Keegan Thompson exhaled as he strode across the field to the dugout, his breath a plume in the cold night air at Wrigley Field.
In what would become a 4-2 win for the Cubs, Thompson had just held the Rays scoreless through 3 u2154 innings. After reliever David Robertson threw a scoreless ninth inning, Thompson earned the win for doing the heavy lifting in the middle innings of a close game.
Multi-inning relievers are always valuable. But the unique circumstances of this season have heightened the importance of Thompson’s role.
Coming out of a shortened spring training, most starters weren’t fully built up to start the season.