Rookies Ted Lilly and Randy Keisler could make an impact, but neither was impressive in his September callup. Can expect to play worse Paul O'Neill hit uncharacteristically well against lefties last year, which won't continue. He's also at an age where a falloff is very likely. Tino and Brosius might not get worse, but they won't get better. There's no single formula for postseason success.
Some teams make it there primarily on offense, some on pitching, some on a wing and a prayer.
But rarely do teams reach or win the World Series with gaping holes in their games, like a horrendous pitching rotation or a lineup full of automatic outs. Yet that's exactly what the Yankees will try to do in 2001. Despite the presence of at least two and as many as five major holes in their lineup, the Yankees decided to spend their millions upgrading the fourth slot in their rotation instead of fixing the problems they had scoring runs in 2000. Rarely has a team gone so far with so little production from the right side of the defensive spectrum. Since players with good bats but lousy gloves will move to the right over the course of their careers, most teams find their best bats concentrated on the right side of the spectrum.