The Dodgers scored 4 runs in game 7. The Rays also scored 4 runs in the ALCS finale. There are several things worth noticing in the league championship series.
When we look at the ALCS, it seems that the Astros are a better team on hitting. The Astros collected 59 hits in this series while the Rays only had 44 hits. Meanwhile, Astros batters drew 29 walks, more than the Rays' 24 walks. The Astros posted a team OPS with .751 and a .260 batting average. However, the Rays crushed 11 home runs in this 7-game series, while the Astros had 9 homers. Home runs really showed the differences. ALCS MVP Randy Arozarena blasted 4 homers and Manuel Margot crushed 3 homers. In particular, Margot had only 1 home run in the regular season, but so far in the postseason, he already has 5 homers. Jose Altuve had 3 homers, but he also committed 3 errors. Carlos Correa had 2 homers, but Alex Bregman failed to hit a homer in this series.
It’s not easy to hit a home run in the Global Life Field. However, the Dodgers crushed 16 homers in 7 games and they also drew 31 walks. NLCS MVP Corey Seager hit 5 homers and collected 11 RBI. Kike Hernandez‘s homer helped the Dodgers tie the game in game 7 and Cody Bellinger’s homer provided the game 7 winning run. They each crushed two homers in the NLCS.
Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna each had 2 homers in the NLCS. Nonetheless, Ronald Acuna only batted .167 in this series without a homer.
Now let’s look at pitching stats. Rays pitchers and Astros pitchers each had 21 earned runs. Yes, exactly the same. Rays pitchers posted a 3.08 ERA and Astros pitchers had a 3.15 ERA. There’s no surprise that two teams’ ERAs were almost the same. Nevertheless, Rays pitching staff had a WHIP of 1.43, which might not be ideal. At the same time, Astros pitchers posted a 1.13 WHIP. But Rays defense truly helped the team since we can see that Rays made 10 double plays while Astros made 6. Those double plays really helped the Rays and stopped the Astros’ offense. Also, the Rays heavily used their bullpen and it worked. Rays relievers had 11 holds in this series. The Dodgers and the Braves each scored more than 30 runs in the NLCS, thus we can see that each team posted an ERA over 4. The Dodgers pitchers had a 4.35 ERA and the Braves’ ERA was 5.61. At the same time, Dodgers pitching staff had a WHIP of 1.37, which is actually lower than the Rays. We just watched two great League Championship Series. Two great teams are heading to the World Series. The Rays and the Dodgers will face each other for the first time in the World Series.
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