Quote Originally Posted by shoeless joe View Post
13 lacked pitching. Graveman may be my all time favorite pitcher at state but he wasn’t elite at that time. Our best arms were pen guys. I know looking at the major leaguers would lead you to the belief you have but to me they were an example of a team that got hot at the rite time...you may could argue they finally put it together. But again the pitching prevents me from saying they were THE best team in the country. I agree with your thoughts on the 16 team. The homerun rigby surrendered was the obvious killer but that one swing prevented us from making that run. Zero doubt in my mind we shove it in game three.
Was the 2013 team perfect? No but they had BY FAR the most future Major Leaguers of any team in the country that year.

I get your point about the starting pitching and that's why I said "if Woodruff was healthy they were home free"

They were the best team though. A healthy Woodruff combined with a Graveman and a Major League bullpen, would've made them almost unbeatable from an analytical point of view.