Have you been watching the Wild Card round of the playoffs? The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in their two games have combined for three blown-saves. Two of which led to losses for each team. You just can’t make this up.

The Atlanta Braves had one of the best bullpens in April, but it appears the armchair managers didn’t like the decision yesterday in a 3-1 game to go to lefty Dylan Lee to face lefties Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. They both homered and the 3-1 lead disappeared in less than a two minute warning.

Just two days ago, some were calling Walt Weiss the frontrunner for the Manager of the Year award. A day later, he is being called a “dope” and other 4-letter words on social media. That is how quickly sentiment changes in sports. What have you done for me lately?

When offseason acquisitions start for the Washington Nationals, rebuilding the bullpen (again) might start with a bulldozer. With October aspirations per pitcher Cade Cavalli, you better build your April bullpen to carry you into October. Nothing is worse than a blown-save that costs you a game.

Sometimes the issue with relief pitchers has nothing to do with their arm, repertoire, movement or velocity. Rather the issue is channeling their heartbeat, their breathing, and the amygdala in their brain. Yes, the amygdala. It is small and almond-shaped, and deep inside the human brain’s limbic system that controls nervousness, and fear during stressful situations. Signs of uneven breathing, rapid heartbeat, and profuse sweating are all signs. The pitcher grips the ball too tight or jerks his arm. All of a sudden the pitcher is missing his mark. They say you never want a surgeon who can’t handle the pressure.

This is where baseball separates itself from so many of the other sports. There is nothing like it. You want players who live for those big moments not the players who shrink in them. In Lee’s career just in the regular season per Baseball Reference has a .589 OPS in low leverage, .616 in medium leverage, and a .712 OPS in high leverage in his career. He has a career 7.81 FIP in the postseason.

When you look at odds, a pitcher has the odds in his favor until he cannot control his heartbeat. The best hitters are usually hitting into outs, on average, 70 percent of the time. As Ryan Zimmerman, Mr. Walk-Off, used to say, “The pressure is on the pitcher. He’s supposed to get me out.” That is where it begins. That Juan Soto mentality was how he approached Josh Hader, and he sat on his pitch with bases loaded, 7-years ago today, and Soto didn’t swing for the fences, he was swinging for a hit. Think about his age at the time, 20, and how mature he was at the time.

When you look at the game today, Hader is considered one of the best relief pitchers (closers) in the game of baseball. On this day, it was a hit-by-pitch, a bloop, a walk, and clutch single that bounced the right way to change the fortunes of a team.

That 2019 Washington Nationals bullpen was horrific until crunch time in the postseason. In the regular season, they finished with 29 blown-saves (2nd most in MLB) and a 5.68 ERA (2nd worse in MLB). The Nats 2026 bullpen had a 4.99 ERA in comparison, and yes, 42 blown-saves. What the Nationals did in 2019 was to use their starting pitchers as relievers on days they weren’t starting, and used there three best relievers in Daniel Hudson, Sean Doolittle, and Wander Suero in high leverage. They weren’t using Tanner Rainey in high leverage spots. The strategy paid off.

How the Nationals build this 2027 bullpen will be a top priority for president of baseball operations, Paul Toboni. Yesterday in an interview on 106.7 The Fan radio, Toboni took full blame for the failures of the bullpen.

Last week, Toboni said that if the team didn’t have the 24-losses from the 42 blown-saves they might have been a playoff team. That math checks out.

Beyond Erik Tolman, Orlando Ribalta, Will Dion, Brad Lord, Jack Sinclair, and Riley Cornelio, who else would compete for a bullpen spot? Maybe PJ Poulin if healthy. Do you turn Jarlin Susana into a bullpen arm? What about Josiah Gray whose final appearance of 2026 was a save for the Nats. So many questions and so few answers. The free agent market for relievers is thin.

The Nats ran their bullpen with a closer by committee system. That doesn’t work. They had 16 relievers who earned saves during the season, one from the MLB record of 17 set last year by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

What will Toboni do?

Photo by Steve Mears/Nats.Talk