MLB: Top 5 relievers in the AL and NL Championship Series

With starting pitchers exiting early, relievers are taking over the MLB postseason. These are the top five relief aces remaining in the playoffs.

When it comes to the playoffs, relievers are the new starters. Managers have quicker hooks in the postseason when their starting pitchers just aren’t getting it done. The margin of error is too slim to let a struggling pitcher work through a bad day.

During the regular season, managers require length from their starters. For example, Yankees pitchers threw 1448.2 innings in the regular season and 903.1 of them were thrown by starting pitchers, which comes to 62.4%. In their six playoff games, Yankees starters have thrown only 27.1 of the 56 innings the staff has pitched, which works out to 48.8%.

While it’s true that managers just can’t afford to leave a struggling starter in a playoff game, there’s another reason for the increased workload of bullpens. These relievers are seriously good. The remaining playoff teams have some of the most outstanding pitchers in baseball working out of their respective bullpens. What follows are the five best relief pitchers we’ll see in the upcoming AL and NL Championship Series.