Red Sox Find Sudden Stability in Unorthodox Group of Relievers

The Red Sox bullpen began the postseason under fire, but has suddenly become a reliable—not to mention unorthodox—group that's fueling the team's October success.

BOSTON — Around this time last October, Ryan Brasier was literally thousands of miles away from MLB relevance.

A journeyman reliever toiling for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan’s professional baseball league, the 30-year-old Brasier’s résumé read as follows: nine big-league innings for the Angels in 2013; Tommy John surgery the subsequent year and 2015 on the shelf; a ‘16 season entirely with Oakland’s Triple A affiliate; and now a year with the Carp in which he’d been briefly demoted to the Japanese minor leagues but otherwise…