Been there, won that
Cubs may have most experienced NL playoff roster; 5 played in Series
As the Philadelphia Phillies celebrated their improbable division title Sunday, Ryan Theriot took a look at the television screen and shook his head.
''Crazy,'' the Cubs' shortstop said of the suddenly wild and wide-open National League postseason bracket.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)
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Cubs Rally
With last year's champs, the St. Louis Cardinals, long eliminated and this year's favorites, the New York Mets, bounced in a historic fold, the Cubs might have the most playoff experience in the NL field. And some suggest that makes the team with the worst record on either side a favorite to reach the World Series.
But not so fast. The only observation worth basing any reasonable NL projections is Theriot's.
The Phillies have the worst pitching in the field but the best lineup, and they're hot. The Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubs' first-round opponent, have the best record in the league and some of the best front-end pitching but are the lowest-scoring team.
If it comes down to experience, the Cubs might be the best equipped to navigate the crazy NL playoffs. Their playoff roster is projected to have at least 14 members with postseason experience, with an outside chance of having 16.
Of the 14, 10 have played for a team that won at least one postseason series, and five have been in the World Series, with Cliff Floyd (1997 Florida Marlins) and Derrek Lee (2003 Marlins) each winning one.
Aside from injured pitcher Randy Johnson, Arizona has only two players, pitchers Livan Hernandez (1997 Marlins and 2002 Giants) and Bob Wickman (1996 Yankees), who have played in a World Series. The D-backs might wind up with as few as four players on the roster with any playoff experience.
What does that mean for this matchup? Not much, Lee said.
''I'm not a big experience guy. It's baseball,'' said Lee, whose '03 Marlins got some of their biggest contributions from two guys who started the year in the minors: Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.
The year before that, the Anaheim Angels won the World Series with no postseason experience among their core contributors: Garret Anderson, David Eckstein, Darin Erstad, Jarrod Washburn, Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez and John Lackey. The last two came up from the minors and had the biggest postseason impact of any of them.
''It plays a big role, but at the same time, baseball's a very funny game and anything can happen at any given time,'' said Floyd, whose '97 Marlins had a roster brimming with hired-gun, veteran free agents. ''You've just got to play smart and intelligent. Don't try to do too much.''
Cubs center fielder Jacque Jones, who played on three straight division winners with the Minnesota Twins (2002-04), downplayed the experience factor, too. He pointed out that the only Twins team among four playoff qualifiers this decade to win a postseason series was that first one in '02 -- which had about as much playoff experience as the Angels team that beat them in the ALCS.
''If you're in the big leagues, you have experience playing baseball,'' Lee said. ''It's just about performing. It's really about who gets hot this next month and plays the best baseball.''
Nobody in the Cubs' clubhouse has more experience winning than the team's first-year manager, who won two World Series as a player with the New York Yankees and another as the manager of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.
''I've had playoff experience. I've talked to them already,'' Piniella said. ''The real pressure was getting to the playoffs, and they've been through that. The experience they've gone through [this season] is much more beneficial than anything I can say.''