Clinched

It’s near the end of September and that tells us that October baseball is coming. By far, 6 teams already clinched playoff berths. There are several cool things to expect in this postseason.

Running teams

Baseball players rarely steal bases in today’s baseball games. Back in 2017, Dee Strange-Gordon reached 60 stolen bases. By far, there’s no player who reaches 50 stolen bases. However, some teams do run more than other MLB teams.

Full count

 
A full count in baseball is a situation that refers to a count of three balls and two strikes during the course of an at bat. It is usually considered a moment of increased tension, as neither the batter nor the pitcher has any margin of maneuver left.

Unearned

 

Unearned runs are those runs that scored because of errors or passed balls. If a team gives up too many unearned runs, it probably tells us that something went wrong in defense.

Create more runs

A team has to score more runs than its opponent to win a baseball game. This season, which teams are leading in creating runs? Are they winning more games than any other team?

300 K

 

There are more strikeouts in baseball games these days and for some teams, there are more strikeouts than hits so far this season. These years, several pitchers reached 300 strikeouts in a single season.

Runners in scoring position

 

A few days ago, I was watching a baseball game on TV and a former Cy Young winner was on the mound. On the screen, it showed that the pitcher was extremely good and opponents’ batting average is under .200 when runners are in scoring position.

Relievers throw more?

 

Nowadays, MLB teams are relying more one their bullpen. Hence, each team uses relievers very often and I would like to know which relievers threw more innings than any other these seasons.

Best hitting performance in the postseason?

Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA) data is available since statcast was implemented Major League wide in 2015. It’s a good way to understand a player’s skill. I would like to use this stat to see which player really hit well in the postseason.

Enjoy hitting at a new team?

A couple of weeks ago, we took a quick look at some pitchers who signed a new contract with a new team and saw how they perform in a new uniform. Now, let’s look at some batters who agreed to a new deal before the beginning of the 2021 season and see whether they have been performing well so far.

Who’s your “Padre”?

 

The San Diego Padres made several blockbuster trades before the beginning of the 2021 season. For example, they acquired 5-time All-Star Yu Darvish from the Cubs and sent prospects to the Tampa Bay Rays for Blake Snell, 2018 AL Cy Young winner. In addition, the Padres acquired Joe Musgrove in a three-team trade. These big moves showed that the Padres would like to challenge the Dodgers for the NL West title.

Offspeed - Changeup

A couple of days ago, we just saw which batters are good at hitting offspeed pitches this season. Now, let’s look at pitchers who throw great offspeed pitches. According to the statcast website, offspeed pitches include split-finger, changeup, forkball and screwball. Among these pitches, changeup is the most common one. So, let’s look at pitchers who throw changeups frequently and whose changeup is devastating.

Hit offspeed pitches

 

Offspeed pitches are thrown at a slower speed than fastballs and normally offspeed pitches get hitters off balance. However, some hitters don’t have problems hitting offspeed pitches this season.