2018 MLB Playoffs: One aspect under the radar to watch in all series, including Yankees vs. Red Sox



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The wild games are in the books and the four sets of divisions are defined. In this overview, we will try to focus on a sub-radar aspect of each series of playoffs, something that might not appear in the team stats or individual stats, but that will be fun to watch. once we will have stressed it.

LDS games will be broadcast on the FS1, TBS and MLB networks. Games on TBS and FS1 can be streamed on fuboTV (Free Trial). For an overview of the complete program, click here.

NLDS – Rockies vs. Brewers

Two of the National League's most prominent teams will face each other when the Rockies and Brewers meet in the NHLL. The Brewers are 20-7 since the beginning of September and the Rockies are 20-10 in the same period. Both teams have MVP candidates – Milwaukee has leader Christian Yelich; Colorado has Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado.

Of course, these guys will come into play, but there will be an interesting match in which they will likely be involved. The Brewers had the second best defensive efficiency of the National League – which means they're great at turning balls into play into outs. They are second in the majors in the registered defensive circuits and first among the outside fields.

The Rockies, meanwhile, are sixth overall in batting averages for the balls in play, leading the majors to batting average, and second in slugging for field-field balls.

Sounds simple enough, right? Your standard scenario is force against force. Well, do not raise a tired argument, but Coors Field must be taken into account when the Rockies are involved. And in this case, the consideration is enormous.

The Rockies are leading the BABIP majors with a wide margin at home this season and rank last in the majors by a wide margin on the road. These are not just home-based circuits, they play half of their games in the second largest field outside of all baseball baseball fields. So keep an eye out for the number of balls the Rockies can leave when they are in Milwaukee, and how many balls these Brewers players can catch in the cavernous Coors Field.

A bonus to look in this direction: The Rockies are leading the rankings in terms of additional base percentage, definitely impacting all of the possibilities of running in Colorado.

NLDS – Braves vs. Dodgers

The Dodgers beat the Rockies on Monday in the deciding match to avoid the Wild Card NL game and win that spot with the home field advantage in the LNDS, and they did it thanks to their greater strength. Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy each hit two homers, extending the left-handed Dodgers' power boost (both favorites also had a southpaw on the base, for good measure).

The Dodgers were second in the Major Leagues in slugging by left-handed and fifth in percentage on base. Their top three home batters were left-handers (Muncy, Bellinger and Joc Pederson) and the fourth-place guy was Yasmani Grandal, who hit the switchman, who hit over 80% of his left-side circuits.

The Braves can counter this – their pitchers have allowed the National League's lowest average to hit left-handed batters this season, and the second lowest percentage of slugging. And three of their starters were in the top 12 of the NL in left handed slugging: Anibal Sanchez (fifth), Mike Foltynewicz (11th) and Kevin Gausman (12th). But their biggest weapon may be the ability to take out several Southern bosses of the pen to join the sluggers of the Dodgers.

Only 24 left-handers have made 60 appearances this season, and the Braves have three. And the Braves could have a secret weapon in the 24-year-old southpaw Max Fried, the seventh pick in the 2012 project that they acquired Padres for Justin Upton.

Fried has made 15 starts in a minor this season and five in major. He could therefore carry out several innings if necessary. But in his four appearances out of the market after his last call in September, he was eliminated in eight outings in five innings, including seven of the last 11 batters he faced.

And one of his five major league games this season came against the Dodgers at the end of July. He scored seven strikeouts in five innings, allowing only two hits and one point in that match (an extremely small alert of the sample size).

ALDS – Indians against Astros

We know a lot about these two clubs, the two newest AL representatives in the world series.

Both teams have Cy Young ace in Corey Kluber and Justin Verlander. Both teams have MVP candidates in Jose Ramirez and Alex Bregman. Both teams have deep reservations.

But what could decide this series is the way each team performs a countdown on two takes. The pitching staffs of both teams are in the top five of the majors in percentage of response this season, and these are the two most difficult formations to miss.

Both teams are in the top six majors with a percentage of base strikes and two-shot slugging, and some of their best hitters are dangerous in the two-shot count.

Six of the 25 hardest hitters this season will be in this series, three from each team. And seven of the top 17 runners in dam percentage could participate in this series, including each of the top four starters of the Indians. And to add to that, Boston's new addition, Nathan Eovaldi, is fifth in the big leagues in percentage of K in September.

Lowest Exit Percentage – Batters in this Series

And what's exciting is that it's not a hit-and-batter batting band: there are players on both sides doing damage with two shots. Thirty-two players have scored 10 goals in two starts this season, including five in this series, including Jose Ramirez, tied with Giancarlo Stanton for most in the majors (18).

This means that when we arrive at two takes and the crowd is standing, we have a good chance to see a fireworks on each side.

ALDS – Yankees against the Red Sox

No introduction needed here – the Yankees and Red Sox have met 19 times this season and know each other very well. But what to watch in this series is how Alex Cora, the coach of the Red Sox, has headed to his paddock.

The reason may seem obvious – getting the right matches for Aaron Judge and Stanton, Gary Sanchez and even Luke Voit – but a deeper dive shows how important it will be and how different it would be from the regular season.

The four Yankees hitters we just mentioned are right-handed hitters. The seven most used relief pitchers from Boston this season were right handed. And it is unlikely that more than three left-handers will be part of the Sox playoffs (Chris Sale, David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez). So, in order for Cora to get the confrontations he needs against these guys, he will have to act early and often. But will he do it?

We know Price's difficulties in the playoffs, especially as a starter, so a short leash seems likely for him. Sale has only one run in the playoffs (last season) and that has not gone well – he has given up seven points in his playoff debut and has not made it. did not finish the fifth run on his second start. And if Rodriguez starts, expect right-handed Nathan Eovaldi to warm up early.

But that would be different from what these Yankees hit the Red Sox this season. I was shocked when I watched this, but these four guys took at least 45% of their fights against the Red Sox this season against left-handed pitchers, and Judge (51%) and sees (63%) have finished. half!

This is not a recipe for success for the Sox, especially when we see the left / right divisions for Stanton, Judge and Sanchez this season. But we also saw what the two elders did against the right-handers in the Wild AL card game, both of them eliminating circuits to bring the Yanks to this series.

Notable Yankees Sluggers' OPS this season

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