Dodgers: Reviewing the Bullpen’s May Performance

The Dodgers are off to their hottest start in years. They are on track to eclipse the 100 win mark for the second time in three seasons. Every part of the team seems to be clicking on all cylinders.

Well, every part of the team except for the bullpen. After a below average April, the bullpen managed to regress even more during the month of May.

Here, we will take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of May for the Los Angeles bullpen.

In April the bullpen was used heavily. No starter eclipsed 30 innings of work in April. That was used as a pass for the bullpen’s underwhelming performance. The starters often left them to work multiple innings in a large number of games. So fans were willing to give them a second chance in May.

The starters in May were absolutely dominant. After no pitcher reached 30 innings in April, three pitchers eclipsed that mark while Kent Maeda came one out short of reaching 30 innings. Hyun Jin Ryu was masterful all of May and rarely even gave the bullpen (other than Kenley) the opportunity to pitch in the same game as him.

Even with the starters finally lifting their own weight, the bullpen still managed to pitch even worse than they did in April. The excuse that they had no rest was now gone. However, their poor performance was still present. There were some bright spots, but overall the bullpen gave every fan anxiety when they entered the game.