Monday, October 14, 2013

Postseason Odds and Ends

Over the weekend there were numerous little postseason items worthy of discussion.

LANCE LYNN
When Lance Lynn entered the first game of the NLCS on Friday he made his 18th postseason appearance, not bad for a player who just completed his third big league season. Here's how that compares in history:

This table shows how many seasons a player had under his belt by the time he made his 18th postseason appearance. I apologize for cutting off some of the names but it's pretty obvious who they are. To make this kind of list it clearly behooves a pitcher to:
1. Play for a good team early in his career
2. Play after the introduction of the playoffs in 1969
3. Be a reliever

It's not an accomplishment for Lynn as much as an acknowledgement--any time a player is #3 on just about any list, it's worthy of note.









1-0 GAMES
I saw this tweet Saturday night:

To the Internet! Specifically, to the Baseball-Reference Play Index feature, which spit out this list:
Rk Date Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt ▾ PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS LOB
1 2013-10-12 NLCS 2 STL LAD W 1-0 27 24 1 2 1 1 0 1 2 5 0 0 2
2 2013-10-12 ALCS 1 DET BOS W 1-0 40 35 1 9 3 0 0 1 3 6 0 0 12
3 2013-10-05 ALDS 2 OAK DET W 1-0 35 32 1 8 1 0 0 1 3 13 0 0 10
4 2011-10-07 NLDS 5 STL PHI W 1-0 35 32 1 6 1 1 0 1 1 9 1 0 7
5 2010-10-07 NLDS 1 SFG ATL W 1-0 31 26 1 5 1 0 0 1 4 9 1 1 6
6 2005-10-26 WS 4 CHW HOU W 1-0 35 34 1 8 3 1 0 1 0 10 0 0 7
7 2001-10-13 ALDS 3 NYY OAK W 1-0 32 29 1 2 1 0 1 1 1 7 0 0 4
8 2001-10-10 NLDS 2 ATL HOU W 1-0 35 31 1 7 2 0 0 0 3 5 1 0 7
9 2001-10-09 NLDS 1 ARI STL W 1-0 36 31 1 8 3 0 0 1 3 7 0 0 11
10 1999-10-15 NLCS 3 ATL NYM W 1-0 32 27 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 8 2 0 4
11 1997-10-15 ALCS 6 CLE BAL W 1-0 39 36 1 3 1 0 1 1 3 14 0 0 5
12 1996-10-24 WS 5 NYY ATL W 1-0 36 31 1 4 1 0 0 1 5 10 2 0 8
13 1995-10-28 WS 6 ATL CLE W 1-0 36 28 1 6 1 0 1 1 7 4 1 1 11
14 1991-10-27 WS 7 MIN ATL W 1-0 41 34 1 10 2 0 0 1 5 5 0 0 12
15 1991-10-16 NLCS 6 ATL PIT W 1-0 36 32 1 7 3 0 0 1 3 5 2 1 8
16 1991-10-14 NLCS 5 PIT ATL W 1-0 36 32 1 6 3 0 0 1 3 8 0 0 8
17 1991-10-10 NLCS 2 ATL PIT W 1-0 37 34 1 8 1 0 0 1 2 7 3 0 9
18 1987-10-13 NLCS 6 STL SFG W 1-0 29 28 1 5 0 1 0 1 0 9 0 0 4
19 1986-10-18 WS 1 BOS NYM W 1-0 36 31 1 5 0 0 0 0 5 8 0 0 8
20 1986-10-08 NLCS 1 HOU NYM W 1-0 33 30 1 7 1 0 1 1 3 6 2 0 8
21 1984-10-05 ALCS 3 DET KCR W 1-0 30 26 1 3 0 0 0 1 4 6 3 0 5
22 1983-10-04 NLCS 1 PHI LAD W 1-0 36 32 1 5 0 0 1 1 4 4 0 0 8
23 1981-10-07 NLDS 2 HOU LAD W 1-0 43 39 1 9 0 0 0 1 3 4 1 1 10
24 1980-10-10 NLCS 3 HOU PHI W 1-0 42 31 1 6 1 2 0 1 8 3 0 1 10
25 1974-10-08 ALCS 3 OAK BAL W 1-0 32 29 1 4 0 0 1 1 1 4 0 1 4
26 1972-10-18 WS 3 CIN OAK W 1-0 36 31 1 4 0 0 0 1 4 14 3 0 8
27 1969-10-05 ALCS 2 BAL MIN W 1-0 44 36 1 8 2 0 0 1 7 4 0 2 11
28 1966-10-09 WS 4 BAL LAD W 1-0 27 26 1 4 0 0 1 1 1 5 0 1 2
29 1966-10-08 WS 3 BAL LAD W 1-0 26 25 1 3 0 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 1
30 1963-10-05 WS 3 LAD NYY W 1-0 31 24 1 4 0 0 0 1 6 5 0 1 6
31 1962-10-16 WS 7 NYY SFG W 1-0 36 32 1 7 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 8
32 1959-10-06 WS 5 CHW LAD W 1-0 33 28 1 5 0 0 0 0 3 7 0 0 5
33 1957-10-07 WS 5 MLN NYY W 1-0 30 28 1 6 0 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 5
34 1956-10-09 WS 6 BRO NYY W 1-0 40 31 1 4 1 0 0 1 8 11 0 0 10
35 1950-10-04 WS 1 NYY PHI W 1-0 37 31 1 5 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 9
36 1949-10-06 WS 2 BRO NYY W 1-0 33 31 1 7 2 1 0 1 1 4 0 0 5
37 1949-10-05 WS 1 NYY BRO W 1-0 29 29 1 5 2 0 1 1 0 11 0 0 4
38 1948-10-06 WS 1 BSN CLE W 1-0 29 24 1 2 0 0 0 1 3 2 1 0 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/14/2013.

Only 38 1-0 games in postseason history, and as the questioner (and Twitter follower of mine--thanks!) drmagoo (@drmagoo) asked, it was indeed the first time that there were two 1-0 games on the same day. Obviously it was impossible prior to the introduction of the playoffs in 1969, but I left those games in just to show how infrequent the 1-0 game is--38 out of 1,387 postseason games played through Sunday.

POSTSEASON NO-HITTERS
Jim Leyland showed the new way of thinking, particularly in the postseason when he removed Anibal Sanchez in Saturday night's game after 6 innings, 116 pitches...and giving up no hits. The list of postseason no-hitters is very small:
Rk Date Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO LOB
1 2010-10-06 NLDS 1 CIN PHI L 0-4 28 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 1
2 1956-10-08 WS 5 BRO NYY L 0-2 27 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/14/2013.

Cliff Lee in 2010 and Don Larsen in 1956 and that's it. The list of multi-pitcher no-hitters in the postseason is even smaller, the big goose egg. It was clearly a no-brainer for Leyland to remove Sanchez since a reasonable extrapolation would have taken him to around 140+ pitches to complete the game and Sanchez will be needed for at least three more games if the Tigers advance to the World Series. Sometimes it's a fine line between individual achievement and team need, but in the postseason that fine line becomes a gaping chasm. It's probably for the best of all involved that Daniel Nava got that hit with one out in the 9th to make the entire discussion moot.

JACK MORRIS
In Sunday's game Joe Buck (I think) discussed Jack Morris and mentioned how dominating he was in the postseason. This is Morris' postseason record:
Rk Year Series Date Tm Opp Rslt Inngs Dec DR IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit GSc
1 1984 ALCS g1 Oct 2 DET @ KCR W,8-1 GS-7 W(1-0) 99 7.0 5 1 1 1 4 0 1.29 27 91 66
2 1984 WS g1 Oct 9 DET @ SDP W,3-2 CG W(2-0) 6 9.0 8 2 2 3 9 0 1.69 35 135 69
3 1984 WS g4 Oct 13 DET SDP W,4-2 CG W(3-0) 3 9.0 5 2 2 0 4 1 1.80 32 102 73
4 1987 ALCS g2 Oct 8 DET @ MIN L,3-6 CG(8) L(0-1) 99 8.0 6 6 6 3 7 1 6.75 33 129 50
5 1991 ALCS g1 Oct 8 MIN TOR W,5-4 GS-6 W(1-0) 99 5.1 8 4 4 0 4 0 6.75 23 89 40
6 1991 ALCS g4 Oct 12 MIN @ TOR W,9-3 GS-8 W(2-0) 3 8.0 9 2 2 1 3 0 4.05 34 110 58
7 1991 WS g1 Oct 19 MIN ATL W,5-2 GS-8 W(3-0) 6 7.0 5 2 2 4 3 0 3.54 29 100 58
8 1991 WS g4 Oct 23 MIN @ ATL L,2-3 GS-6 3 6.0 6 1 1 3 4 1 3.08 25 94 57
9 1991 WS g7 Oct 27 MIN ATL W,1-0 SHO(10) W(4-0) 3 10.0 7 0 0 2 8 0 2.23 38 126 84
10 1992 ALCS g1 Oct 7 TOR OAK L,3-4 CG L(0-1) 99 9.0 6 4 4 4 4 3 4.00 35 119 59
11 1992 ALCS g4 Oct 11 TOR @ OAK W,7-6 GS-4 3 3.1 5 5 5 5 2 0 6.57 20 71 27
12 1992 WS g1 Oct 17 TOR @ ATL L,1-3 GS-6 L(0-2) 5 6.0 4 3 3 5 7 1 5.89 27 98 54
13 1992 WS g5 Oct 22 TOR ATL L,2-7 GS-5 L(0-3) 4 4.2 9 7 7 1 5 2 7.43 23 83 22
92.1 83 39 39 32 64 9 3.80 381
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/14/2013.

I included a link to this table in this tweet:
This was retweeted by MLB Network's Brian Kenny (@MrBrianKenny), which generated a very healthy reaction. I need to thank the people who responded by telling me what Morris' record was in given years, which I had noticed in the LINK I HAD INCLUDED IN THE TWEET. There is no disputing the dominance he had in the 1984 postseason, and I'm not going to diminish a 7-4 postseason record, but he wasn't the second coming of Whitey Ford or Bob Gibson. I take the most issue with the idea that his postseason record somehow is a major factor in Morris' Hall of Fame credentials. I'll discuss this specifically in November as I do a whole series on the Hall of Fame, but I'll state here that Morris' postseason record is good, GOOD...but not one of the best of all-time and clearly not a lynchpin behind a Hall of Fame candidacy:
Rk Player #Matching W ▾ L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO WHIP
1 Andy Pettitte 44 Ind. Games 19 11 .633 3.81 44 0 0 0 276.2 285 117 31 76 183 1.30
2 John Smoltz 41 Ind. Games 15 4 .789 2.67 27 2 1 4 209.0 172 62 17 67 199 1.14
3 Tom Glavine 35 Ind. Games 14 16 .467 3.30 35 3 0 0 218.1 191 80 21 87 143 1.27
4 Roger Clemens 35 Ind. Games 12 8 .600 3.75 34 1 1 0 199.0 173 83 17 70 173 1.22
5 Greg Maddux 35 Ind. Games 11 14 .440 3.27 30 2 0 1 198.0 195 72 14 51 125 1.24
6 Curt Schilling 19 Ind. Games 11 2 .846 2.23 19 4 2 0 133.1 104 33 12 25 120 0.97
7 David Wells 27 Ind. Games 10 5 .667 3.17 17 1 0 0 125.0 116 44 12 25 83 1.13
8 Dave Stewart 22 Ind. Games 10 6 .625 2.77 18 3 1 0 133.0 99 41 13 48 73 1.11
9 Whitey Ford 22 Ind. Games 10 8 .556 2.71 22 7 3 0 146.0 132 44 8 34 94 1.14
10 Chris Carpenter 18 Ind. Games 10 4 .714 3.00 18 1 1 0 108.0 104 36 11 36 68 1.30
11 Catfish Hunter 22 Ind. Games 9 6 .600 3.26 19 4 1 1 132.1 114 48 21 35 70 1.13
12 CC Sabathia 19 Ind. Games 9 5 .643 4.53 18 1 0 0 107.1 116 54 14 51 101 1.56
13 Orlando Hernandez 19 Ind. Games 9 3 .750 2.55 14 0 0 0 106.0 77 30 10 55 107 1.25
14 Mariano Rivera 96 Ind. Games 8 1 .889 0.70 0 0 0 42 141.0 86 11 2 21 110 0.76
15 Orel Hershiser 22 Ind. Games 8 3 .727 2.59 18 4 2 1 132.0 103 38 8 43 97 1.11
16 David Cone 21 Ind. Games 8 3 .727 3.80 18 1 0 0 111.1 93 47 12 58 94 1.36
17 Jim Palmer 17 Ind. Games 8 3 .727 2.61 15 6 2 0 124.1 101 36 10 50 90 1.21
18 Mike Mussina 23 Ind. Games 7 8 .467 3.42 21 0 0 0 139.2 121 53 19 33 145 1.10
19 Randy Johnson 19 Ind. Games 7 9 .438 3.50 16 3 2 0 121.0 106 47 15 32 132 1.14
20 Allie Reynolds 15 Ind. Games 7 2 .778 2.79 9 5 2 4 77.1 61 24 8 32 62 1.20
21 Justin Verlander 14 Ind. Games 7 4 .636 3.48 14 1 1 0 85.1 67 33 11 28 98 1.11
22 Dave McNally 14 Ind. Games 7 4 .636 2.49 12 6 2 0 90.1 65 25 12 34 65 1.10
23 Josh Beckett 14 Ind. Games 7 3 .700 3.07 13 3 3 0 93.2 67 32 11 21 99 0.94
24 Jack Morris 13 Ind. Games 7 4 .636 3.80 13 5 1 0 92.1 83 39 9 32 64 1.25
25 Cole Hamels 13 Ind. Games 7 4 .636 3.09 13 1 1 0 81.2 65 28 9 21 77 1.05
26 Livan Hernandez 12 Ind. Games 7 3 .700 3.97 10 1 0 0 68.0 67 30 6 36 47 1.51
27 Cliff Lee 11 Ind. Games 7 3 .700 2.52 11 3 0 0 82.0 66 23 2 10 89 0.93
28 Red Ruffing 10 Ind. Games 7 2 .778 2.63 10 8 0 0 85.2 74 25 4 27 61 1.18
29 Bob Gibson 9 Ind. Games 7 2 .778 1.89 9 8 2 0 81.0 55 17 6 17 92 0.89
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/14/2013.

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