The bullpen then became a carousel, spinning constantly as new bodies jumped on seemingly every day. Twenty-two different pitchers trotted out in relief for the Astros, most of them rookies, trying their best to fill what increasingly looked like a bottomless hole. Some of the names cycled through were downright Pynchon-esque: Cy Sneed, Nivaldo Rodriguez, Humberto Castellanos. Some players were barely there for a few days before disappearing while others stuck. And although the bullpen on the whole was never anything more than average, a few of those pitchers managed to secure a spot in Dusty Baker’s circle of trust.

The surprising end result of all that churn is a bullpen that may be light on recognizability and low on experience — of the Astros’ 13 pitchers on the ALDS roster, eight are rookies — but also has quietly been aces for Houston through three games of the postseason. Monday afternoon’s Division Series opener against Oakland was the toughest test to date. With the ball flying out of Dodger Stadium on a hot October afternoon, Baker asked his bullpen to a) get 15 outs in relief of Lance McCullers Jr. while also b) not letting the A’s build on what was a 4-3 lead. That job was entrusted to Enoli Paredes, Blake Taylor, Cristian Javier, and Pressly. And save for an unearned run in the fifth, they accomplished their task with aplomb, holding firm as the Astros’ lineup rallied for a 10-5 win against an Oakland bullpen that came into October as one of the AL’s top relief units. So much for easy narratives.

That this series should be a battle of the bullpens feels predictable. As Jake Mailhot noted in his series preview, Houston and Oakland are well-matched offensively, and neither has a rotation that goes all that deep in games. There are no horses on either side; each manager was going to have to get comfortable picking up that bullpen phone over and over again. At least on paper, that advantage would seem to belong to Bob Melvin, whose relievers ranked fifth in WAR, first in ERA, eighth in strikeout rate, and second in WPA. Yet in Game 1, his best arms faltered, coming particularly undone in the sixth after a Marcus Semien error with two outs opened the door for a four-run Astros rally that put them ahead for good.

Monday’s success keeps the Astros’ bullpen ERA this postseason at a sparkling 0.00 in 14.2 innings to go with 14 strikeouts and six walks. Most of that good work belongs to Framber Valdez, who stymied the Twins in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series with five scoreless innings behind Zack Greinke. But his long outing has proven to be only an extreme example of how Houston is approaching relief pitching when it lacks dominant setup men. Length has been the key to the Astros’ success: Baker followed his use of Valdez in Game 1 against the Twins by turning to the 23-year-old Javier, who was excellent as a starter during the regular season, as his go-to arm in Game 2 versus Minnesota, having him throw three innings in relief of Jose Urquidy. A similar situation played out against Oakland, with Baker opting for Paredes after McCullers and letting him throw two frames before finishing up with an inning apiece from Taylor, Javier, and Pressly.