The wild card spherical is already brief sufficient, and this 12 months, all 4 matchups resulted in sweeps. That’s not a lot postseason baseball for the Rays, Blue Jays, Brewers, and Marlins. Suffice it to say, none of these groups took October, regardless of what the t-shirts promised.
Whereas I really feel a twinge of heartache for the shedding facet in any postseason matchup, I really feel particularly dangerous for the first-round exits. After a 162-game slog with the playoffs as the one aim, their season is over within the blink of an eye fixed. With time, some might be forgotten as contenders completely. That appears a disgrace, contemplating how nicely every of those groups carried out within the common season.
With that in thoughts, I wished to take one final second to acknowledge the playoff performances of Miami, Milwaukee, Toronto, and Tampa Bay, earlier than the winds of the postseason blow on to the Division Collection matchups. To be clear, there isn’t a ton to have a good time; they had been every swept, in spite of everything. Nonetheless, each eradicated group had at the very least one participant whose postseason exhibiting deserves a pat on the again.
The primary group eradicated is the toughest to reward. The Rays went out with a whimper, scoring only a single run and giving up 11. On the offensive facet, their most beneficial contributors had been Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes, however as you possibly can guess by the lone run the Rays placed on the scoreboard, neither lit up the field rating regardless of accounting for his or her group’s solely two extra-base hits.
If there have been a standout efficiency from the house group on the Trop, it was from Zack Littell, pitching the ultimate two innings of a sport lengthy out of attain. The righty was tasked with little greater than mop-up work, getting into within the eighth inning of Sport 2 with the rating already 7–1. That’s not precisely what we’d name a high-leverage spot. Nonetheless, Littell confronted the hardest hitters Texas needed to provide, together with 4 All-Stars: Josh Jung, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Adolis García. He retired all of them. With 37 pitches, 25 for strikes, he struck out 4 Rangers in two clear frames and allowed only a single baserunner, hitting Evan Carter with a pitch.
The Rangers’ win chance was over 99% by the point Littell entered the sport, but he by no means acted like he knew the rating. Simply have a look at these informal shows of deception to ring up Jung, Seager, and Nathaniel Lowe:
The second group to pack its luggage was the Blue Jays, and whereas their offense was simply as quiet as Tampa’s, at the very least their pitching employees turned in a stronger efficiency. Unquestionably, the strongest performer was José Berríos, however you most likely already knew that. His closing line has been cited in suppose items throughout the web: three innings, 5 strikeouts, and one bequeathed baserunner that Yusei Kikuchi allowed to attain within the fourth.
Berríos’ efficiency has already gotten greater than sufficient consideration, so as a substitute, let’s speak about Santiago Espinal. The infielder hasn’t made a lot noise since his shock All-Star look two summers in the past, however within the wild card spherical, his efficiency was immaculate. In two plate appearances, he noticed two pitches and recorded two hits:
Neither was what you’d name a “hard-hit ball,” however every was a no-doubter of a base hit. His first was an ideal swinging bunt up the third final analysis, and though Jorge Polanco isn’t probably the most fleet of foot on the sizzling nook, I can’t think about that even Matt Chapman may have fielded the ball in time to get the out. His second base knock was a extra typical single, and Statcast agreed, issuing the batted ball a .950 xBA.
If you happen to ignore enjoying time minimums, Espinal completed with the second-highest wOBA and the fourth-highest xwOBA within the wild card spherical. Furthermore, with .139 WPA in solely two journeys to the plate, his WPA/PA is tops within the playoffs up to now. I’m not right here to inform you that Espinal was probably the most beneficial or proficient Blue Jay in these two video games, however in a sequence marred by large errors and poor choices, it’s spectacular that he managed to do completely no flawed.
In comparison with the Rays and Blue Jays, the Brewers at the very least put up one thing of a struggle. They scored extra runs and reached base extra usually than the opposite eradicated groups, they usually really completed with a barely greater wOBA and xwOBA than the Diamondbacks. The primary drawback for the Brewers was that their offense wasn’t successfully unfold out; they left 20 runners on base within the sequence, and the vast majority of their offensive output got here from simply two hitters. Certainly, Christian Yelich and Willy Adames had been two of the easiest gamers in the complete wild card spherical:
It’s no controversial assertion to say the Brewers are constructed round pitching. Coming into the season, FanGraphs projected them to obtain above-average manufacturing from solely two positions exterior of pitcher: shortstop and left area, in any other case often called Adames and Yelich (with apologies to William Contreras, whom our projections woefully underestimated). Adames had a down 12 months on the plate, and whereas Yelich rebounded in 2023, its wasn’t to his MVP degree.
Nonetheless, when push got here to shove, they had been the 2 hitters who confirmed up for Milwaukee within the playoffs. No participant from an eradicated group had the next OPS or WPA than Adames whose .174 within the latter stat at the moment ranks fifth general. Yelich, for his half, was the one participant from an eradicated group with at the very least +0.03 WPA in each video games, and one in every of solely two (together with Bryan De La Cruz of the Marlins) with a constructive WPA in any respect in every sport of the sequence. On high of that, he was one in every of solely three gamers within the first spherical (and the one one not on the Rangers) to achieve base at the very least 3 times in each contests.
Brewers Brilliant Spots
| Participant | OPS | wRC+ | WPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willy Adames | 1.339 | 269 | 0.174 |
| Christian Yelich | 1.225 | 239 | 0.163 |
The Marlins, very like the Rays, had been trounced within the Wild Card spherical, struggling to achieve base and to include the Phillies’ offense. Had been it not for the efforts of a single slugger, issues might need gone even worse. Josh Bell went 4-for-8 with two doubles, good for a 1.250 OPS. He scored his group’s lone run within the first sport and drove of their solely run within the second. His 4 hits had been half as many as the remainder of the group mixed, and his two doubles accounted for two-thirds of Miami’s extra-base knocks.
In Sport 1, Bell doubled to guide off the ninth, giving the Marlins hope for a potential late-game comeback. He was again at it once more the very subsequent day; with the Marlins right down to their closing strike in Sport 2, he saved their playoff hopes alive in entrance of tahe deafening Philadelphia crowd, singling to drive in a run. His efforts weren’t almost sufficient, however as one man, he did every thing he may. After Yelich and Adames, no place participant from an eradicated group had the next WPA or RE24. The switch-hitter was additionally the one participant from an eradicated membership with a number of barrelled balls:
None of Littell, Espinal, Yelich, Adames, or Bell will go down as postseason heroes. Nonetheless, for a few days in early October, they did every thing they may to assist their groups win. It wasn’t sufficient for a pennant, a trophy, or perhaps a recent “Take October” t-shirt, however it’s price a bit celebration all the identical.