Not only do most teams have closers with very defined roles, but it's probably also true that in this day and age of monitoring pitch counts, more teams have a better overall bullpen than teams from >35 years ago.
I absolutely fondly recall the days of starters having more complete games like you, but the best explanation I've heard from modern-era managers is -- even forgetting about pitch counts -- they have to weigh whether or not they think the 107th pitch from their starter in the 8th inning is going to be better than the 1st pitch from a quality, rested reliever.
Replies to: "It might be fair to say that teams have better relievers now, though."
- I remember when a 100 MPH MLB pitch was a rare thing, not so much any more. [LINK]
- LanceManion - 8:25am 7/10/25
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- Excellent post. You can throw it 103 but if there is no movement might as well be 90 [NT] - Frankx - 3:36pm 7/10/25
- Noticed this during the college World Series playoffs - Nigel Tufnel - 12:00pm 7/10/25
- watched a documentary that mentioned where the ball is clocked makes a huge difference in the actual - WestCoastIrishFan - 11:09am 7/10/25
- Someone did a conversion of Nolan Ryan's peak fastball by today's standards. - jakers - 3:12pm 7/10/25
- I remember when pitchers finished games and had long careers - Curly1918 - 9:00am 7/10/25
- i remember when dizzy & daffy dean (brothers) pitched all 7 games of the world series for st. louis. [NT]
- und67 - 10:50am 7/10/25
- I remember when you could watch a game on TV w/o all the insufferable commercials. - ELP - 4:42pm 7/10/25
- A bit before my time but I did watch Denny McLain win 31 games and NO ONE will ever do that again [NT]
[LINK]
- Curly1918 - 11:25am 7/10/25
- Who can forget Palmer, Cuellar, McNally and Dobson? - MarkHarman - 1:52pm 7/10/25
- Yep, and you can even look more recently. - jakers - 11:41am 7/10/25
- It might be fair to say that teams have better relievers now, though. - jakers - 10:44am 7/10/25
- Yes! Billy Martin was famous partially for his pitchers going 9 innings. I remember he took the A's - THEISMANCARR - 10:25am 7/10/25
- Load management in all sports dilutes the product. But the $$ is so large, hard to not do it. [NT] - LanceManion - 9:42am 7/10/25
- i remember when dizzy & daffy dean (brothers) pitched all 7 games of the world series for st. louis. [NT]
- und67 - 10:50am 7/10/25