“The only thing that matters is what happens on the little hump out in the middle of the field.” —Earl Weaver
The Astros’ incredible run to 106 regular season wins and all the way to winning the World Series was driven by great pitching and great depth in both starting and relief. The starting pitch depth went a long way to enabling the bullpen performance by preventing too many “worn-out bullpen days.” (As a side note, I consider defense and pitching as a joint effort called “run prevention,”—-and defense is certainly part of the exceptional pitching performance.