The 2013 World Series hasnt even started and many are already dubbing this MLB post-season to be the "Year of the Pitcher. Hydro Flask Korting ." No team has managed to score better than three runs more than once in the League Championship round, with each club pitching a shutout in the opening three games. So, whats behind this years pitching dominance? The first and most obvious factor is sheer talent. Each of the four remaining playoff teams boast a blend of ace talent and veteran presence that has led to individual pitchers stepping up and tossing gem after gem to will their teams toward a pennant. Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Jake Peavy and Zack Greinke all have Cy Young Awards on their resumes. Max Scherzer is very likely to join that group once the 2013 hardware gets handed out, while Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright led the NL in wins and logged more innings than any other pitcher during the regular season. But its not just those pitchers – lest we forget David Prices Wild Card game heroics, Anibal Sanchez near-no-hitter or the efforts of Red Sox vets John Lackey and Jon Lester – that are forming the narrative. Rookies like Michael Wacha, Hyun-Jun Ryu and Sonny Gray have all tossed gems that have pushed the "Year of the Pitcher" to the forefront. While Verlander would eventually get the better of Gray in the decisive NLDS game and Ryu essentially is a rookie in name only (being 26 and a veteran of seven dominant seasons in Korea), Wacha has certainly emerged as one of Octobers biggest stars. Drafted just over a year ago – 19th overall by the Cards in 2012 – Wacha has taken a huge leap forward this fall, flirting with a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLDS and following that up with a six-plus-inning shutout performance to power a 1-0 NLCS Game 2 Cardinals win over Kershaw. It would be an easy fix to just flat-out state that the pitching has been that good, but its not like these starters have been facing inferior lineups. All four of these teams have the potential to be offensive juggernauts, with the Red Sox, Tigers and Cardinals having finished top-three in runs scored in 2013. All four teams can boast of game-breaking bats in their line-up, from Miguel "Triple Crown" Cabrera to the playoff pedigree of David Ortiz, clutch performers like Carlos Beltran and David Freese to break-out stars like Yasiel Puig. But still, the Red Sox 1-0 win on Tuesday marked the fourth of this years post-season, tying a record for most 1-0 games in a single post-season since the dawn of the LCS era, previously set in 1991 with all four involving the Atlanta Braves three-headed monster of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery. History might tell us that its just a recurring trend swinging back the pitchers way. Since the inception of the League Championship Series MVP Awards in 1977 (NL) and 1980 (AL), starting pitchers seem to claim the award in clusters. Of the 10 pitchers that have won ALCS MVP there have been three separate occasions of three pitchers winning the award in a five-year span or less. More pitchers have claimed the NLCS MVP Award (12), but those wins, too have come largely thanks to three- and four-year spans of pitching dominance. Whats even more curious is that those spans basically overlap. Between 1990 and 1995 a starting pitcher won the LCS MVP six out of 10 times. Between 1997 and 2001 starters again took six of 10. The trend would repeat itself once more between 2005 and 2009. Since 2009, however, no starting pitcher has won either the LCS or World Series MVP Award. Is this season just the start of another cycle? Regardless of why its happening, the starting pitchers appear to be on a collective roll this October and were only just past the half-way point of the month. What do you think is behind this post-seasons pitching dominance? As always, its Your! Call. Hydro Flask 32 OZ Belgie . -- Marty Havlat scored three goals for the first time in nearly nine years, and the San Jose Sharks prevented Colorado from clinching the Central Division title with a 5-1 victory over the Avalanche on Friday night. Hydro Flask Bestellen . "Theyve been good against everybody," he said. Carlos Gomez launched a three-run homer and Matt Garza battled into the seventh inning for his first win in four starts to help the Brewers continue their mastery of the Rockies with a 7-4 victory Saturday. http://www.belgiehydroflask.com/hydro-flask-straw-lid.html .com) - Thursday marks the official debut of a new dirt racing surface at Meydan Racecourse.WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Lizette Salas didnt have to wait long to be tested in her latest attempt at a breakthrough victory on the LPGA Tour. The challenge came on the first hole Sunday in the Kingsmill Championship, after she was overly cautious with her first putt, leaving it nearly 10 feet short of the cup with a sliding, downhill test to save par. She made it, the start of a day when she did little wrong on her way to a four-shot victory. "Yeah, that was a big putt just to start off the day," Salas said. "Downhill slider to the right. I mean, I even threw in a fist pump because I knew how important that was for me mentally and on a confidence standpoint." The 24-year-old Salas made it look easy the rest of the way, even while shooting just an even-par 71 on the River Course. Salas started the day with a three-shot lead, doubled it with birdies on the par-5 third and par-3 fifth. A bogey on the par-4 eighth was her only hiccup -- and only her third bogey in four rounds -- until she three-putted the par-3 17th. She finished at 13-under 271 and earned $195,000. Yani Tseng, Kraft Nabisco winner Lexi Thompson and Sarah Jane Smith tied for second. Salas was never really challenged in the final round on the River Course, and when her final putt fell on the 18th hole, she cupped her head in her hands and covered her face in celebration. Her winning moment was quickly interrupted, however, when four fellow players arrived and doused her with champagne, water and wine. The victory came after Salas flirted with victory several times in her three years on tour. It also came after she missed the cut two weeks ago and realized she needed to change her mental approach to give herself a fighting chance. "I felt like I wanted to be perfect all the time," she said. "I felt like I needed to play like a top tier golfer every week. Thats not it. Its about feeling confident. Golf is a sport where you cant control everything. ... I just took a step back and looked at golf differently. I just tried to have fun this week. That was the most important thing." This year, she tied for third in the season-opening event in the Bahamas and shared the lead after three rounds in the Kia Classic in her home staate of California, but Anna Nordqvist closed with a 5-under 67 -- to Salas 70 -- to win by one. Hydro Flask Goedkoop. Last year, playing alongside winner Inbee Park in the final group of the Kraft Nabisco, Salas shot 79 to tie for 25th. Two weeks later, Salas lost a playoff to Suzann Pettersen in the LPGA LOTTE in Hawaii. Salas chunked her approach into the water on the first extra hole after closing with a tournament-record 62. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Salas was introduced to the game when her father, the head mechanic at Azusa Greens west of Los Angeles, did some handyman jobs for the club pro and, instead of pay, asked him to teach his daughter to play. She went on to star at Southern California, where she was a four-time All-America selection and helped the Trojans win the 2008 NCAA title. The victory came on a rare weekend when her parents didnt come to the tournament, but watched from their home in California, and it brought tears to the eyes of Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, who has been a mentor of sorts for Salas. "Im crying. Im so proud of her," Lopez said by telephone after watching the celebration on the green. "She looked great out there, just very confident and swinging great. ... Like she said on TV, she was ready. It was time." Salas expects "some tears of happiness" when she sees her parents Monday. Tseng, seeking her first victory since 2012, got within three with three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine, but she finished with two pars and a double bogey for a 69, expanding Salas lead to five shots. Thompson had a 69, and Smith shot 66 -- the best round of the day. Tseng nearly made it very interesting at the par-5 15th, but her eagle putt stopped just short of the cup. "One more roll it will be in," she said. "I know if I make that I have a good chance." The tournament also featured a golf rarity, a double eagle. It was scored by Frenchwoman Joanna Klatten on No. 15. Klatten said her drive left her a perfect distance away for her 3-wood, and she had a feeling something great was coming. "Its intuition. I had a good feeling about that shot," she said. "Of course there is a little bit of luck in that." ' ' '