The old adage in baseball is you can never have enough pitching. While every team can vouch for that, the two organizations currently feeling this the most are the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians.

Heading into 2016, both squads had one clear strength: a solid starting rotation expected to be one of the best in baseball. By solely looking at the cumulative statistics – and paying no mind to who contributed – New York and Cleveland received the kind of production necessary to be on the verge of a playoff berth (via FanGraphs):

When it comes to fWAR production, the Mets rank second in baseball, while the Indians are second in the American League.

But with October on the horizon, they’ll each be forced to use a much different group than those who toed the line on Opening Day. With a seven-game lead in the American League Central, the Indians are all but assured a spot in the postseason. The Mets still have some work to do with just a one-game cushion in the National League Wild Card race, though.

Each situation is distinctly different, but the Mets and Indians will have a similarly steep hill to climb once the regular season comes to a close, and there seems to be quite a few naysayers.

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