“Short rest” starters in Post-season?
By Earl Nash
When a Post-season series comes down to the final game or two, managers may be desperate enough to pitch a starter on “short rest.” If a pitcher pitches with less than his normal 4 or 5 days of rest, do they succeed?
Happily, Zachary D. Rymer (MLB Lead Writer) at Bleacher Report ran the numbers.
“Sure, Curt Schilling was basically a god on short rest twice in the 2001 postseason. We all remember Josh Beckett’s series-clinching shutout in the 2003 World Series. The last two starts on short rest turned in by Hiroki Kuroda and Kershaw have been terrific.
But of the 54 starts listed, only 14 resulted in a game score of 60 or better. I also counted only 23 quality starts. Over half of these 54 outings were non-quality starts, which is obviously not what a team is looking for in these situations.
And now for the portion of the program in which we add it all up:
| Starts | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | H/9 | HR/9 | Avg. GSc | Team Record |
| 54 | 287.0 | 4.80 | 1.42 | 8.2 | 3.5 | 9.2 | 1.1 | 48.7 | 20-34 |
Baseball-Reference.com
The K/9 here could be worse, but the other numbers aren’t very ace-like. A 4.80 ERA is the mark of, at best, an average collection of starters. The same goes for the walk, hit and home run numbers, and that collective game score of 48.7 is a step down from the starting point of 50.”
For his study, Mr. Rymer relied on Baseball-Reference.com:
| Player | Date | IP | ER | K | BB | H | HR | GSc | Result |
| Clayton Kershaw | 10/7/2013 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 67 | W |
| Hiroki Kuroda | 10/14/2012 | 7.2 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 68 | L |
| Chris Carpenter | 10/28/2011 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 55 | W |
| Chris Carpenter | 10/2/2011 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 32 | W |
| Zack Greinke | 10/2/2011 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 42 | W |
| C.J. Wilson | 9/30/2011 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 30 | L |
| Derek Lowe | 10/11/2010 | 6.1 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 65 | L |
| Andy Pettitte | 11/4/2009 | 5.2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 47 | W |
| A.J. Burnett | 11/2/2009 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 22 | L |
| CC Sabathia | 11/1/2009 | 6.2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 51 | W |
| CC Sabathia | 10/20/2009 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 71 | W |
| Derek Lowe | 10/13/2008 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 50 | L |
| CC Sabathia | 10/2/2008 | 3.2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 30 | L |
| James Shields | 10/2/2008 | 6.1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 52 | W |
| Chien-Ming Wang | 10/8/2007 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 27 | L |
| Ted Lilly | 10/4/2007 | 3.1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 22 | L |
| Oliver Perez | 10/19/2006 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 62 | L |
| Paul Byrd | 10/11/2005 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 54 | W |
| John Lackey | 10/9/2005 | 5.2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 63 | L |
| Tim Hudson | 10/9/2005 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 57 | L |
| Matt Morris | 10/24/2004 | 4.1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 38 | L |
| Derek Lowe | 10/20/2004 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 68 | W |
| Kevin Brown | 10/20/2004 | 1.1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 25 | L |
| Brandon Backe | 10/13/2004 | 4.2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 42 | L |
| Roy Oswalt | 10/11/2004 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 46 | W |
| Roger Clemens | 10/10/2004 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 50 | L |
| Johan Santana | 10/9/2004 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 57 | L |
| Josh Beckett | 10/25/2003 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 84 | W |
| Andy Pettitte | 10/19/2003 | 8.2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 76 | W |
| Mark Redman | 10/19/2003 | 2.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 31 | L |
| Barry Zito | 10/6/2003 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 50 | L |
| Mike Hampton | 10/5/2003 | 6.2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 50 | L |
| Russ Ortiz | 10/4/2003 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 43 | W |
| Tim Wakefield | 10/2/2003 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 52 | L |
| Mike Hampton | 10/1/2003 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 60 | W |
| John Lackey | 10/27/2002 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 58 | W |
| Kevin Millwood | 10/7/2002 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 58 | L |
| Mark Mulder | 10/6/2002 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 59 | L |
| Tom Glavine | 10/6/2002 | 2.2 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 12 | L |
| Jarrod Washburn | 10/5/2002 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 50 | W |
| Tim Hudson | 10/5/2002 | 3.1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 34 | L |
| Tom Glavine | 10/2/2002 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 24 | L |
| Curt Schilling | 11/4/2001 | 7.1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 67 | W |
| Curt Schilling | 10/31/2001 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 75 | L |
| Tom Glavine | 10/21/2001 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 49 | L |
| Greg Maddux | 10/20/2001 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 25 | L |
| Freddy Garcia | 10/18/2001 | 7.1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 54 | L |
| Aaron Sele | 10/17/2001 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 46 | L |
| Jamie Moyer | 10/15/2001 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 67 | W |
| Chuck Finley | 10/15/2001 | 4.1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50 | L |
| Wade Miller | 10/9/2001 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 61 | L |
| Andy Pettitte | 10/8/2000 | 3.2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 23 | W |
| Roger Clemens | 10/7/2000 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 32 | L |
| Jim Parque | 10/3/2000 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 49 | L |
Baseball-Reference.com