Terry Francona is Impacting 2026 MLB Playoffs Despite Cincinnati Reds' Absence

The 2026 MLB playoffs are down to five teams, with the National League Championship Series set between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers, while the Tampa Bay Rays await their American League Championship Series opponent pending the outcome of Saturday night’s Game 5 between the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox.

The Cincinnati Reds did not make the postseason, missing out entirely after sneaking in last season as the third National League Wild Card team. Despite that, the impact of veteran manager Terry Francona can be felt throughout October.

In 2016, when managing Cleveland, Francona revolutionized bullpen usage with his deployment of left-handed reliever Andrew Miller. Acquired from the New York Yankees in exchange for then-top-end prospect Clint Frazier, Miller was arguably the best relief pitcher in baseball at that time.

Rather than using him traditionally, which would have been in an eighth or ninth-inning role, Francona would regularly deploy him in the biggest spot of the game—as a true fireman—regardless of when that came. Those Cleveland teams had elite starting pitching, but those starters were often asked to only go 5+ innings, or until they got into trouble and could hand the ball over to Miller.

The dominant left-hander would then go multiple innings, ideally bridging the gap to closer Cody Allen. It was deemed unconventional at the time to use a top reliever that early in the game, but it is now something that is seen across baseball, and specifically in this series between Cleveland and Chicago.

The White Sox, while somewhat out of necessity due to their thin starting pitching, have been going to closer Grant Taylor early in games. This worked beautifully in Game 1, as Taylor pitched an incredible four scoreless innings, but it has seemingly caught up to him a bit, as Cleveland was able to tag him for four earned runs in Game 4, without him recording a single out.

To a lesser degree, the Guardians have deployed this strategy with elite closer Cade Smith. In Game 3, Smith appeared in the eighth inning and got the last six outs of the game with ease. Attempting to do so again in Game 4, Smith got through the eighth, but was unable to record an out in the ninth, ultimately forcing the Guardians to go to their Game 5 starter Gavin Williams for the last three outs.

Francona faced similar challenges in 2016 and 2017 with Miller. While he was dominant throughout both of those years, particularly in October, it did seem to catch up to him as the playoffs went on. He would go on to falter in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series and Game 3 of the 2017 ALDS.

Whether that was due to overuse is hard to prove, but there is extensive history in MLB that overexposing and overusing relief pitchers can have diminishing returns. Nonetheless, it is a common strategy in 2026, and a lot of that can be attributed to the revolutionary approach Francona took a decade ago.