The Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, neither of which existed the previous time the Pirates had a winning year, will meet for the National League Championship.

Whatever the result, this will be the fourth time a 1990s expansion team reaches the World Series. The past three -- the Florida Marlins in 1997, Diamondbacks in 2001 and Marlins again in 2003 -- won.

The '97 Marlins and '01 Diamondbacks bought their way to glory, but this year's clubs are more like the miserly Marlins of '03. Today's Diamondbacks and Rockies have the fifth and sixth lowest payrolls in baseball. A potential World Series opponent, the Cleveland Indians, has the eighth lowest.

Such evidence leaves "indifference" and "incompetence" as the only possible explanations for the Pirates' perennial failure. Take your pick, but the organization countered the charge of indifference last week by presenting angered fans with four more heads on spiked sticks. Fired along with manager Jim Tracy, who will be paid $1 million next season to fill out imaginary lineup cards, were senior director of player development Brian Graham, senior director of scouting Ed Creech and director of baseball operations Jon Mercurio.

Whoever succeeds them might look at Arizona and Colorado, with payrolls within the Pirates' means at $52 million and $54 million.

The Rockies, born in 1993, had been losers like the Pirates from 2001 to 2006. The Pirates twice were better, the Rockies were better three times and, two years ago, they shared the same record of 67-95.

This year, the Rockies went 90-73 and the Pirates 68-94. How?

Colorado's five best hitters are homegrown. Left fielder and Most Valuable Player candidate Matt Holliday (.340 average, .405 on-base average, .607 slugging average) was a seventh-round pick in 1998. First baseman Todd Helton (.320/.434/.494) was a first-round pick in 1995. Slick-fielding shortstop and Rookie of the Year candidate Troy Tulowitzki (.291/.359/.479) was a first-round pick in 2005. Right fielder Brad Hawpe (.291/.387/.539) was an 11th-round pick in 2000. Third baseman Garrett Atkins (.301/.367/.486) was a fifth-round pick in 2000. All five were more valuable this year than the best Pirates hitter.

The Pirates more than match the Rockies atop the pitching rotation with Ian Snell (26th-round pick in 2000) and Tom Gorzelanny (second round in 2003). But the Pirates, despite drafting pitchers with seven of their past nine No. 1 picks, haven't the same depth.

Jeff Francis, 26, a first-round pick in 2002, went 17-9, striking out 165 and walking 62 in 215¹/₃ innings for an ERA of 4.22. Aaron Cook (second round, 1997) had an ERA of 4.12 in 25 starts. Former Pirate Josh Fogg, 30, re-signed in February for $3.6 million, went 10-9 with a 4.94 ERA in 165²/₃ IP. (The Pirates hope Matt Morris does as well for $9.5 million next year.) Ubaldo Jiminez, 23, signed at 17 in the Dominican Republic, had a 4.28 ERA in 15 starts and was a hero of the Division Series.

The Diamondbacks are tougher to figure. Born in 1998, they fell apart shortly after their 2001 World Series title. In 2004, they went 51-111, then won 77 and 76 games the past two years before going 90-72 this season.

They won unconventionally, scoring 20 fewer runs than opponents this season. Such teams are supposed to lose, but manager Bob Melvin's deft use of a deep bullpen helped Arizona to a 47-29 record in games decided by one or two runs.

The Diamondbacks did have one dominant starter, Brandon Webb, an eighth-round pick in 2000. He went 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA in 236¹/₃ IP. No other Diamondbacks starter had an ERA below 4.25 except Randy Johnson, who was injured after 10 starts. That might be OK if the team hit, but the Pirates outscored them by a dozen runs this season.

The best Arizona hitter, Eric Byrnes, 31, was sort of a full-time Nate McLouth. Byrnes hit .286/.353/.460 in 699 plate appearances, with 50 stolen bases in 57 attempts. McLouth hit .258/.351/.459 in 382 plate appearances, with 22 stolen bases in 23 tries.

Byrnes was widely quoted this week for saying, "I don't blame the number crunchers, the computer geeks, for not being able to come up with a formula for how we got here."

For that I thank him. Better words to retire this column would be hard to find.