A new terminology has entered baseball vernacular: "bullpenning."
It started with a phone call ... to the bullpen.
Cubs fans got a major dose of it during the team's run to the 2016 World Series title, especially when manager Joe Maddon pulled starter Kyle Hendricks with two outs in the fifth inning of Game 7 and his team leading 5-1.
In the end, everything worked out for the Cubs, and the practice has taken on new life during the current postseason. Entering Game 3 of the 2017 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and Dodgers on Tuesday night, only one pitcher _ Justin Verlander of the Astros _ had recorded a complete game during the postseason, and most starters aren't making it past the sixth inning.
Managers are letting their bullpens do the heavy lifting.
"The mentality has shifted," manager Joe Maddon said before Game 3 at Wrigley Field. "But in order to do that, you have to have certain things in place ... to make that work."
It's a new way of life for starting pitchers and they are accepting of it, if not particularly fond of the trend. The longest playoff stint by a Cubs starter entering Tuesday was Hendricks' seven-inning outing in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Nationals.
"That is how the game is going _ it's going bullpenning now, as they're calling it," said Hendricks, who was on the mound for the Cubs to open Game 3. "But from a starter's point of view, you still hope you can get into the eighth (or) ninth inning. If you're throwing well enough, the manager will still let you go that deep into the game. Our focus is keep it simple, make your pitches when you're out there, and whenever they come to get you, you're done."
Jake Arrieta, who is scheduled to start for the Cubs in Game 4 on Wednesday night, said he maintains the same mindset he's had with each start of his career: Pitch well and you stay in the game, no matter the time of year.
"It's just a matter of how long you remain effective, especially in a situation like this in the NLCS," Arrieta said. "We're not going to take many chances. If you're effective and you're proving that you can stay out there as the game progresses, second, third time through the order, then (Maddon) will let us continue to go. But if that's not the case, he's probably going to make a move."
The way rosters are constructed, with specialists for seemingly each latter inning until teams reach their closers, the temptation is strong for managers to take out starters at the first hint of trouble.
Of course, the main part of the formula is a bullpen talented enough to bring games home.
"It depends on your bullpen," Maddon said. "We're most effective when we get our starters more deeply into the game. There are other teams that argue because of the configuration of their bullpen, but I like when Jon Lester goes six-plus innings, I like when (Jose) Quintana goes six-plus ... and, of course, Kyle (on Tuesday). I think that sets us up better in the latter part of the game just based on how we're built."
