If the Chicago Cubs (and all of baseball, really) learned nothing from this postseason, it’s that pitching is um… well, sort of important. To say the least. That and the Cubs should really make a run at Howie Kendrick this offseason.
More important to the point of this piece, though, is that having an ace up your sleeve gives you a huge advantage in a playoff series. Having two or three means you’ve got a shot in every game. Stealing a Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg away from a competitor also means you’ve killed two birds with one stone (and we like crushing red birds in Chicago).