If A.J. Hinch makes an induction speech at Cooperstown someday, he could thank Lance McCullers Jr., Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton for helping to make him look really smart during the Houston Astros' inaugural championship run.
Hinch rightly received credit for eschewing the traditional bullpen structure after Ken Giles’ declining performance midway through October last year, and for picking the right guys at the right time to get outs late in games. But unless the hands in the all-hands-on-deck strategy had performed as well as McCullers, Peacock, Morton and others did, Hinch probably would have been second-guessed for eternity (which, as fellow manager Bruce Bochy once noted, is what happens when you lose in the postseason).