The best thing about the World Series is that the Mets will be playing in it for the first time since 2000. That’s enough to make any Mets fan happy. What makes it even better for me is that the Mets got there by essentially abandoning one of the front office’s core beliefs: That the success of the bullpen depends on the utilization of multiple lefty relievers.

Without a doubt, the Mets tried to utilize multiple lefties in the pen this year. Shoot, on the Opening Day roster, there were three of them! There was Jerry Blevins, Sean Gilmartin and Alex Torres. Blevins was very effective then got hurt in a freak accident and re-injured in an even freakier way. Gilmartin survived the whole season but generally was not used as a lefty specialist. Torres was used as a specialist and cut because he had the unmitigated gall to perform better against righties than lefties.

The Mets also used Jack Leathersich, who was decent in his brief time, and Dario Alvarez, who was not. But the one they really tried with was the one who shall not be named. That guy stunk from the moment he arrived but they continued to use him, hoping he would experience some success so they could justify using him in the postseason. But it never happened.

The nameless one finished with these numbers: 16 games, 8.2 IP, 13.50 ERA, 2.077 WHIP and a (-0.48) WPA.

Instead, the Mets went out and got real relievers and ended up with real success. The de facto lefty specialist is now Jon Niese and he’s pitched just twice in the nine playoff games so far. The Mets are scheming for ways to bring in their best reliever instead of their lefty reliever. Jeurys Familia has pitched in eight of the nine games and the Mets are 7-2 in the postseason.

It’s a trend that we should hope continues in the World Series. While the Royals do feature multiple lefty batters in their lineup, they’re pretty good against lefthanders. Eric Hosmer had a .730 OPS this year against lefties, Alex Gordon had an .817 mark and Mike Moustakas checked in with an .823 OPS against southpaws. None of these guys is anything close to Ryan Howard (.418 OPS) against port siders.

Meanwhile, the Royals are a team known for their bullpen and they’re not swimming in lefties, either. In 11 playoff games, only 5.2 innings have come from lefties. Danny Duffy spent most of the season in the rotation but moved to the bullpen in late September and is working exclusively as a reliever in the postseason. The results have not been pretty, as he’s allowed 3 ER in 3.2 IP. Franklin Morales is the closest thing to a true LOOGY this World Series matchup has.

Morales had fewer IP (62.1) than games (67) this season but he faced more RHB (151) than LHB (107). Not quite the ratio that Blevins had this year, where 14 of the 15 batters he faced were lefties. In the playoffs, Morales did not pitch in the ALDS but in the ALCS he appeared in two games and pitched two innings. It’s important to note those two appearances were mop-up ones in the only two games they lost versus the Blue Jays.

There’s little doubt that Morales will be featured at some point this series, especially with all of the lefty batters the Mets typically use. Yet at the same time, Ned Yost won’t be awake at night, plotting ways to get Morales into the game. Instead he’ll be focusing on how to make sure that Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis take the mound, much like the Mets and Familia.

So, as the Mets get ready for their fifth World Series in franchise history, let’s take a second to remember those lefties used in vain by the Mets since the Sandy Alderson/Terry Collins regime began, under the mistaken belief that they were critical to team success. Let’s thank our lucky stars that we will not see any of the following:

Tim Byrdak

Mike O’Connor

Pat Misch

Danny Herrera

Justin Hampson

Robert Carson

Garrett Olson

Sean Henn

Scott Rice

Pedro Feliciano

John Lannan

The above list does not include Josh Edgin and Dana Eveland, who were actually good.

Most people view this World Series as historic because it’s the first ever Fall Classic to feature two expansion teams. Here’s hoping that we’ll also view it as historic because it made it crystal clear to an entire nation that you don’t need LOOGYs to have a successful, championship team.

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