Good morning, baseball fans!

We have an argument for the ages today. Ever since Madison Bumgarner entered Game 7 of the 2014 World Series in relief for the San Francisco Giants, managers everywhere have been attempting to copy that strategy, to varying levels of success. We saw it again in this year’s World Series Game 7, in which multiple starting pitchers made appearances in relief.

However, this was the first time I felt like someone else gets to join the Bumgarner conversation. And that someone was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered in relief of Blake Snell in the ninth inning for the Dodgers. He inherited two runners and one out, then immediately loaded the bases with a hit by pitch. And then he got out of that jam, pitched a clean 10th inning, and then somehow got out of a two runner jam in the bottom of the 11th with a double-play to end the game and get the win.

Is it five innings of relief and a save to cap one of the most impressive postseason performances of all time? No. But I didn’t say that it was. I said that Yamamoto gets to be in the conversation. And I stand by that. It was a hell of a performance, on zero rest, after an already impressive postseason for Yamamoto.

As much as I hate that the Dodgers won, because they are the Dodgers, I can appreciate a great performance when I see one.

I bring this up now because Buster Posey was recently asked about it by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic. Posey, naturally, picked Bumgarner in the comparison; but added that Yamamoto’s pitching style reminds him more of Tim Lincecum. Not a bad pair of dudes to be compared to, in my opinion.

So what do you think? Does Yamamoto get to be in the Bumgarner conversation?