{"id":1627,"date":"2009-09-18T14:52:18","date_gmt":"2009-09-18T21:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/18\/improved-pitching-could-signal-the-return-of-the-jedi\/"},"modified":"2009-09-18T14:52:18","modified_gmt":"2009-09-18T21:52:18","slug":"improved-pitching-could-signal-the-return-of-the-jedi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/18\/improved-pitching-could-signal-the-return-of-the-jedi\/","title":{"rendered":"Improved Pitching Could Signal the Return of the Jedi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Change does not happen with a thunderclap or a parting of the waters.\u00c2\u00a0 Trends emerge slowly, like the shift in baseball back toward a more pitching rich game.\u00c2\u00a0 Argue if you like, but I think the only thing that remains to be seen is how sharp the break will be, how soon before we pick up the spin on the ball of change.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As we head into the playoffs, I am struck by how dominant the pitching is on several of the heaviest favorites going into the playoffs, and how many dominant, old-style pitchers will be featured in great playoff matchups.\u00c2\u00a0 The first to draw attention was profiled in the New York Times<\/em> setup piece <\/a>about a likely Tigers-Yankees series.<\/p>\n

Verlander and CC Sabathia is a matchup worthy of a bygone era.\u00c2\u00a0 And the winner of that likely series could go up against the Red Sox and their very\u00c2\u00a0old school master, Josh Beckett.\u00c2\u00a0 As much as I appreciate seeing those pitchers highlighted as the playoffs approach,\u00c2\u00a0none of them will detemine the shape of the playoffs or the World Series the way\u00c2\u00a0starting pitchers\u00c2\u00a0once did.<\/p>\n

When Gibson and Lolich each pitched three games\u00c2\u00a0in the 1968 World Series, their impact on that great moment defined it.\u00c2\u00a0 No one remembers much what Lou Brock or Al Kaline did in that series.\u00c2\u00a0 The ability of pitchers to have that kind of impact on baseball\u00c2\u00a0has shrunk considerably as their number of appearances in any playoff series has diminished.\u00c2\u00a0 But the overall influence may be\u00c2\u00a0coming back–especially in the National League where it originally had its heyday.<\/p>\n

The most important underlying truth was provided by the 2003 drug tests–or the somewhat unscrupulous piecemeal and selective release of the results.\u00c2\u00a0 They revealed how far\u00c2\u00a0performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) had reached into the game.\u00c2\u00a0 Many of the great hitters of an era when sluggers dominated the game have been unmasked as frauds and subjected either to sanction or ignominious public rebuke.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The effect has to be to ratchet back the use of PEDs and diminish the\u00c2\u00a0surge in offensive production within the game.\u00c2\u00a0 It has opened up the game to improved pitching after two decades almost totally dominated\u00c2\u00a0by hitting stars.<\/p>\n

Enter the St. Louis Cardinals of 2009 with a\u00c2\u00a0pitching staff that has done so much to lead that team to one of the\u00c2\u00a0best records in baseball in 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 Adam Wainright, Chris Carpenter, and Joel Pineiro have as much to do with the success of the Cardinals as Albert Pujols and Matt Holiday.\u00c2\u00a0 Wainwright and Carpenter have ERAs under 3.00 and Wainright could well reach 200 strikeouts for the season, a benchmark reached less and less often in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

When comparing the two leagues, the NL emphasis on pitching and defense really does look like something from another era.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the Yankees ability to stack their lineup with\u00c2\u00a0Mark Teixiera, Alex Rodriguez and five other guys with 20+ home runs may win the day.\u00c2\u00a0 They may blast their way to another World Series and take home to goodies with only one dominant pitcher–CC Sabathia.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But\u00c2\u00a0pitching-rich\u00c2\u00a0NL teams could be the ones\u00c2\u00a0spell a\u00c2\u00a0trend that\u00c2\u00a0defines the future.<\/p>\n

The Cardinal staff could wilt against the Yankees\u00c2\u00a0lineup.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe the NL does not provide enough of a test and\u00c2\u00a0Wainwright and\u00c2\u00a0Carpenter will look like just\u00c2\u00a0average joes when they face the best of the American League–if they make it that far.\u00c2\u00a0 But the pitching in the NL\u00c2\u00a0harkens back to those days in the 1960’s when the Dodgers had Koufax and Drysdale and the Cardinals could win by throwing Gibson against you three times and a defense second to none.<\/p>\n

The Phillies don’t lack for pitching depth either.\u00c2\u00a0 Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels are far better than any one-two punch the AL can send out.\u00c2\u00a0 The Colorado Rockies have some of the best young pitchers in Jimenez and De la Rosa and they\u00c2\u00a0along with Jason Marquis their staff will determine how far the Rockies go, not the offense.<\/p>\n

So while Verlander against Sabathia is a great matchup of two dominant pitchers, it will not determine which team goes farther into the playoffs.\u00c2\u00a0 Game two or three of the Yankees and Tigers will resolve itself into a slugfest and the great pitchers will not settle who wins the day.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Red Sox are the team to watch in the AL for me.\u00c2\u00a0 With Beckett and Lester they have the best pitching duo and\u00c2\u00a0young Clay Bucholz has the potential to match them up with anyone.\u00c2\u00a0 They are the closest thing to\u00c2\u00a0a National League team in the AL.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trend watching or not, the upcoming playoffs\u00c2\u00a0resolve themselves much the way they have\u00c2\u00a0so often in the recent past.\u00c2\u00a0 The Yankees are still the bombers–still the embodiment of the modern era.\u00c2\u00a0 And yes, Josh, they are still the “Evil Empire.”\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am looking to Verlander and Jackson to stack up well, to slow the march of the\u00c2\u00a0Death Star Yankees.\u00c2\u00a0 And the best hope of the “Rebellion” may be the Red Sox, but longer term I believe it will be the pitching rich NL that undermines\u00c2\u00a0the Yankees.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

My league of choice all these long years–the NL–may be on the upswing again.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I will be rooting for the Cardinals, for Obi-wan LaRussa\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0his jedi pitching staff.\u00c2\u00a0 I will be hoping they can sneak past the shoddy defense of the Yankees and all the other bombers from the AL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Change does not happen with a thunderclap or a parting of the waters.\u00c2\u00a0 Trends emerge slowly, like the shift in baseball back toward a more pitching rich game.\u00c2\u00a0 Argue if you like, but I think the only thing that remains to be seen is how sharp the break will be, how soon before we pick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}