The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers technically played baseball when they wrestled for the World Series a month ago. Functionally, though, they were playing a game of “the floor is lava” where “floor” meant “relievers.” Both teams relied heavily on their starting pitchers out of the bullpen because their bullpens were vulnerable.
Surely, the Blue Jays and Dodgers would have loved to have, you know, peak Wade Davis on their team. There are two players whose Fangraphs pages I pull up sometimes
just to gawk at. Barry Bonds is one. Wade is the other. During the 2014-2015 playoffs, Davis threw 25 innings. He gave up one (1) earned run while striking out thirty-eight (38!!!!) batters. Unbelievable.
Even in the regular season, he was crazy, striking out dudes and saving games with sheer force of will. Just take this pitch against the Detroit Tigers. A beauty.
Except…Davis struck out Jeimer Candelario. Candelario debuted one year after the Royals won the World Series. How could that be?
Well, because you probably read the title, you know where this is going. That clip was not from Davis’ initial stint with the Royals. It was from 2021, when Davis threw 42.2 largely awful innings. By itself, Davis’ return to a previous team is not that notable. Those things happen.
But that didn’t happen by itself. You all remember Greg Holland, right? Davis’ brother in arms for the 2014 and first half of the 2015 season? Yeah, Holland also pitched for the 2021 squad. Holland tossed 55.2 largely mediocre innings for Kansas City in the penultimate season of his career. Holland added eight saves, bringing up his Kansas City total to 159, where he will remain fourth overall on the Royals career saves leader list for a long time.
It gets weirder. You know who else pitched out of the 2021 Royals bullpen? Ervin freaking Santana, that’s who! Eight years after Santana was an excellent starter for the 2013 Royals squad, he wrapped up his career throwing 65.1 largely mediocre innings for the 2021 team.
That is, all combined, 163.2 innings that Holland, Davis, and Santana pitched out of the 2021 Royals bullpen. That’s a lot, and yet, I genuinely don’t remember any of that happening. I vaguely remember watching Davis and Holland get lit up. Santana, though? That’s got to be a joke, right?
And to top it all off, onetime top draft pick and Andy McCullough’s personal nemesis, Kyle Zimmer, pitched 54 innings that year. What a world.
There is no point to this article. I do not have a grand gesture about any of these players. That, though, is the great thing about blogging, and maybe sports in general. Remembering Some Guys is both the means and the end. And the 2021 pitching staff was definitely Some Guys. Guess that’s why they lost 88 games that year.
