You think you know what wins in postseason baseball. You’ve seen it time and again over the years — from Orel Hershiser (1988) to Livan Hernandez (1997) to Curt Schilling (2004), good pitching shuts down good hitting when it matters most. It might be time — at least for this year — to rewrite that book because neither the St. Louis Cardinals nor the Texas Rangers used starting pitching to reach the World Series. Instead, they mashed their way to league pennants and relied on strong bullpens. And that’s not the usual formula in October.
“This is a year where if you know anything about baseball, throw it out the window,” TBS baseball analyst John Smoltz said. “For the Cardinals, they really are going to have to get more out of their starters. It’s going to be an intriguing matchup.”
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That’s because St. Louis starting pitchers have posted a 5.43 ERA in 11 postseason games so far. It’s a small sample size — 542Ú3 innings — but the Cardinals ranked 12th overall (3.74) during the regular season and are facing a Texas team that posted the second-highest team OPS (.800) in the majors.
Maybe St. Louis gets a slight break with a possible four games in the National League ballpark and without the designated hitter. But make no mistake — the Rangers’ lineup is good enough to dispense one batter.
Meanwhile, Texas received a 3.79 ERA from its starting rotation during the regular season. That ranked right behind the Cardinals, whose offense was fifth in team OPS (.766) and who still managed to score 762 runs — also ranked fifth — without the benefit of a designated hitter for most games.
And the Rangers’ starters have been even worse in the postseason with a 5.62 ERA in 10 games. Again, small sample size. But it’s not like Texas has a true ace to turn to like it did with Cliff Lee in 2010. C.J. Wilson had a fine season (2.94 ERA). But the Cardinals already beat the likes of Roy Halladay and, well, Lee when they faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the division series. With these two offenses, we’re likely to see a team hit its way to a title.
– Brian McNally
