(Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers)

by Cary Osborne

The 2018 postseason brought us the term “bullpenning.” And the 2018 season brought us the term “opener.”

Starting pitcher usage is changing at a rapid rate. On the macro, it’s true for Major League Baseball. And on the micro, it’s also the case for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

For the first time in club history — dating back to 1890 — the Dodgers didn’t have a complete game. The Dodgers also haven’t had a 200-inning starter since 2015 — when Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke both eclipsed the mark. The Dodgers have also had only one pitcher reach 30 starts in the last three seasons — Kenta Maeda in 2016.

But that’s just the start of things that are telling about how less starting pitching is being used in baseball today.

There were 42 complete games in the Majors in 2018 — an all-time low. Just two years ago, the number was 83, which is the third lowest number all time.

Over the last five seasons, the drop in complete games has been steady and also coincides with a decrease in the average innings pitched per start.

Though the Dodgers have seen a steady fall in complete games, they saw their highest innings per start since 2015 in 2018.

On top of the reduction in complete games and innings per start is the huge reduction in 100-pitch games by a starter.

In 2018, there were 1,225 games in which a starter threw at least 100 pitches (according to Baseball Reference). That’s down from 1,576 in 2017 and 1,737 in 2016.

The Dodgers had 25 games in which their starters threw at least 100 pitches in a game in 2018. In 2015, that number was 54. In 2014, it was 80 — or a shade under half of their games.

Is less usage out of starters a successful strategy?

It’s debatable, but there is evidence that shows teams had to do something different to combat offense because starters generally are having less success as their pitch count climbs to triple digits.

From 2014 to 2017, the Major League OPS vs. pitchers at the 91–106 pitch mark rose every year from .706 in 2014, .730 in 2015, .768 in 2016 and .786 in 2017.

In 2018, with fewer starters getting that deep in games, the OPS fell to .735.

The Dodgers were third best in the Majors at the 91–106 mark, limiting opposing hitters to a .567 OPS — a considerable tumble from .650 in 2017. (The Dodgers also had the seventh least amount of games in the Majors where a pitcher threw at least 91 pitches.) Five years ago, Dodger starters were allowing a .789 OPS in pitches 91–106.

As for the postseason, the Major League starters usage numbers are more extreme.

In 2018, an all-time high 49.7 percent of all postseason innings were thrown by relievers — up from the previous high of 46.5 percent set in 2017.

Starting pitchers averaged 4.68 innings per pitched in the 2018 postseason, nearly an inning less than they did five years ago.

However, Dodger pitchers averaged nearly an inning more than the Major League average in 2018, at 5.46 innings pitched, more than 2/3 an inning more than they got out of starters in 2017, who averaged 4.76 innings per start.

Dodger relievers were in for 42.5 percent of the Dodger 2018 postseason innings.

It’s hard to say what works best — more usage from starters or less. In 2018, Cleveland led the Majors in innings by starters and made the postseason. Oakland ranked 27th and made the postseason. The Dodgers ranked eighth and Boston ranked 17th. Cleveland and Houston ranked 1 and 2 in most games where a starter threw 100 pitches and Milwaukee and Oakland ranked 29 and 30. All made the postseason.