Monte Lee
The long and grueling 162-game slate of the Major League Baseball season is over and the fall classic is about to begin. 12 teams are hoping to advance to the World Series. Only one of those teams will be named the World Series champions.
As the regular season comes to the close and the playoffs begin, we asked College of Charleston head baseball coach Monte Lee six questions about division playoffs and the World Series.
RELATED: Coach Monte Lee takes Cougars to NCAA Super Regionals in 2014.
Q: What is your assessment of the teams making the playoffs this year?
A: Of the ten teams in the playoffs, five are ranked in the top eight in ERA, and seven are ranked in the top 10 in runs scored. Strong starting pitching and bullpens are going to be very important. At this stage of the year, it’s going to boil down to the team that makes the least mistakes. Whoever wins the World Series is going to be the team who pitches and plays defense, and executes offensively when they get a chance to score runs. If you leave guys on base and make errors, those are the teams that will have early exits from the postseason.
Q: Is it more important to have strong starting pitchers or a strong bullpen for the playoffs?
A: Strong starting pitching. A quality start makes a huge difference on how deep you can go into the playoffs. When you’re playing a five-game or a seven-game series, if you’re not getting quality starts and going into the seventh inning with your starting pitching, you’re leaning on your bullpen early in the game and that can burn your bullpen up. To keep your relievers sharp, you want to use them in short outings opposed to extended outings. The team that wins the World Series is going to be the team that can get into the seventh inning with a majority of their starting pitchers.
Q: What team did you not expect to make it into the playoffs this year?
A: I would say the Angels. They struggled last year and didn’t have a ton of roster turnover, but they found themselves on the top of the AL West. Even though they have a very talented offense, they struggled last year. Kansas City doesn’t surprise me because they have one of the strongest bullpens in the big leagues and added James Shields who is a big-inning pitcher.
Q: Which two teams will cause the best World Series match-up?
A: I think it’s the Tigers and the Nationals, simply because they’ve been the best two teams and they have the best two rosters, in my opinion. When you look at the Tigers, they’ve got Verlander, they’ve got Scherzer, they’ve got Price, they’ve got Sanchez. They’ve got three guys who have won Cy Young awards; they’ve got the best hitter on the planet in Miguel Cabrera.
You look at the Nationals and they have several star-power type players. They’ve got a guy like Strasberg who can dominate on any given day. Zimmermann, Ian Desmond at shortstop… they had the best team in the National League all year.
I would like to see the Orioles make it because it’s been so long since they’ve made a good run; I’d like to see them make it to the end. I think Buck Showalter is the best manager in the game and Baltimore has a tremendous fan base. It’d be great for the game if the Orioles were in the World Series. But, I do think it’s going to be the Tigers and the Nationals.
Q: There is a chance that cold weather could be a factor in the World Series. What impact does a chilly night have on players?
A: I don’t think cold weather is much of a factor at this point, simply because all these teams have played in cold weather, whether it’s at home or on the road. It’s the playoffs; I don’t think cold nights are going to have that great of an effect. If anything, the wind is going have more of an effect than the temperature. If the wind is blowing in, obviously it’s going to help the team with the better pitching staff; if the wind is blowing out it’s going to help the team with the better offense and the most power.
Q: Which team will win the World Series this year?
A: Detroit Tigers, simply because they have the best starting pitching and they have the best hitter in the world with Miguel Cabrera. They’ve got three Cy Young winners in their rotation and a number four in Anibal Sanchez who can punch out 14-15 guys per start if he’s got his stuff going. I think they have the strongest pitching staff, and that’s usually the best way to pick a champion.
