It doesn't have to end the way it always seems to end.

There's no provision in the U.S. Constitution that says there has to be a parade every Halloween in the Canyon of Heroes. Or that Mariano Rivera has to go through another World Series serving up more broken bats than hits.

Or that Derek Jeter has to propel his way onto the cover of every magazine in America except Better Homes and Gardens. Or that Sinatra has to sing something about the top of the heap until 3 a.m.

This World Series doesn't have to end that way. The Yankees are beatable. The Diamondbacks are a team that can beat them. We've got it all figured out. So here are five reasons Arizona could conceivably end the dynasty:

1. Schilling and Johnson
"The way to beat the Yankees," said one AL scout, "is with power pitching." And what do you know -- Bank One Ballpark, as you may have noticed, just happens to be the power-pitching capitol of the world.

Two gentlemen named Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson work there. The Diamondbacks' quick series against Atlanta has allowed them to set up those two to start four of the first six games. And after hauling their team for seven months across the vast baseball ocean like a two-man tugboat, they'd be happy to try it for another week.

We've already seen the Yankees hit .143 in a postseason series against Johnson. Granted, that was the '95 Yankees -- a team that had Dion James in left field and no rings on any fingers. But the Unit can and will take the Yankees' left-handed hitters out of the equation and out of the lineup.

	Curt Schilling will start Game 1 of the World Series for Arizona.

Know how many career hits David Justice, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez have against Johnson? How about zero -- in seven at-bats. Know how many balls they've even put in play against Johnson? How about one -- by O'Neill. So that's 0-for-7, with six strikeouts, if you're keeping track.

"They can't even play those guys," said an AL advance scout. "And the other problem the Yankees have is that Schilling can do things against the Yankees' left-handed hitters that can really give them problems."

O'Neill and Martinez are a combined 5-for-29 (.172) against Schilling, with eight strikeouts. Justice, on the other hand, is 10-for-28 (.357), with four homers. But that was against a much less-polished, more fastball-oriented edition of Curt Schilling.

This Curt Schilling will show up with two breaking balls, a splitter, a feel for changing patterns throughout a game and series -- and, especially, an unmatched big-game presence. And if he gets Arizona rolling in Game 1, with Johnson looming, he can take the Yankees right out of that two-week comfort zone they've been in since Mike Mussina started spinning those zeroes in Game 3 against Oakland.

If you're going to beat the Yankees, you either have to hit their starters or outpitch them. Well, maybe the Yankees are so destined to win, it wouldn't matter if the Diamondbacks started Sandy Koufax and Lefty Grove. But "in a short series, anybody with two good pitchers has a chance," said one AL executive. "You only need four wins. So if those guys just win every time they pitch, there's your four wins."

It's a dangerous formula. But it has worked for this team over the long haul and the short haul.

When Schilling and Johnson have started this year, Arizona has played .747 baseball (56-19) -- meaning, essentially, they're either the '98 Yankees or the '87 Lakers. When anyone else pitches, Arizona plays .379 baseball -- meaning, essentially, they're the Devil Rays.

"I know one thing," said a scout. "The Yankees' right-handed hitters are going to have to have a big series."

2. Old age
Roll the San Diego Padres into Yankee Stadium for the World Series, and knees shake, heads spin and sliders hang. But one thing you have to say about these Diamondbacks:

Young and impressionable, they're not.

We're talking about a roster featuring 17 players in their 30s and one (42-year-old pitcher Mike Morgan) who was once a teammate of Willie Horton, Rico Carty and Tito Fuentes.

True, most of them haven't played a World Series in The Bronx, N.Y., before. But if Schilling and Johnson get them two games up before the 718 area code comes into play, they figure to keep their heads.

"Playing these games is not really new for us," said Mark Grace. "Ever since the beginning of September, every game has been a must-win game for us. We had to fight like hell just to hold off the Giants. So even before the playoffs started, we probably had 25 must-win games.

"Then we went into that Cardinals series, and every game -- you couldn't even breathe, man. So one thing we know we can do is stay focused on the job at hand."

We'll acknowledge that if you take away Schilling, Johnson and 57-homer man Luis Gonzalez, this was not a great team. But it has been a very unflappable team.

"I don't remember us ever taking a win and rolling it into a great winning streak, or taking a loss and turning that into a big skid," Schilling said. "We've done a very good job of just showing up every day and playing every game like it was its own little entity. And one of the big reasons for that is all the veterans we have."

Starting April 13, after they righted the ship following a 3-6 start, the Diamondbacks had only three losing streaks all year longer than three games -- and none longer than five.

So this is not the Oakland A's, a team of Generation X-ers who looked on this as on-the-job training for how to play in big games. This is a collection of Last Chance All-Stars, drawing on all their seasons of wisdom and experience to try to seize this moment.

"The A's were a more talented team than the Yankees, but they got rattled," said one scout. "You could see some of those guys were intimidated as the games got bigger. But Arizona is a team of desperation because they're so old. This is not a dynasty. This is a team constructed for this moment, to win now."

3. Home sweet B.O.B
Ignore for a second the fact that the Yankees haven't lost a road game yet in the playoffs. It still is a big, big advantage for the Diamondbacks to start this World Series in their own home desert.

We've all seen many crazy things happen this time of year in The Bronx. So if Schilling and Johnson can pitch Arizona into a 2-0 lead, Yankee Stadium figures to be a far less unnerving place, even for men who have been around as long as these guys have.

"If you're going to win the World Series, you're going to have to go through New York," Johnson said. "It's very apparent. I still remember how exciting it was going there in '95 with Seattle. I remember Don Mattingly hitting his first postseason home run. Lou Piniella had to take our team off the field, there was so much excitement.

"A lot of these guys haven't gone to Yankee Stadium. I know Gracie was telling me he's excited to go to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park next year (for interleague play). Well, when you go to Yankee Stadium, it's baseball heaven. . . . Some of these guys had better buckle up -- because they're going to see what the World Series is all about."

Remember that in three of the four World Series the Yankees won -- in 1996, '98 and 2000 -- Games 1 and 2 were played in Yankee Stadium. So how important is it for a team with upset dreams to start this Series someplace else?

"To me," said one scout, "it's huge."

4. The defense doesn't rest
No one said it better than Oakland second baseman Frank Menechino.

"You can't give those guys an inch," he said of the Yankees. "Or they'll take four."

The A's and Mariners found that out again this October. They gave up eight unearned runs to the Yankees. They scored just three. So the moral of this story is simple:

"When you play the Yankees, you can't beat yourself," said an AL executive. "You've got to make them beat you. Make a mistake, and they're all over you."

That has been trouble for the Yankees' opponents so far. But it plays to Arizona's strength.

The Diamondbacks led the National League in fielding. They came within one error of leading the major leagues in fielding. They committed 41 fewer errors than Oakland, a team that might have sent the Yankees home if it had played cleaner baseball.

And no team in this playoff field has done a better job of avoiding beating itself than the Diamondbacks. They allowed only 48 unearned runs this season -- second-fewest in the majors (to Minnesota). They have yet to give up an unearned run in the postseason.

"They have two givens in Johnson and Schilling -- and they catch the ball," the AL executive said. "I don't think they'll beat themselves in this series. And pitching and defense go a long way in this scenario. Because of that, they have a chance."

5. The law of averages
Nothing in this world lasts forever. Not even Mariano Rivera.

What are the odds of winning 12 postseason series in a row? What are the odds of the Yankees continuing to do what they've done these last four Octobers?

What are the odds that a team that has won 11 postseason games in four years against pitchers who once won 20 games in a season -- four of them against one-time Cy Young award-winners -- can win a series against a team with two more 20-game winners?

What are the odds that a team can win every close postseason game -- including 15 in the five World Series-bound Octobers in which the Yankees have trailed after six innings?

What are the odds that a team can stay on the kind of roll that has enabled these Yankees to win 16 of their last 17 World Series games -- 11 of those wins in games started by Mike Hampton, Al Leiter, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Kevin Brown?

It ought to be impossible. Shouldn't it?

True, the Diamondbacks don't have a big-time offense. And they have bullpen questions. But they're a team built perfectly for a short series.

They have as deep a bench as any team the Yankees have played in the World Series. They have late-inning hope in veteran hitters who match up great against Mike Stanton. (Grace, Matt Williams, Steve Finley, Jay Bell and Reggie Sanders are a combined 26-for-50 against Stanton.)

They have two aces who can neutralize the top of the Yankees' order. (Jeter and Chuck Knoblauch are 3-for-6 lifetime versus Schilling, 8-for-48 versus Johnson.)

And they have to look only as far back as the Oakland series for proof the Yankees can be pitched to. (The Yanks hit just .226 against Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito -- .188 before Game 5.)

So can Arizona tromp all over this apparently preordained four-peat? Heck, yes.

"If you asked me who I'd pick, I'd pick the Yankees," said the AL executive. "But if you asked me, would I take my chances with Johnson and Schilling? Yeah, I'd take my chances with those two. They've got to win every game they pitch. But if they do ... "

If they do, well ... no more parades. No more Derek Jeter magazine covers. No more Sinatra.

Stranger things have happened. This World Series is scheduled to end in November. Maybe the Yankees' contract with their celestial magic shop expires on Oct. 31. We'll find out.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com