San Francisco Giants: Appreciating the Core Four Even More

The pitching has been less than stellar so far this postseason, which makes the San Francisco Giants’s Core Four accomplishments a little bit sweeter.

Five games into the World Series, the offenses have shined for both sides. The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers are having a classic series, with amazing comebacks and wonderful moments spread throughout pulse-pounding action. The pitching hasn’t been very good for either side, with pitchers consistently letting leads slip away. With no lead safe for either bullpen, it should make San Francisco Giants’ fans appreciate the “Core Four” a little bit more.

Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez, and Sergio Romo combined to form the Core Four, a group of relievers that always seemed to get the job done for the Giants. It took some work to piece them together, with Romo being a 28th-round draft pick, Lopez coming over via trade with the Boston Red Sox, and Affeldt and Casilla coming through free agency. Once all that work was finished, the Giants had laid the groundwork for a championship bullpen.

The statistics from the team’s three championship postseason runs are staggering. Casilla, whose role was constantly evolving from set-up man to early-inning stopper to closer, pitched 24 games in those three postseasons. In 19 innings, he allowed two runs for a 0.95 ERA, allowed a .181 opponent average and a 0.947 WHIP, struck out 20 batters and didn’t surrender a home run.

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Affeldt, the versatile lefty that could get both sides out, made 26 appearances and threw 26 innings. In that time, he totaled a 0.69 ERA, 0.692 WHIP, .133 opponent average, and didn’t allow a home run. He ended his career with 22 consecutive scoreless appearances in the postseason, the second-longest streak of all-time.

Lopez, the lefty killer, appeared in 23 games  and threw 12.1 innings. He worked to a 0.73 ERA, 0.730 WHIP, .125 opponent average, and struck out 14 without allowing a home run. Romo, his right-handed counterpart, made 25 appearances and 21.1 innings. He owned a 2.11 ERA, 0.844 WHIP, .203 opponent average, and struck out 20. He allowed two home runs.

Take a look at what the World Series closers have done this month to see how good those pitchers were. Astros’ closer Ken Giles has worked to an 11.74 ERA so far this postseason. In seven appearances, he’s been scored on six times and given up multiple runs three times. The Core Four relievers made a combined 96 appearances from 2010 to 2014, and allowed runs in only nine of those games. They allowed multiple runs just twice.

Even Kenley Jansen, one of the game’s absolute best closers, hasn’t been immune. He blew only one save in the regular season, but has blown two straight save opportunities in the World Series, letting one-run leads slip away both times. From 2010 to 2014, the Core Four gave away one lead in 96 combined games.

This postseason, pitchers have allowed 101 home runs in 637.2 innings, or one home run every 6.1 innings. The Core Four gave up two home runs in 78.2 innings, or one every 39.1 innings.

The Giants during that time had the luxury of having four bullpen pitchers that could come in and lock a game down. The team didn’t have to worry about chewing up a bunch of innings with a single reliever because the group was almost always nails. This World Series has been completely different.

Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch has had to mix and match all postseason long, and hasn’t had even one consistently lethal reliever that could close things out. Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts has had a great one-two combination in Jansen and Brandon Morrow, but he has ridden both hard and brought them to the point of being overworked.

Morrow has appeared in 12 of the Dodgers’ 13 postseason games, and that heavy workload came back to haunt him in his most recent outing. On Sunday night, he faced four batters and didn’t retire a single one, giving up four runs and two home runs. Jansen has made 11 appearances in 13 games, and has been asked to get more than three outs four times.

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The Core Four is long gone from the Giants, with the left-handed counterparts retired and the right-handers making their way around the league. But no one can ever deny how big of a part they played in three World Series championship runs. And watching other pitchers fail time and time again just makes what they did look that much better.