Iglesias, Fuentes, Suarez and Lee Anchor the Braves' Postseason Bullpen

Postseason baseball is a bullpen sport now. Starters set the table, but the games against the Phillies this week are going to be decided somewhere between the sixth and the ninth, and the Braves are carrying eight relievers to handle it.

That's a lot of arms for a short series, and it tells you how Walt Weiss plans to manage these games. Nobody's going to be asked to push through trouble. If a matchup looks bad, there's somebody ready to come in.

Suarez's Return Changes Everything

Robert Suarez being back is the biggest bullpen story of the week. For a long stretch this season the late innings felt improvised, with roles shifting from night to night depending on who was fresh and who was going well. Getting Suarez back gives the whole group more order.

It's not just about what he does in his own inning. When you have one more pitcher you trust with a lead, everybody else slides into a role that fits them better. The seventh inning isn't a scramble anymore, and Weiss doesn't have to burn his best arm in the sixth because nobody else is available.

The Core Four

Expect the Braves to lean mostly on Raisel Iglesias, Didier Fuentes, Suarez and Dylan Lee. That's the group that'll get the high-leverage outs in close games.

Iglesias is the veteran of the bunch. Experience counts for a lot when the crowd's on its feet and there's a runner on second, and he's the one guy out there who's seen just about every late-inning situation.

Fuentes is the one I'm most excited to watch. He's young, he's got electric stuff, and he's earned his way into big spots. Plenty of teams would be nervous handing a big postseason inning to a pitcher this early in his career. The Braves aren't, and that tells you what they think of him.

Lee is the left-hander in the group, and his value in this series is obvious. When the Phillies send a dangerous left-handed bat up late, Weiss wants a lefty he trusts, and Lee gives him that answer.

How Weiss orders those four probably changes game to game. I wouldn't read too much into who gets the ninth on any given day. The best hitters in the Phillies' lineup could come up in the seventh, and that's where the best reliever might need to be.

Mederos and Dodd Have Earned Their Spots

This is the part of the bullpen that's quietly gotten better. Victor Mederos and Dylan Dodd weren't names most of us were counting on earlier in the year, but both have become reliable options.

That matters in a short series more than people think. If Sale or Mahle has a short outing, somebody has to get through the middle innings without letting the game slip. Mederos and Dodd give Weiss a way to bridge to the back end without using up his top four too early. A clean fifth and sixth from those two could be the difference in a game nobody will remember them winning.

Who Covers Length

AJ Smith-Shawver didn't make the final roster, and that changes who soaks up innings if a game gets messy. That job now falls mostly to Brent Suter and Ray Kerr. Both have stretched out this year: Suter has thrown 27⅔ innings in 13 appearances and Kerr 18⅓ in nine, and each has made a start.

If a game gets out of hand early, either way, one of them can come in and cover two or three innings so the core four stay fresh for the next day. In a series where Game 2 comes right after Game 1, that insurance matters. The catch is that they're also the opener candidates for Game 3.

Kerr, Suter and the Opener Question

Ray Kerr and Brent Suter both have regular bullpen jobs, but they also figure into the Game 3 conversation. Grant Holmes is the most likely Game 3 starter if the series gets there, but the Braves could go with an opener instead, using Kerr or Suter to start the game and get through the top of the order once.

The logic is simple. An opener lets the Braves pick the first matchup, then bring Holmes or someone else in behind him to face the lineup in a different order. Both are left-handed. An opener can get the lefty bats at the top of the Phillies' order out of the way, and then Holmes or somebody else comes in behind him against a lineup that was stacked to face a lefty. Suter's also been around long enough that an odd assignment won't bother him.

If there's a Game 3, how the bullpen got used in the first two games will decide a lot of this. A long relief outing from Suter or Kerr on Tuesday or Wednesday might change the plan. So might a game where the core four all pitch.

How It Probably Plays Out

In a close game, I'd expect Mederos or Dodd to get the ball if a starter comes out early, with the core four taking the last three or four innings between them. Kerr and Suter cover a blowout or a short start, and either could end up with a much bigger job in Game 3.

It isn't the flashiest bullpen the Braves have ever taken into October. But it's deep, it's got a clear top tier, and for the first time in a while it's got some structure. That's a good place to be heading into a short series against a team we know as well as the Phillies.