A few days ago, I was watching a baseball game on TV. An analyst indicated that a player hit well so far this season. In particular, the analyst mentioned that the batter has an OPS over .800. If a batter has an OPS over .800, it’s truly a good thing for a team because it somehow shows a player can get on base and hit.
After watching the game, I was thinking about a question. During the regular season, which teams have more players with an OPS over .800? To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the MLB website.
Firstly, let’s look back at the 2022 season. The Mets, the Astros, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays each had 4 players who finished the season with an OPS of at least .800. So, what happened to these 4 teams last season? Well, they each clinched a spot in the postseason. Additionally, the Dodgers, the Mets and the Astros each won at least 100 games last year. Furthermore, the Astros won the 2022 World Series title. In the 2022 postseason, Jeremy Pena had an OPS of 1.005 in 13 games in the playoffs and Alex Bregman owned a .948 OPS in 13 postseason games. At the same time, Yuli Gurriel had an OPS of .850 over 12 games.
In addition, 7 teams each had 2 players who finished the 2022 season with an OPS of .800 or higher. Among those 7 teams, 5 teams were playing October baseball. In the meantime, there were 9 teams that had only 1 hitter with an OPS of at least .800 in the 2022 season. Only 3 teams clinched a spot in the postseason. These 3 teams were the Padres, the Mariners and the Rays.
Finally, as we can see, there are 10 teams, which didn’t have any players who finished the 2022 season with an OPS of .800 or higher. Well, some players from these teams might have an OPS of .800 or higher, but they just didn’t have enough plate appearances. So, did any of these teams clinch a spot in the postseason? The answer is “No.”
Baseball season is a marathon. In a long season, a team needs players to hit well and hit consistently. Otherwise, it might not be easy for a team to win enough games to clinch a berth in the postseason. An OPS of .800 or higher is great. But, if a player can’t play enough games, his contribution might be limited. For example, Mike Trout had an OPS of .999 in 2022, but he only played 119 games. Last season, the Mets, the Astros, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays certainly had seen their batters do a great job in a long season. By far this season, the Braves have an OPS of .825, which ranks first among 30 MLB teams. Among qualified batters in the Braves lineup, Ronald Acuna Jr. has an OPS over .900 thus far. Meanwhile, Matt Olson, Eddie Rosario, Ozzie Albies and Marcell Ozuna each own an OPS over .800. It truly shows the depth of the Braves lineup.
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