I have a guy who has had a shocker of a month right before the playoffs.

Previously he was in contention for the CY, with 19 wins and an era of 2.70.

A month later he is on 21 wins and his era is 3.70 - a whole run more.

He's gone from pitching shutouts and giving up 1 or maybe 2 runs most games to giving up multipe runs every time.

So my question is, do I start him in the playoffs or bench him and go with my other 4 starters who are all good and all in better form right now? Is my guy just out of gas?

Please link him.

Must be Varitek, right? Overreaction, I'd say. If he's one of your three best starters - ratings only - you need him in a short series. Shorten up his pitch count, looks like he's been throwing a lot of innings and you've got very good RPs anyway. Go back and look at his games individually, maybe he's just staying in too long. And it's also schedule dependent.

Don't worry about the Cy, his job is to win playoff games.

Yep it's Varitek.
https://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7942540

Haven't totally lost faith in him but worrried about the huge dropoff in the last half-dozen games.

Agree with damag above.

I have noticed that pitcher's will have up and down performance from season to season and even within a season. However, once they make it to the playoffs, you need to rely on your players with the best ratings. I have seen average pitchers [ratings wise] that are Cy Young candidates during the season because they have a career year. However, they get hammered in the playoffs. This guy's ratings are pretty good. I would definitely start him.

Well he pitched last night, with my playoff hopes on the line, and he got the W to keep us alive.

Not his best outing of the season but good enough.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man I guess.