CHICAGO — Off days in the postseason are an oasis, a moment to step away from the intensity, take a breath, think a deeper thought than simply about the game just played or the one at hand.

So with that respite, I decided on Monday to ask Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein a big-picture question with NLCS Game 3 still more than 24 hours away on Tuesday.

Essentially I proposed that we have seen all different ways to win at this time of year. His Red Sox clubs won with relentless offense. The Royals last year with a deep bullpen. The Giants last year with one great starter (Madison Bumgarner). The 2001 Diamondbacks with two great starters (Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling). The dynastic
Yankees with an unbreakable closer (Mariano Rivera).

But is there a best way? If you can pick one phase to excel at for October, would you, for example, take four power starters like the Mets have?

“The only thing I know for sure is that whatever team wins the World Series, their particular style of play will be completely in vogue and trumpeted from the media all offseason — and in front offices — as the way to win.” Epstein said. “So if we win the World Series, it’s going to be a necessity for every team to develop their own core of young, homegrown position players. If the Mets win, they’ll be required to have four ridiculous young starting pitchers on the same staff. If the Royals win, you need to have speed and athleticism and contact up and down your lineup. If the Blue Jays win you need to fill your lineup full of right-handed epic mashers and make huge trades at the deadline. So I think that’s the only thing I can say with certainty. This game is too nuanced and too complicated for there to be any one way.”

Epstein is correct, of course. You can reach the final dog pile in all kinds of ways. And, naturally, you would want to be as good at as many facets as possible and — perhaps more important — avoid being poor at anything.

Nevertheless, if I knew I only could be great at one element, I think the Mets have the best one for this time of year.

Because superb power starting pitching could limit how many outs you need to get from a bullpen. It eases how many runs you need to score to win. Even with a 13-run outburst in division series Game 3 and Daniel Murphy having an historic postseason run, the Mets hit just .212 with a .651 OPS in their first seven playoff games. The Mets had five wins in those seven games. One came when they scored those 13 runs. In the other four, they scored three runs twice and four runs once.

The Mets’ rotation led all 10 playoff teams in ERA (2.74), OPS against (.595) and homers allowed (just one in 42 2/3 innings).

But the most important stat is this: The Met starters were averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine innings, which is currently the highest ever for any team that played at least four games in a postseason (thanks to Elias Sports Bureau for helping with the research). The 1975 Pirates averaged 12.6, but played just three games and, in one of those, John Candelaria struck out 14 in 7 2/3 innings.

At this time of year, the ability to put the ball in play against such high-end pitching only seems to grow. All-or-nothing hitters such as Yoenis Cespedes tend to struggle, guys who make consistent contact such as Murphy become more valuable. One reason the Royals’ offense seems to play up at this time of year is that it can defy power pitching and put balls in play. But most teams don’t do that, which only heightens the advantage of having a power rotation such as the Mets.

The Mets generally have played well on defense this postseason, with their shift positioning working out well. But one of the reasons I would take the high-end starting pitching at this time of year is because it would ease some of the burden of even a bad defense.

Fifty-eight of the 128 outs recorded by the Mets’ rotation were by strikeout (45.3 percent). So nearly half the outs recorded so far in the postseason by the Mets starters were on balls not in play.

Yep, you still have to catch the ball, and hit the ball enough to score some runs and have enough relief to get to the finish line with a win.

But at this time of year, I believe the Mets have the most valuable commodity.