This postseason Terry Francona relied heavily on this three best relievers throughout the postseason.  One reason why he did it was Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller, and Cody Allen were all terrific relievers.  Another reason why is the Indians starting rotation was decimated by injuries.  Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar were out of the rotation due to injury before the postseason, and Trevor Bauer lacerated his hand while fixing a drone.  Francona was forced to do what he did in the postseason.  It was not unlike Willie Randolph in 2006.

Like Francona, the Mets were running away with the division when disaster struck.  Their ace, Pedro Martinez, was ruled out for the postseason due to an injured leg, and then all hope of his return for the postseason was abandoned when it was discovered he had a torn rotator cuff.  While Steve Trachsel was purportedly healthy a year removed from a cervical discectomy, he wasn’t the same pitcher anymore finishing the year with a 4.97 ERA.  On the eve of the NLDS, Orlando Hernandez (“El Duque”) suffered a torn calf muscle thereby putting John Maine in position to start Game 1.

The surprise starter Maine gave the Mets 4.1 strong innings.  Still, with runners on first and second with one out, Randolph wasn’t taking any chances in a 2-1 game.  He first went to Pedro Feliciano to get Kenny Lofton, and then he went to Chad Bradford to get Nomar Garciaparra.  The bullpen pitched the final 4.2 innings to secure the victory.  This would essentially be how Randolph would manage the rest of the 2006 postseason in non-Tom Glavine starts.  Overall, here’s a look at when the Mets bullpen entered each game that postseason:

Overall, the Mets starters pitched 47.2 innings that entire postseason meaning they averaged 4.2 innings per start.  This year, the Indians starters pitched the very same 4.2 innings per star those 2006 Mets did.  Despite Francona and Randolph having the very same approaches to the postseason games, Francona was hailed as a visionary and a genius, whereas many blame Randolph for the Mets failures in the postseason.  The difference?

It started in Game 2 of the NLCS.  Mota infamously shook off Paul Lo Duca, and Scott Spiezio hit a game tying triple.  When Billy Wagner subsequently allowed a So Taguchi lead-off home run, it was a completely different NLCS.  Then in Game 7, Aaron Heilman left a change-up up in the zone, and Yadier Molina hit a go-ahead two run home run.  If not for those two mistakes, the Mets are in the World Series, and quite possibly, it is Randolph, not Francona that is seen as the visionary.

But the Mets lost because their pitchers did not execute in the two biggest moments of that series.  As such, Francona is the genius because to the victor goes the spoils.