Yesterday’s 3-1 win for the Rays, leveled their series at 1-1. It also did not help the offensive slump which has been true for much of the post-season. It chipped another four points off the collective playoff OPS, which is now down to .629. We’re already the lowest since the beginning of the wild-card era in 1995. Fifteen more points and it’ll match the 1983 figure. This has been reflected in a lack of people crossing home-plate. Teams have averaged only 3.47 runs per game. That’s also the lowest in the wild-card era,
though we don’t get to go back quite so far: the 1991 post-season managed 3.42, while the previous season was all the way down at 3.18.
Of course, in those days, there was only three series, so outliers were more likely. There were only 14 games in that 1990 post-season, both the ALCS and the World Series finishing in 4-0 sweeps. This year, there have already been more than twice as many. 29 all told, between the four wild-card rounds, the four Division Series, and the four games in the Championship Series. The all-time mark, unsurprisingly, is the 2020 playoffs, when there were 53 games in total needed to determine the champion. If MLB get their way, that record might be challenged under the next CBA, if they shift games from the regular season into the post-season.
Anyway, the NLCS continues, with the Brewers looking to move to the brink of the World Series!
- Milwaukee Brewers @ Los Angeles Dodgers (2-0): 5:00 pm, FS1
