In 2012, the Tampa Bay Rays won 90 games. The team missed the playoffs, finishing third in the hyper-competitive American League East, but the season can definitely go down as accomplishment. It was the Rays’ third straight 90-win season and fourth in five years.

Its pitching staff led the major leagues in team ERA (3.19) and the American League strikeouts (1,383) and finished third in saves (50). And, the six key relievers on that team posted a collective wins above replacement (WAR) of 9.5.

Milwaukee Brewers reliever Burke Badenhop was one of those arms in the Tampa Bay bullpen last year, but he remembers something else about that season that most have now long forgotten.

"We were terrible in April," he said. "We were garbage. Really bad. And then we turned it around."

Badenhop teamed with the likes of J.P. Howell, Jake McGee, Joel Peralta, Wade Davis and closer Fernando Rodney to help the Rays to within three games of the postseason, finishing the year with a 3.03 earned run average with 63 holds in 66 games.

Yet in April, he posted a 7.20 ERA and opposing batters hit .317 against him. For the most part, all of his teammates in that bullpen (save for Rodney) experienced similar problems at the start of the season.

Then, something clicked. For all of them.

And that’s the key. One guy didn’t just "find it" – they all did. So how does that happen for a collection of pitchers who all have different stuff and how are all called upon in different situations to face different hitters? By definition, there is no continuity, other than for maybe the left-handed specialist.

For those in the moment, who admittedly have to focus on themselves first, and then the batter in the box – it’s about trying to define the indefinable.

"There’s a definite momentum thing," Badenhop said. "Last year, it’s was kind of somebody-takes-the-lead type thing. Fernando Rodney got in there and he sets the bar so high it’s kind of like a high tide raises all ships. Hitting is contagious and so is pitching.

"At this level it’s so much more mental and it’s the perspective you take on things. If guys are out there being aggressive and gets your team into a good rhythm and has hitters kind of guessing then that’s going to feed off on the next guy. Confidence breeds confidence."

Brandon Kintzler, who was called up to Milwaukee from Class AAA Nashville last September when that version of the Brewers bullpen started to figure things out agreed – only he had a different word for it.

"You flow with the guy," the right-hander said.

Realizing that might not adequately describe the feeling a reliever has when he follows a teammate onto the mound, Kintlzer elaborated.

"Say if the starter’s flowing and he goes eight and the closer and he starts flowing," he said. "It’s kind of how the game’s progressing. If the starter’s scuffling through five you really have to do your best to try and pick him up because you know these hitters are giving good at bats. It’s not just going to be that easy so you really have to come in ready for some battles. We do feel off each other – if that guy struggled we really feel like we’ve got to pick him up extra and try to get out of here."

The members of the Brewers bullpen agreed that it’s a fine line to walk, trying to stay within yourself and execute your individual pitches while also riding the highs and lows of the men who took the mound the innings, or even days, before you.

To them however, such intangibles like momentum, like flow, are real things that affect the game – even if the standard cliché’s of "one pitch at a time" and "you’re only as good as the next pitcher" are trotted out time and again.

"We’re our own team down there, especially in games like (Tuesday's 10-8 win over San Francisco), the game’s won in the bullpen, and we’ve got to stop ‘em," Jim Henderson said. "If they start catching up we’ve got to put the fire out. We do that as a team.

"Just feel like you’re part of a family and you’re rooting each other on. I can’t get my job done if they don’t get their job done, so we have to work for each other and support each other out there."