We've heard it said that pitching wins championships. That may be true in real life, but is it also true in the Baseball Challenge? Considering your starting lineup consists of nine hitter slots and only one pitching slot, it's obvious that, on the whole, hitters will accumulate far more points during the course of the season. That said, a pitching staff can rack up more points than any single hitter, and it's not close. Consider that the Washington Nationals' pitching staff has racked up 647 points this season, while Josh Hamilton, the top hitter in the Challenge, has scored just 172.

It's also important to keep in mind that a win is worth only five points, so your best bets aren't always the teams at the top of the standings. Of the top-15 team pitching staffs, seven of them have losing records. In fact, the San Diego Padres, the least-owned staff in the Challenge at 0.3 percent, have tallied 38 more points than the Philadelphia Phillies' staff, the most widely owned at 16.6 percent. In other words, don't just assume the best pitching staff on paper is always the best option. That's clearly not the case. … MORE

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