In the end they are probably not any more variable than a starting pitcher, they just can't afford to have six or 10 bad innings a season like even the best starter probably can (like, Knebel and Wheeler both had one bad innings the other night). In theory relief pitching is much easier/requires less ability, and yet in some ways what we expect them to do is harder, or at least has less margin for error.
I am holding on to my skepticism for now, we caught a Mariners team that had sunk to the same depths as the other types of teams we've been able to beat, and a Dodgers team that had just lost a series to the Rockies. But the offense is certainly in a groove, and the pitching, which actually wasn't that bad lately, survived the COVID.
