They have the post-season experience that the Cubbies don't......and they've got Bumgarner.
Let's see . . .
* The 1960 Pirates didn't have the Yankees' experience (or as many future Hall of Famers) . . . and won a thriller
of a seven-game Series. (Buck Showalter, call your office: Casey Stengel made the same mistake, not going to his
shutdown closer Luis Arroyo in Game Seven---bizarre, considering that in 1949 Stengel went to his then-shutdown
closer Joe Page in the
third inning to hold off the Red Sox the
rest of the way, until the Yankees could
make a comeback to win the pennant on the last day---not to mention arranging his rotation so that Whitey Ford
only pitched two games, both shutouts.)
* The 1964 Cardinals didn't have the Yankees' postseason experience . . . and won a thriller of a seven-game
Series.
* The 1966 Orioles didn't have the Dodgers' postseason experience . . . and (with a lot of help from Willie Davis's three
errors in a single inning in Game Two) swept the Dodgers.
* The 1969 Mets (with future Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan) didn't have anybody's postseason experience,
never mind the Orioles' . . . and, after losing Game One, won the next four Series games against a club (with future Hall
of Famers Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer) that was supposed to smother them.
* The 1971 Pirates (future Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente and a cast of several) didn't have the Orioles' postseason
experience (Clemente was the last man standing from the Pirates' 1960 World Series triumph) . . . and beat the Orioles
in seven.
* The 1972 Athletics had one less year's World Series experience than the budding Big Red Machine (one) . . . and beat them in
seven.
* The 1979 Pirates, a
very different team from the 1971 world champions, had no postseason experience compared to the
Orioles (who still had a few holdovers from their 1970 winners) . . . and won in seven.
* The 1982 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers were teams with no postseason experience (the Cardinals were
a far, far cry from their 1960s teams) until they tangled in the World Series . . . and the Cardinals won in seven.
* The 1984 Tigers and Padres? Neither of those teams as then composed had much postseason experience (a different team of Tigers
lost the 1972 ALCS) . . . and the Tigers beat the Padres in five.
* The 1986 Mets, rebuilt from 1983 up, were in their first postseason against the Red Sox, rebuilt from 1982 up and in their first
postseason since the rebuild . . . and the Mets beat them in seven thrillers. (Well, Games Six and Seven were the real thrillers.)
* The 1987 Twins had no postseason experience (not this edition, anyway) to send against the Cardinals . . . and won in seven.
* The 1990 Reds---
extremely different from the 1970s Machine---had no postseason experience compared to the A's . . . and
swept the bastards.
* The 1992 Toronto Blue Jays had no postseason experience since 1985 (and were a very different team by now); the Atlanta Braves
hadn't seen a postseason since 1969 . . . and the Jays beat the Braves in six.
* The 1996 Yankees were seeing the franchise's first postseason since 1981, and with an extremely re-made team to boot . . . and
beat the now-experienced Braves in six.
* The 1997 Florida Marlins were in their sixth year of life as a franchise . . . and beat the now-experienced Cleveland Indians in a
seven-game Series.
* The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks were even younger as a franchise . . . and beat the well-experienced Yankees in seven.
* The 2002 Anaheim Angels hadn't seen a postseason since a very different club lost the 1986 ALCS . . . and beat the Giants in
seven.
* The 2010 Giants were a different club (completely) to the 2002 edition . . . facing an equally postseason-inexperienced club of
Texas Rangers, and beating them in five.
* The 2015 Royals had only one postseason of experience in that edition, faced a Mets team completely overhauled from their 2000
World Series team and 2007-2008 pennant race collapsers . . . and beat the Mets in five games all of which the Mets could have won
but for their porous defense.
Postseason experience isn't
always a guarantor of subsequent postseason conquest.
