Cws

[engie]

When ucla rode their pitching to a natty, it was more than 2 starters

It was 2 elite starters and an elite closer. Those 3 guys threw 60% of their total innings on the year and nearly every inning while in Omaha. It's a myth that it takes pitching depth to win while in Omaha. The only time in postseason baseball where pitching depth is really key is a situation where you fall into the loser's bracket of a regional. It plays in the SEC tourney, but it's not like that matters much one way or another. UCLA had an average 3rd starter and a bad midweek guy. And 2 pretty good middle relievers that threw about 40 innings each.

For reference, their closer threw about as many innings that year as Austin Sexton threw for us this year. UCLA is as distinct as any case ever of riding 3 arms to a title.

And also, your comment was "take 2 elite starters and surround them with our pen and bats" -- which already makes the assumption that two of them improved to elite status. If we have 2 Strattonesque jr arms -- we are probably going to host and have a great chance to be CWS bound.