DHs in the postseason

In the 2020, MLB instituted a universal DH for this season as part of its health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t know whether the National League would convert to its traditional rules in 2021. Thus, we don’t know if we are going to see pitchers hit in 2021. But, before going to 2021, we can see how each teams’ DHs performed in the 2020 postseason.

Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians did give us an unforgettable Fall Classic in 2016. However, they both fell short in the 2020 postseason. In this postseason, their DHs failed to collect a hit. By contract, Astros DHs did hit well in the playoffs, in total they collected 14 hits. Rays DHs also had 14 hits, but they played 6 more games than the Astros did.

When it comes to hitting homers, you can’t ignore Bronx bombers. Giancarlo Stanton hit 6 homers in this postseason, two were against the Indians and four were against the Rays. Stanton was unreal, hitting 6 homers in 7 games.

Universal DH did give Marcell Ozuna opportunities to hit, he crushed 3 homers this postseason, including 1 homer against Clayton Kershaw in the NLCS. Ozuna is going to attract plenty of attention on the free agent market.

Khris Davis didn’t hit .247 this season and only hit 2 homers in the 2020 regular season, but in the postseason, he hit 3 home runs in 6 games.

We can’t forget Randy Arozarena’s outstanding performance this postseason. He just crushed baseballs and is indeed pitchers’ nightmares. Randy hit 10 long balls in the playoffs and he hit 2 as DH. Austin Meadows is the other Rays DH who had a homer this postseason.

Astros’ Michael Brantley had 2 home runs and Aledmys Diaz had one homer.

You probably don’t expect large sample sizes in the playoffs. So small sample size, let’s take a quick look at xwOBA. In the top 3, we see the Twins, Yankees and Braves. Their DHs are Nelson Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna. Houston Astros swept the Twins in the Wild Card Series. The Minnesota Twins lost 18th straight in the playoffs and this postseason, they only scored two runs and both runs were scored by Cruz’s doubles. Nelson Cruz showed his value as DH even though the Twins didn’t go far in the playoffs. It’s also interesting to see that Dodgers DHs actually had an xwOBA of .248 this postseason, only better than Blue Jays, Indians and Brewers. In this postseason, Dodgers used to have Will Smith, Cody Bellinger, AJ Pollock, Joc Pederson, Edwin Rios and Justin Turner on the DH spot. Only Edwin Rios hit a home run as DH. During the regular season, each team could utilize the DH position in several ways such as employing a full-time DH or using DH to provide one of their other regular players with a partial day of rest. However, in the postseason, things could be different. Every plate appearance becomes more important in the playoffs. All managers definitely want their DHs to produce on offence as Stanton Ozuna did to do damage against their opponents. But hitting is not easy and it's even harder in the playoffs.