The Milwaukee Brewers were crowned World Series champions on Wednesday after beating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games. The Cleveland Guardians had lost to the Rays in the American League Championship Series.
Before taking the Fall Classic on Wednesday, the Brewers emptied their bullpen on Tuesday’s Game 4 loss. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt found himself in a similar situation in Game 6 of the ALCS, when he was 3-1 down entering the seventh frame but with his bullpen already running on fumes after a long postseason.
It was all part of the Tanner Bibee controversy. A large contingent of people, fans, and members of the media said that Vogt should have just started the right-hander, who posted a 4.36 ERA in the regular season, in Game 4 or 6 to reach the late stages with a fresher bullpen. Others, however, didn’t trust the young veteran because of his home run tendencies and rough second half.
Vogt opened both Game 4 and 6 with Shawn Armstrong. In the former, he used Foster Griffin as a bulk reliever, while the latter was more of a traditional bullpen game with no ‘long’ guy. Bibee wasn’t used in either contest, as Vogt suggested that he was saving him for a potential extra-inning scenario in which he needed length.
Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes can’t believe, to this day, that Bibee wasn’t used in the ALCS. “I still wonder why he didn’t start game 4 or 6,” he said. “I know you’ve got to have a guy at the back end if the thing goes 15 innings, but boy, oh, boy, I don’t know.”
“I still think they could have fit him in for Game 4 or Game 6. I understand that they wanted to get more outs than just if they had used Bibee in an opener’s role. You get more than four or five outs from him, and that’s why they kept him in reserve. But I still think that was a missed opportunity,” Hoynes said.
Vogt might say he had a plan for Bibee, but he didn’t appear to fully trust him to take the ball against a solid team like the Rays in the postseason. The righty had been shaky in his lone game vs. the Chicago White Sox, and his second-half ERA was over 5.00.
Bibee hasn’t spoken publicly after the Guardians’ elimination, so it’s hard to know how he felt about the events that occurred in the postseason in Cleveland and, to be specific, the way Vogt handled it all. However, he is expected back in spring training and has a rotation spot locked up, at least during the regular season.
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