Usual Suspects, Newcomers Make Up Baseball Postseason
By Space Coast Daily // November 2, 2022
On the east coast, the leaves have turned color, and the temperatures have dropped. For sports fans, that means a few things: football season is nearing its midpoint while baseball season is into its playoffs phase and inching towards the Fall Classic, the World Series.
For those interested in their favorite team’s odds to win World Series, if they’re still alive, a plethora of factors have to be taken into consideration.
Learning From the Past
In looking at teams who’ve prevailed in the World Series since 2010, only the Astros, Braves, and Dodgers qualified for the 2022 chase to the World Series. Moreover, the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay Rays are the only other two teams who have appeared in a WS to make the playoffs.
History is working against the Dodgers, winners of 111 regular season contests, as only 12 teams since 1969 have led the league(s) in wins and went on to claim a World Series title.
Among 2022 playoff participants, the Yankees have captured 27 World Series while the Dodgers have 7. In fact, no other team in the postseason field (Cardinals eliminated in the wild-card round) has won it more than twice.
One participant, the Seattle Mariners, are looking to appear in the Fall Classic for the first time in franchise history, while the San Diego Padres have been to the WS twice but have never popped the champagne.
On the NL side, the Phillies (87 regular season wins) and Padres (89 regular season wins) will look to join a rare company and become one of 5 teams in big league history to win a World Series without winning 90 games in the regular season since the schedule shifted to 162 games.
The Phils and Pods don’t have to look too far back for motivation, as the 2021 Atlanta Braves won 88 times in the regular season and came home a winner in the World Series.
Experience at The Helm
The great Casey Stengel leads all managers with 37 WS game wins. Of the managers in the 2022 postseason, Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts leads the way with eight games won in the World Series.
Dusty Baker has 5 World Series wins to his credit, while Braves skipper Brian Snitker has 4 Fall Classic victories on his resume. Of the eight managers alive after the wild card round, a huge disparity exists when carefully examining their postseason records.
Heading into the divisional series, Roberts has a 44-33 postseason mark, earning the most wins of any manager chasing the 2022 WS. Cleveland’s Terry Francona is second with 42 wins, while Dusty Baker has 40 wins.
The Yanks Aaron Boone has 11 wins, surprising given his team’s postseason success, while San Diego’s Bob Melvin has 10. Snitker has been a solid postseason skipper going 22-15, including last year’s championship ring. Two managers, Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson and Seattle’s Scott Servais, are making the calls and decisions for the very first time in the 2022 postseason.
Stepping Up When It Counts
Strangely enough, regular-season dominance does not always translate to heroics and success in the postseason. To date, Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell is the only player to claim regular season and World Series MVP accolades in the same season (he did so in 1979), while Dodgers ace Orel Hershiser is the only player to capture a Cy Young and World Series MVP in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 1998.
Players such as Jorge Soler, Steve Pearce, Ben Zobrist, and Jermaine Dye have all collected WS MVP honors since 2000.
None appear destined for Cooperstown, proving the point that October and November success doesn’t always translate to doing it over 162 baseball games. Interestingly enough, since 2000, only five pitchers have been named Fall Classic MVP, with most of the spotlight being reserved for everyday position players.
Conversely, Hall of Famers Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson, Mariano Rivers, and David Ortiz have all heard their names called WS MVPs, proving that excellence in some instances does extend past the end of the 162-game slate.
