What's The Story Of The Postseason Teams?

Although the Division Series gets underway today and 4 of the 12 postseason teams have already been eliminated it's still important to respect the story that got them there. These 12 teams were able to survive 162 games and come out as the 12 best teams in baseball. Let's see these team's story.

This graphs shows the cumlative month percentages for each postseason team over the year. 4 represents March/April, 5 May, and so forth. It's important to note that this only represents their winning percentage at the end of the month and not anytime in between. The teams on the left are spread out but as the year goes on the teams gradually get closer to the point where they end the season. You can see teams like the Astros, Padres, and Mets were able to bounce back from a slow start while the Braves, Orioles, and Phillies regressed to the mean. Meanwhile, the Tigers had a decent start, then slowed and picked it up for the end of the season. We'll look at some of the races more in-depth but we can't cover all of these races so I would be remiss if I didn't get to mention all of the teams. After years of great postseason play the Phillies decided to bring that to the regular season. Despite the Dodger's many pitching injuries, they were able to stave off the other West teams to win another division. The Astros were able to fight back from their slow and many pitching injuries to prove to the haters that they were still the Astros. The Orioles like the Astros and Dodgers were also able to fight back against pitching injuries and claim a playoff spot. The Yankees meanwhile were able to bounce back after last year's disappointment and win the East as Baltimore stumbled late. The Brewers were able to win the Central pretty easily while many thought they couldn't do it without Craig Counsell. Now let's get into those heated races.

This graph shows the cumulative month's winning percentages for the AL Central teams. The main story of this division is the unexpected team's performance. Everyone expected the Twins to continue their dominance and run away with the division. That did not happen. Instead, the Guardians came out of nowhere with a new manager and held on to the division for most of the year. The Guardians heavily relied on their bullpen and Emmanuel Clase to help them win games. This is different from previous Clevland teams as they were built off starting pitching, they relied on their bullpen heavily to help them with games. Meanwhile, the Royals made key pitching acquisitions this offseason while no one else wanted to spend money this offseason. This enabled them to turn around as they went from losing 106 games to winning 86 and making the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Tigers sold off at the Deadline and went on a magical run to the playoffs. Like the Guardians they relied on their bullpen to help them win games. They did this all with little good contribution from their most expensive pieces, Javy Baez and Kenta Maeda. Meanwhile, the Twins 9-18 September sunk the team's ship, and instead of winning the division like many thought they would, they went home early while having to watch their division foes have fun in October. This story ain't complete without mentioning the White Sox. Their historically bad season propelled 3 AL Central teams into the playoffs as the AL Central went a combined 42-10 against the White Sox. The teams that were on the fringe of the Wild Card could only wish that they got to play that many games against the White Sox.

This graph shows the teams in the NL Wild Card race and their cumulative months winning percentage. The Wild Card was a chaotic mess, with many teams in the hunt as the season went on, the teams got weeded out, leaving these four teams for three spots. The Braves came into the season with expectations of the division and then winning it all. However, those dreams became difficult when they lost both Strider and Acuna. This was only the beginning of injuries that they faced. The lines they threw out day after day were unrecognizable to the Braves of the past, and yet they were able to weather the storm and clinch a spot in Game 162. Meanwhile, the Mets had no expectations going into this year. They were built to sell it and were going to sell until Jose Iglesias came around. Jose Iglesias's OMG song became a rallying cry as they went on the run to the playoffs on the backs of an MVP from Fransico Lindor and great starting pitching. Meanwhile, the Padres shed payroll by getting rid of Juan Soto and yet were somehow able to perform better. Their outfield coming into the year was Fernando Tatis Jr. and the question marks, but thanks to a great rookie performance from Jackson Merrill and an unforeseen breakout from Jurickson Profar, their outfield is one of the strongest in MLB. Keeping acquisitions in their bullpen during the trade deadline has made it the best in MLB. These positions along with the strong starting staff led them to the playoffs. Unfortunately, this has left the miracle Diamondbacks from last year out of the playoff picture. Their offense scored the most runs yet their pitching wasn't good enough. They acquired both Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez yet neither was able to live up to their price tag. The saddest part of their season is that they had to sit and watch on Monday as the Braves' win sealed their fate. Only if they had gotten one more win maybe they could have gone on a run.

In a season of 162 games, every team are going to face bumps and bruises along the way. The teams that can respond and come out of these bumps and bruises the best are the ones that will ultimately succeed. This rings true for all the playoff teams and just for life in general. Unlike where things even out in the regular season that doesn't happen in the playoff so ultimately the team that gets hot during October will most likely go the distance. That's the beauty of baseball playoffs and why it's so key to punch your tickets because once you are in anything can happen.