A team wins a championship and one of the instant reactions is to try to determine a secret sauce that can be imported to your team.
But maybe it is this simple: If you keep getting opportunities then one of these years is going to be your year. The Nationals of 2012, ‘14, ‘16 and ‘17 were talented and didn’t advance a round. This version won it all and their personnel believed something was better, but when I asked what no one could articulate it.
Perhaps if you show up enough in October a ball will take an inexplicable bounce to elude a kid Brewer right fielder, Trent Grisham, playing only because star Christian Yelich had a busted kneecap, and rather than explaining more failure by losing the wild card game, the Nats are off to their first title.
Fans don’t want to hear how tough it is to win this time of year, that there has been no repeat champion since the 1998-2000 three-peat Yankees and that the Astros have been dominant the last three years (311 regular season wins) yet have just the one title. So since magic cannot be imported, let’s see if there are items that came from the World Series that the New York teams should be at least contemplating:
1. Starting pitchers are annually now asked to do less. Which makes the ones who can do more of greater value. Nats GM Mike Rizzo, already with Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, spent $140 million on Patrick Corbin. The Astros traded four prospects in July for Zack Greinke even with Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and a big division lead.
The best pitchers in Wednesday’s Game 7 were Greinke and Corbin. Teams can try to bullpen their way through the playoffs, but as we saw with the Yankees and even in the end with Houston with too many appearances by Will Harris, exposure and exhaustion are relief killers this time of year. Relievers just don’t have as many weapons as a good starter. Keep showing hitters the same pitch, even an elite one, and the advantages tilt. Yes, excellent starters blow up too. But when they are right, the ability to effectively chew up lots of October outs is valuable to rest and hide the relievers.
Brian Cashman grew annoyed at a press conference last week at a suggestion that his administration did not do enough to obtain pitchers such as Cole or Corbin. But a better trade offer and more money could have landed one, the other or both. Houston, Boston and Washington — the last three champs — emphasized starting pitching, which is the Mets’ strength. If they continue to be a win-now team the Mets should retain their assets, as they already have with Jacob deGrom. And maybe get more. Both New York teams should be in on Cole.
2. The Nationals won the year after Bryce Harper left for the Phillies and $330 million. If any questions emerge about a player’s makeup and/or durability (think Yoenis Cespedes/Giancarlo Stanton) better to spend it on the Anthony Rendons — the Nats’ free agent third baseman brilliant on both sides of the ball, low pulse, low maintenance. The Nats were 5-0 in elimination games this postseason with Rendon going 8-for-19 with three doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs. This season in 19 games against the Mets he hit .392 with a 1.173 OPS. So, knock, knock Mets.
3. Don’t mess around in center field. This postseason provided another forum to emphasize what a brilliant all-around player Houston’s George Springer is. And while Victor Robles’ offense needs to grow, he is just 22 and his defense is spectacular. The Mets can’t keep running Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo out in center and claim to build around pitching and defense.
4. Don’t mess around at first base. This is the position teams try to hide a player, but high-end defense there is a difference maker considering how much they handle the ball and how much more in extreme shifts they are asked to cover. Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman and Houston’s Yuri Gurriel are former third basemen who have nimble movement and good hands — Gurriel especially is a run stopper. If Pete Alonso is going to hit 50 homers, the Mets have to live with whatever his strong efforts on defense allow. But how much do the Yanks want to live with Luke Voit rather than say sticking mainly with DJ LeMahieu there?
5. Don’t mess around with catching. It should be noted the final four catchers were Washington’s Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki, and Houston’s Robinson Chirinos and Martin Maldonado, essentially four journeymen. All have flaws — Suzuki’s inability to control a running game, for example. But Nats officials praise how detailed their catchers are in their work and how devoted they are to their pitchers. Leadership at the position with so much more going on in the pitcher/catcher dynamic has never been more important.
The Mets went for offense in Wilson Ramos when they backed off of Yasmani Grandal. Again, they are trying to suggest pitching/defense and Ramos is a detriment. As far as Gary Sanchez, Yankees officials insist they love his defense and the postseason team ERA was terrific. But when the need to process and move faster came against the Astros, Sanchez was not up to it, his skills on both sides of the ball waned and so did his confidence.
The World Series showed that the need for offense-first, name catchers is not necessary to win. In this age the ability to bring confidence to a pitching staff is accentuated.
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