Mike + The Mechanics

This week's installment of Mike + The Mechanics is focused on an issue that's been heavily scrutinized since its inception over 35 years ago-- the five-man rotation. It does considerably more harm than good. In an effort to keep this ball club in touch with it's roots, we here at Mandatory Mustache insist that this dead-end philosophy be put to sleep once and for all. It originated as a technique to keep pitchers healthier and limit the amount of starts, allowing teams to build more steam going into the playoff race. It sounds like a good idea and worked well for certain teams, most notably the L.A. Dodgers. The Dodgers also happened to have a rotation that consisted of Claude Osteen, Don Sutton and Bill Singer. Who were the fourth and fifth guys you ask? Al Downing and Tommy John. Pretty solid five-man rotation. Hell, why not pick up Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson. You'd have yourself the best 7-man rotation in baseball. It's just not realistic unless you have a pitching staff equipped with absolute ringers.

The reality of this flawed concept is that you end up with a weak fifth man in the rotation and more importantly, weak starters. If you switch to the more classic four-man rotation, you will allow your more powerful starters to build up the endurance to last a full season and get closer to 40 starts. It helps win games and it makes for much more enjoyable baseball.

This is just a drop in the ocean as far as pitching staff complaints are concerned. These are a few others I will get to in due time:
-Rick Peterson and his obvious influence on the rotation's overall hairstyle choices. WTF?
-Glavine's uniform decisions. ie. Always utilizing the inferior back and blue caps.
-Current mustache count remaining at a dismal, embarrassing zero.