Clay Holmes was one of baseball's best closers for the first six weeks of the season. The right-hander didn't allow an earned run in his first 20 appearances for the New York Yankees. He gave up runs in just two of his first 30 games. He was a stable presence where stability is paramount.
That seems like a very long time ago.
A summer of disappointing results culminated in Holmes losing the closer job after giving up a walk-off grand slam in a loss to the Texas Rangers earlier this month.
Every front office's goal is to assemble a lights-out relief corps with fixed roles and late-inning dominance heading into the postseason. But relievers -- and, therefore, bullpens -- can be volatile. Only a few clubs manage to achieve that goal.
With less than two weeks left in the 2024 season, the Yankees aren't one of them. Manager Aaron Boone has not designated a closer as his team continues batting for the American League East title. Boone said the club is taking a "creative" approach for the game's final outs.
"In a perfect world, I guess maybe you have [set roles]," Boone said. "But that's not always the reality. The reality I'm dealing with is I feel like we have really good pitchers down there and my job, our job, is to get them in the best positions to hopefully impact us winning games."
This year, the list of top bullpens includes the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves. All but the Braves, who are fighting for the final National League wild card, are a virtual lock to reach the postseason (the Brewers clinched the NL Central title Wednesday). Each features a sturdy bridge to an elite closer.
Then there are teams with championship aspirations and no such arrangement. The Yankees are one, as are the Baltimore Orioles, their AL East rivals, and the Kansas City Royals, a team they might encounter in the division series. In Queens, the New York Mets' relief corps is peaking after a midseason overhaul and Edwin Díaz's return to previous form, but for much of the season it has been an Achilles' heel.
Teams without premium bullpens have made deep October runs and won championships. Relievers can get hot, and they can fall apart. Then there's usage. The postseason schedule allows clubs to deploy pitchers more aggressively. Utilizing starters as relievers and relying on just a few relievers in tight games has become common. But carrying a dominant bullpen into the postseason is always preferable.
Here's a closer look at some of those bullpens with question marks as October looms -- and what some of the answers might be.