet away from a World Series last year. So it had to be impossible for that unit to get even better in 2015, right?
Think again.
This Royals bullpen is looking like one of the best of all time out of the gate, as they’ve allowed a run in just three separate innings this season and hold onto a collective ERA of 0.73 over 62 innings. Those are video game numbers, and the Royals are putting them up on a nightly basis.
The key to their success is their depth. This becomes obvious when you think about the fact that the bullpen has been able to do this without closer Greg Holland for most of the season. Once he comes back, they could be even better.
With former setup man/closer Ryan Madson added to their middle relief corps, this bullpen could be truly unstoppable. It has actually gotten to the point where if the Royals lead after six innings, they don’t lose. They’re taking the bullpen’s role to a whole new level.
This is huge for another reason: It takes pressure off of starting pitchers. While it may be hard for them to realize it in the moment, some pressure has to be taken off starting pitchers in Kansas City knowing that the bullpen has their backs even if they get into trouble late.
Just when everybody was ready to write the Royals off again this season, the team stormed out to a 7-0 record and now are one of the best teams in baseball. You better believe that’s due in large part to the complete and total domination of their bullpen.
