Myth: Every Team Needs An Ace if It Wants to Win

It doesn’t hurt to have a Johan Santana or Carlos Zambrano in the playoffs, but the truth is, it’s not a necessity either. Of the four teams remaining, the only team with an unquestionable “stopper” is St. Louis, with Chris Carpenter.

What people have to realize – and what people should realize when evaluating the New York Mets – is that baseball is played a lot differently than it was when the phrase, “Good pitching always beats good hitting,” was first uttered. People, of course, meant good starting pitching beats good hitting.

First of all, Willie Randolph’s team wins with its offense and its bullpen. He actually figures out a way to get to his bullpen, not stay away from it. It’s a novel concept. Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, Chad Bradford and Billy Wagner are his top four guys, and he figures that if his starter can get into the fifth inning with the game close, he’ll take his chances during October with those four guys, and the occasional sprinkle of Darren Oliver or dare I say Roberto Hernandez. And that totally works for the Mets. Baseball is ultra-specialized now, and Randolph has adapted. He knows what he’s got, and he plays a certain style. It’s kind of like basketball: If you have Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis and Jamal Crawford and Channing Frye, then dabnabbit you should run up and down the court and try to win 132-128, not play defensive stalemates.

Last year’s White Sox got great starting pitching, but nobody was a no-doubt, No. 1 ace. In 2004, the Red Sox had Curt Schilling, and in 2003 the Marlins had Josh Beckett, who really wasn’t an ace but pitched like one at the end. In 2002, the Angels had no ace, and in 2001, well, the Diamondbacks had Schilling and Randy Johnson, and that basically won them the title, so, like I said, it doesn’t hurt. But understand the point here. Different teams have different strengths, and especially in post-2000 baseball, it’s the hottest team that’s dictating style that wins, not the team with the ace pitcher.

So I suck at baseball playoff predictions, but I’ll try and do my best right here. Although the Tigers reek of last year’s Chicago White Sox, I’m going to select the Oakland Athletics as the American League champions. Jay Payton will be the unsung hero. The Mets should really pulverize the Cardinals, and that will set up a rematch of 1973. The Mets and the A’s will go 7 games, I think, and the Mets are going to win it. But once it gets to Game 7, there’s really no way to know. All I know is this: Tom Glavine will be the World Series MVP. Just a hunch.

But if the A’s win, which is a distinct possibility, the Series MVP will be Nick Swisher.

So in neat format, here’s the LSS (Liners, Sliders and Scoops) prediction on the LCS and the WS:

ALCS
Oakland wins 4 games to 2, series MVP Jay Payton

NLCS
Mets win 4 games to 1, series MVP David Wright

WORLD SERIES
Mets win 4 games to 3, series MVP Tom Glavine