Yankees: 3 things we learned from 2019 ALCS defeat

In contrast, the Nationals versus the Astros

While the Washington Nationals are a good team, they are not as good as the Yankees. Yet, they were able to put multi-hit and multi-run innings together in the first two games of the World Series against the Astros, while the Bombers partially failed to do so when they also played in Houston.

And the Nats have shown that beating both pitching supermen, Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander is key to neutralizing the ‘Stros — and it is indeed possible.

Admittedly, the Nats do have a deeper starting pitching staff than the Yanks, and that matters.

The team is led by two of the best starting pitchers in the NL, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, and their No. 3 and 4 starters have performed well, too, during the regular season.

The composition of the Nats’ starting pitching staff is a good model for the Bombers to emulate this offseason.

However, according to GM Brian Cashman (per the NY Post), during the Yankees end-of-season press conference, he said:

"“Pitching is not what cost us that series with the Astros… I felt that our hitting with runners in scoring position is what sent us home.”"

While I agree that pitching alone may not have cost the Yankees the series, the team’s throwers could have performed better and kept the team in games longer than they did.