MLB Notebook: Division Series Recaps

An exciting Division Series is in the books—no sweeps and a pair of Game 5s, one of them historic. What moments and what players made the difference? Here’s our concise breakdown of all four:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Toronto over NY Yanks (3-1)
In A Nutshell
It’s natural to look at the Blue Jays dropping 23 runs in the first two games, including against Yankee ace Max Fried and that is obviously the big takeaway. But don’t overlook the failure of the Yankee offense in Game 4. On a night when Toronto had to rely entirely on their bullpen, New York only scored twice.

By The Numbers
Toronto had the best team batting average in baseball during the season, and they put that on display in this series. The Jays batted .338 over the four games. Vladdy Guerrro Jr., Daulton Varsho and Ernie Clement alone combined for an astonishing 25 hits. Keep in mind, this includes three games facing the Yankee trio of Fried, Carlos Rodon and Cam Schlittler. You aren’t going to lose a series when you hit the ball like that.

Yankee Epilogue
Aaron Judge has taken some heat for his postseason performances, but he can’t be on the hook for this one. Judge went 9-for-16, drew four walks, and hit a towering game-tying three-run blast in Game 3 to help his team stave off elimination for one more day. But the reasons this space picked Judge for AL MVP were on a vivid display for other reasons—the complete lack of support from the supporting cast. New York has a lot of big names in their lineup, but none other than Judge were consistent throughout the year, and they were persona non grata in this series.

Series MVP: Vladdy Guerrero Jr  (1B, Toronto)
For as many great performances as Toronto had, this one was still easy. Vladdy was not only 9-for-17, he also hit three homers, drove in nine runs and it seemed like all his hits were significant.

Seattle over Detroit (3-2)
In A Nutshell
The incredible 15-inning Game 5, the longest ever in a deciding playoff game, will live on in baseball lore. That game had so many twists and turns, especially in extra innings. But your ultimate storyline for the series, which includes Game 5, is this—if you had told Detroit fans at the start of the series that they only needed to win one of two games that Tarik Skubal started, they would have taken it. Tell them that Skubal would pitch 13 innings over those two games and give up only three runs? Tiger fans would feel even better. But Detroit didn’t hit for their ace, and they lost both games.

By The Numbers
Cal Raleigh met the moment in his first postseason appearance, batting .381, making consistent contact and hitting a home run in Seattle’s big Game 3 win that ensured they would take the series back home. The Mariners’ job was made harder by the complete failure of Randy Arozarena to get anything going, and the disappearance of Julio Rodriguez after Game 1. Seattle survived because Josh Naylor had a good series with the bat, and Jorge Polanco hit two big solo blasts off Skubal in a must-win Game 2.

Tiger Epilogue
Kerry Carpenter had a big four-hit night in Game 5, and Javier Baez had five hits for the series as a whole. But while Riley Greene hit a key home run in a must-win Game 4, the great corner outfielder was otherwise silent—only three hits for the series as a whole. In the end, Detroit’s lineup just doesn’t scare anyone. They’re a good team, but not a great one and the Division Series is probably about their level. This marks the second straight year they’ve reached this round and the second straight year they’ve lost a Game 5. Realistically, they are, as Dennis Green might say, who we think they are. For better or worse.

Series MVP: Logan Gilbert (P, Seattle)
While Raleigh would be a valid and understandable choice, I’m ultimately looking at the bigger picture of Seattle pitching being able to neutralize the Skubal advantage. Gilbert was lights-out in Game 3, the crucial road win the Mariners needed. He gave two shutout innings on two days’ rest in the Game 5 marathon.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Milwaukee over Chi Cubs (3-2)
In A Nutshell
This was a good series capped off with a tense, taut Game 5 where the home teams won every game, so the Brewers winning the division over the Cubs was obviously significant. From the narrow perspective of these five games, it seems to me that Milwaukee just did a better job leveraging their advantages. The Brewers put the ball in play better than the Cubs during the season and they won batting average for the series, .250 to .200. Milwaukee hit seven doubles to Chicago’s two. The Cubbies, as expected, had the home run advantage hitting nine. Less expected was the inability of their own pitching to keep the Brewers in the park. Milwaukee went deep seven times, including for all of their runs in Game 5, to at least mitigate the edge.

By the Numbers
We already dropped quite a few numbers on you in the first segment, but let’s add a few more. Jackson Chourio, the electric young Brewer outfielder, hit .389 for the series in spite of tweaking a hamstring in Game 1. William Contreras batted .300 for the series. On the Cub side, I’m looking at four quality players in Carson Kelly, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson. They combined for just eight hits over five games. Not going to cut it.

Cubbie Epilogue
It’s just tough to advance too deep into October when your offense is all about the long ball. The allure of a lighting strike that can change a game is always there, and Chicago did a better job than I expected at hitting the ball out of the park in this series. But still, that’s a hard way to make a living when you’re going against the best pitching staffs in baseball, all of whom are emptying out their bullpens. Chicago is good, but they need a little bit more balance in the lineup. And manager Craig Counsell is solid, but his decision overmanage Game 5 and not just give the ball to Shota Imanaga took away the advantage his team had—putting a reliable starter against an opponent that had to do a bullpen game.

Series MVP: Jacob Misorowksi (P, Milwaukee)
“The Mis”, as the rookie flamethrower is called, struggled a bit down the stretch, but in our Division Series preview, it was predicted that the chance to go into relief and pitch just a few innings at a time, might be exactly what he needed. That proved to be true. He threw three lights-out innings in Game 2 and four more in Game 5, getting the win in both games.

LA Dodgers over Philadelphia (3-1)
In A Nutshell
This series is going to stick in the craw of the Phillies for a long time. They were right in position to win each of the three games they lost. But the Dodgers got the big hit in Game 1, a two-out, three-run blast from Teoscar Hernandez. The Dodgers made the big play in Game 2, perfectly executing the defense of a sac bunt and cutting down the tying run at third base in the ninth inning. And in Game 4, the Phils made the big mistake—poor Orion Kerkering, the reliever who had a brain freeze and threw home rather than just going to first for the third out. Playoff baseball can be cruel, and it was uniquely cruel for Philadelphia this October.

By the Numbers
At the risk of taking away from the pitching, let’s focus on all the stars who didn’t hit in this series. Shohei Ohtani batted .056. Mookie Betts hit .235 and Freddie Freeman batted .200. And this was for the team that won. On the losing side, Kyle Schwarber hit .188, Bryce Harper batted .200 and Trea Turner clocked in at .235. There was just excellent pitching, from Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell with Los Angeles to Cristopher Sanchez for the Phils. I hate to pile on Kerkering, but in addition to his mistake that ended the series, he finished with a 6.75 ERA and gave up the aforementioned three-run blast to Hernandez that decided Game 1.

Phillie Epilogue
We’ve already touched on this point—that this series should haunt Philadelphia fans. They pitched well enough to win. While their stars didn’t hit, that could still have been overcome. But even by the tense standards of playoff baseball, this was a series that came down disproportionately to quick moments. The Phils just didn’t make the plays.

Series MVP: Tyler Glasnow (P, Los Angeles)
Glasnow tossed six shutout innings in the decisive Game 4. He also got five important outs late in Game 1. After a season where he made only 18 starts and pitched just 90 innings, Glasnow seems like a microcosm of his team—ready to take it to a new level in October.

LOOKING AHEAD

We’re on a fast turnaround here this Sunday at TheSportsNotebook. We move right into League Championship Series action tonight and our previews will be posted by late afternoon.

Then, as Week 6 of the NFL wraps up over today and tomorrow, we’ll be starting a series of check-ins on each division, as we evaluate how each team looks one-third of the way into the season. Bookmark us and check back!