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Key to October could be overcoming hurdles
- Updated: September 20, 2016
The Cleveland Indians are in a tough spot. No sugarcoating this part of the deal. To lose both Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar — two of their top three starting pitchers — is the kind of misfortune that can derail a magical season.
Or it can bring out the best in a team.
We’ve seen that resilience on display again and again this baseball season as a string of contenders have plowed through a mind-numbing series of injuries.
Depending on how the postseason plays out, October’s team could be the one that has been able to overcome all the obstacles thrown into its path.
For instance:
1. METS Call the screenwriters. Get the casting director. Oh, and have someone ice the champagne. Can this ride end any other way? Who’ll play, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman?
The Mets haven’t had Matt Harvey and David Wright in the second half of the season. They definitely won’t have Neil Walker the rest of this season and may not have Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom.
You never know, right? Next man up. Just when things seemed to be coming undone, the Mets are on a 20-8 run that has them positioned for a second straight postseason appearance.
That decimated rotation has been baseball’s best the past month. Lugo and Gsellman are 6-1. Addison Reed has deepened the bullpen. Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera have 23 home runs in 31 games.
If they get to the postseason, their rotation will start with Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon, who are capable of leading a deep run. Hang on, Mets fans. The fun could just be starting.
2. DODGERS You want crazy, here’s crazy. The Dodgers have placed 27 players on the disabled list, tying the 2012 Red Sox for the most in 30 seasons. They’ve used 31 pitchers, including 15 starters.
Rookie pitchers have started 65 of their 151 games — 43 percent. And it hasn’t mattered as the Dodgers lead the NL West by five games and are closing in on …