By Brandon Contes When it comes to the playoffs, how important is starting pitching? The best rotations in Major League Baseball going into this season were considered to be the Phillies, Giants, Red Sox, Braves, and even the Athletics, only one of which made the postseason. The best rotations going into the playoffs were the Phillies and the Tigers, neither of which made it to the Fall Classic. The Cardinals and Rangers are in the World Series not because of their starting rotations, but because of how their bullpens performed. Looking at the two teams competing for a championship, the Cardinals and the Rangers, how many elite starting pitchers are left? Hands down the best starting pitcher remaining is Chris Carpenter, but even he is long removed from his 2005 CY Young campaign. I would argue that aside from Carpenter, there is not even one top 40 starting pitcher left. This is an era where starting pitchers are limited because of their pitch count, and in the playoffs their leash only gets shorter. A pitcher can give up 3 hits and 2 runs in the first inning and what does the manager do? Warms up the bullpen. Unless it is Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, or another elite pitcher, allowing a third run will almost certainly force a pitching change. During the playoffs, managers are not going to let pitchers bury them early. They will always look to their bullpen to get out of a jam. As important as a closer is to a team, a manager will never go to him unless they are in position to win the game in the 8th inning or later. More often than not, its the bridge from the starter to the closer that will determine a game. Whether the starter went seven strong or gets knocked out before the 4th inning, you need the middle relievers that can shutout a team. The most recent team to have a pitching staff as dominant as the Phillies was the Atlanta Braves in the 1990s. They were led by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz for over a decade and had only one World Series Championship to show for it. The most recent dynasty in baseball has been the Yankees. Though they had strong starting pitching, they never had an elite staff. Yes they had clutch hitting every year, but they also had a dominant bullpen. Not only did they have Mariano Rivera, the best reliever in the history of baseball, but they had elite relievers such as John Wetteland, Jeff Nelson, and Mike Stanton. Without them, a dynasty would not have been possible. This season the Phillies had a rotation loaded with four aces. All four of their starting pitchers are better than every starter remaining in the playoffs right now. Looking back to their 2008 Championship team, their number four starter this season was their ace when they won the World Series. What did they have in 2008? A dominant bullpen led by Brad Lidge, JC Romero, and Ryan Madson. This presents a number of questions. Why do teams not look to spend more on their bullpens? Why is it that every offseason the starting pitchers get the most money thrown at them and the team with the best rotation is favored to win? The answer is lack of consistency. Other than Mariano, no reliever is a guarantee from year to year. Latroy Hawkins was dominant from 2002-2004, then he was terrible until 2009 when he had a bounce back year. Brad Lidge, JC, Romero, and Ryan Madson from the 2008 Phillies have all been very inconsistent throughout their careers. It is very rare to find a reliever who can put together three great seasons in a row. Once they get to the playoffs, its even more of a crapshoot. If you build a team solely based on the bullpen, while they might succeed in the playoffs, in the regular season they would falter rather quickly. You need the starting pitching, the horses who can eat innings to get you to the playoffs. But, once you get to the postseason your relievers need to step up. When it comes to relievers, like a great kicker in football, its rare to find that consistency year in and year out. When it comes to a championship team, its not always up to the players that make the most money, the best hitters, starting pitchers, or even the manager. It often comes down to the team that can get a hot bullpen like the Yankees from the 90s, the Phillies from 2008, or the Cardinals and Rangers of today. You do not necessarily need one dominant ace, or even four aces to win a championship. When it comes to October, you need a dominant bullpen. Unfortunately for General Managers, the relievers that make up a great bullpen one year cannot always be counted on to be great the next year. Listen to me on WGBB 1240AM Sports Radio NY and on Twitter (@brandoncontes)