Lack of off days means Phillies, Padres will face unique pitching challenges

This year’s edition of the Championship Series comes with an added layer of strategy.

Thursday was the only off day of the series. There will be no travel day in between Games 5 and 6 — if those games are deemed necessary. It will make for an uncomfortable turnaround on Monday and some interesting bullpen maneuvering that we haven’t seen in recent postseasons.

In typical years, teams usually play a maximum of three days in a row, allowing for managers to shorten their bullpens and rely heavily on their best arms.

The back end of the Padres bullpen in particular is on a hot streak. The unit has a 2.05 ERA so far this postseason. The most heavily-used trio of the unit — Robert Suarez, Nick Martinez and Josh Hader — have combined to allow only two earned runs through 17 total appearances.

Six Phillies pitchers have made at least four postseason appearances this year as opposed to five for San Diego. Maybe the most interesting nugget is that Seranthony Domínguez, who has looked fantastic in October, has made as many appearances as Andrew Bellatti and Brad Hand, two relievers who are lower on the team’s depth chart.

Maybe Domínguez will see a heavier workload in the next few days, but there are limits.

With the possibility of five games in five days, managers will have to plan on some relievers being “down.” Rob Thomson has not used a single reliever three days in a row. It’s something he’s absolutely willing to do now, but the question becomes more complicated when it gets to four or five days in a row. For example, you can completely rule out Domínguez pitching more than three days in a row this series.

“Now, if a guy goes in and gets a hitter today, a hitter tomorrow, an inning the next day, and he comes in and goes, ‘Thoms, I’m completely fine and — it wouldn’t be Seranthony because I wouldn’t do that to Seranthony because of the injury history. But we’d maybe look at it. But I’m not going to put a guy’s career in jeopardy,” Thomson said.

For a second-straight series, Rob Thomson won’t name a starting pitcher for Game 4 until the end of Game 3. Padres manager Bob Melvin also declined to name a Game 4 starter. With the exception of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, everyone is presumably available out of the bullpen for the Phillies on Friday.

The Padres face a similar pitching conundrum for Game 4. They have two obvious bulk starter options available in Sean Manaea and Mike Clevinger. Both were inconsistent down the stretch for San Diego during the regular season. Manaea hasn’t pitched since Oct. 4. Clevinger gave up four runs in an abbreviated outing against the Dodgers in the NLDS.

It’s a similar issue the Phillies will face with Bailey Falter, who last pitched on the last day of the regular season.

“They’ve been throwing bullpens in full uniform trying to get the intensity as much as they can,” Melvin said. “Sean threw a little bit at home to some hitters. You do the best you can with it, but you know during the postseason sometimes your number is not going to be called for a while, and you just have to stay as ready as you can.”

Getting six innings out of Ranger Suárez in Game 3 would help. He did not get through the fourth inning in each of his last two starts, but before his last start of the regular season against the Houston Astros, Suárez had a streak of at least six innings pitched in four consecutive starts.

“I want to go as deep as possible in the game because I think the more I pitch, the more I’m going to save the bullpen ready for the next day,” Suarez said on Thursday.

Thomson ruled out the idea of Wheeler returning on short rest for Game 4. Unless he’s bluffing, the Phillies — and Padres — are going to need all hands on deck to get to Game 5 with either a tie or a series lead. Both teams will presumably throw out their best starters in Wheeler and Yu Darvish.

The reward for the winner is that the World Series will revert back to the normal schedule with two travel days.

The last bullpen game for the Phillies led to a series-clinching win in the Division Series. If the pitching is as good this time around, the Phillies should be in great shape as the series moves along.

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