Pitching Your Way to Victory

                                                                                            12/8/01

The 2001 year has been a baseball year to remember. It started out with the umpires learning the high strike and ended with fantastic world series. The interesting thing to me, is how much the game of baseball can change in just one year.

Going into the 2001 season, you saw Texas load their roster with high profile sluggers in an attempt to muscle their way into the post season. You witnessed high expectations for Boston after they added Manny Ramirez, and watched in amazement as Cleveland fired up their potent offense. People were talking about the other Coors Field in Houston, and how A-Rod wanted Seattle to bring the fences of Safeco in some 20 feet. You even saw St. Louis bring up a young guy called Pujois. All the talk was on the offense, and everyone wondered if the balls were juiced.

Then something very interesting happened. As the season unfolded: Pedro hit the DL and Boston hit the skids, A guy called Matt Morris came back from the DL and gave St. Louis new life, Texas reached unthinkable depths as their rotation got lit up like a cheap Marlboro, Houston found out that Enron is NOT the Astrodome, and a little guy weighing 157 pounds (named Ichiro) who hit just 8 home runs all year won the MVP. Sure, the focus was on Bonds Hitting 72, with Gonzales and Sammy right behind. But most people overlooked a vital piece to winning that most owners and GM's still haven't figured out........Offense puts people in the Stands.... but Defense wins games. In baseball.......pitching is everything.

Don't believe me.... look at the real life examples. Let's look at the teams in the playoffs... Oakland, Seattle, Yankees, Atlanta, Arizona, Seattle, Cleveland, and Houston.  Those 8 teams accounted for 8 of the top 10 pitchers in the Majors (ranked by ERA).   The top 3 teams in the American League in team ERA (Seattle, Oakland, and New York) were all in the playoffs. Also, the top 3 National League teams in team ERA (Atlanta, Arizona, St. Louis) were also in the playoffs.  That is 100% of the top 3 teams in ERA in each league made the playoffs. Conversely, only 4 of the top 6 teams in batting average were in the league playoffs.....and NONE of those top 3 teams in batting average from each league made it to the world series.

Now this paints a clearer picture as to the importance of solid pitching. Simply put, acquire the best pitching in the league and you'll be in the playoffs.... but acquire the best hitting in the league... and your not even guaranteed to make the playoffs... just ask Colorado and Texas about that!! Arizona won the world series because they simply out pitched a good pitching team. Atlanta was a very middle of the road offensive team and even thought they collectively batted just .260, they still made the playoffs thanks to good pitching.

The old adage is.... a good defense ALWAYS shuts down a good offense.... and if they CAN'T SCORE  they can't win!! This is soooo true in baseball and in Strato.

This season, the major league ERA was the lowest it's been in 9 years (except for the strike shortened year in 97). The high strike has affected baseball.... and it's time to sit up and take note. This year, there are 18 starting pitchers with a ratio of 1.2 or lower!! That is simply amazing. Last year was the season of offense. In 2002, this is the year of the pitcher. Playoff contenders will ALL have excellent pitching. The question is..... will your team make the right trades and draft the right guys to get the pitching that will GUARANTEE you a spot in the playoffs?

It's so simple... but everyone gets caught up in the home run... the long ball... the sultan of swat... the king of sting..... the moon shots...  the roof raisers...  the kiss of the bambino's. Nobody seems to like the 2-1 games. OHH.. they are boring.... we'll have to juice the ball to get people in the stadium.  Well, just ask the Yankee fans if they value great pitching and 1-0 wins. Think the fans at Fenway would trade Pedro for anyone right now?? No way!!

I've often wondered, if you could have 9 Barry Bonds in a lineup, and play against Pedro of 2000....and if Pedro's team had 9 Tino Martinez's and played against Kenny Rogers.... what team would win???   Clearly, pitching wins games.  This year.... is the year to set your team up with a defensive park and a good pitching staff.... trade away a marquee hitter for a marquee pitcher any day (with some few exceptions)... but take note.... you can pitch your way to victory.