Let’s switch gears a second from basketball and talk baseball. Are they even going to have a 2016 National League season since everyone seems to think the Chicago Cubs are a lock for the World Series?
As a long-time Cubs follower from the days of the late, great Ernie Banks, I can tell you to hoist up an Old Style but don’t even dare to dream of a World Series. I’m still collecting pieces of my heart from the summer of ’69 when Don Young cost the Cubs a pennant with his miscues in center field.
But this piece isn’t about the Cubs. It’s about the New York Mets because they are going to capture the NL championship. How can they not with the potential of having the greatest five-man pitching staff in baseball history.
There have been some great three-man pitching staffs during the past 65 years. The best was the Braves Hall of Fame trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. I remember the Dodgers with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen. They were dominant, too.
There even has been some great four-man rotations. The Indians of the mid-1950’s with Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia and Herb Score. The 1971 Orioles had four 20-game winners with Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson. Recent vintage is the Phillies with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.
But I can’t recall any team having four superstar caliber pitchers all in their prime, nor a staff composed of five All-Star starters. Yet the Mets can achieve that if Zach Wheeler comes back strong from his injury and Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz continue to live up to their great promise.
Harvey and deGrom already rate among the top eight pitchers in the National League – and they haven’t reached their peaks yet. Neither has Syndergaard, who could become better than both Harvey and deGrom. Now that is a very scary thought.
Cubs or no Cubs, there is no way I can go against the pitching staff the Mets have assembled. It’s the best – and deepest – young staff I’ve seen.
(I am 114-62-4 for 65 percent on my last 180 premium and free plays as documented by Pregame.com. I am 57-28 on my last 85 NBA plays for 67 percent and 33-21 on my past 54 college plays for 61 percent.)
