Playoff Recap: Round 1

Playoff Recap

            Well it’s the most exciting time of the year for us baseball fans and so far the playoffs haven’t disappointed yet.  Lets take a look on how the teams did in this years playoffs and recap the good and bad.

Atlanta Braves vs. Los Angeles Dodgers- The reason the Dodgers won this series is very clear, the Braves had an ERA of 5.82 and a WHIP of 1.71 in 4 games.  The Dodgers hitting was just unstoppable from the get go.  The Braves hitting didn’t show up either which made it easy pickings for the Dodgers; it doesn’t help that the Braves had a K% in the series of nearly 30%.  I did predict that the Dodgers would end up winning this series but this was not what I expected.  The Braves really never made this competitive, sad end to a team that was just so hot in the beginning of the year.

Here are the stats for the series:
Los Angeles Dodgers: Hitting

AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.333	.386	.572	.958	.317	.446	67%	23%	9	2.9
RISP
.317

Pitching

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
3.09	1.20	2.19	4.7	1.6	3.0	2.3	6%

Atlanta Braves: Hitting

AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.219	.290	.275	.564	.199	.365	0%	29%	10%	3.0
RISP
.265

Pitching

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
5.82	1.71	4.02	3.9	1.3	2.9	1.8	22%

Pittsburg Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals: This was a great series and was quite a surprise to me.  I honestly thought this was going to be a 3 game series and the Cardinals looked like they were going to just run with it after game one.  But the Pirates fought and made it a 5 game series mainly do to strong pitching but the rookie Garret Cole and a strong relief staff.  But in the end the Cardinals were able to hang on with some amazing pitching.  Now I just want to make this clear; I’m posting the stats again but the Pirates stats are including the 1 game playoff with the Reds so keep that in mind.

Pittsburg Pirates: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.238	.276	.297	.386	.683	.230	.309	50%	20%	8%	2.5

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
3.63	1.10	4.50	4.1	2.0	2.1	2.0	18%

St. Louis Cardinals: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.209	.192	.294	.386	.680	.229	.252	100%	18%	10%	1.8

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
2.62	1.02	3.11	4.4	1.6	2.9	1.5	9%

Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays: This, much like the Pirates and Cardinals series, lasted longer than I expected.  The Red Sox were just dominate from day one and honestly thought the series was over when the Sox, for a lack of better term, dominated David Price.  But the Rays fought back the next game to take game 3 with a walk off HR, but just couldn’t beat the titan that is the Red Sox in the next game.  Boston looks just terrifying to say the least.

Boston Red Sox: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.336	.375	.442	.478	.920	.318	.621	80%	22%	13%	1.7

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
3.07	1.14	3.73	3.7	1.2	3.0	0.8	10%

Tampa Bay Rays: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.227	.189	.294	.356	.650	.220	.317	50%	25%	7%	3.4

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
5.02	1.58	3.41	4.7	2.3	2.0	1.07	4%

Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland A’s: Yet another series that could have ended quickly but this time opposite of what most people probably expected.  The A’s were not a hitting team during the year; they won with pitching and defense with timely hitting thrown in.  Detroit is the powerhouse leading every offensive “counting” stat out there.  This series showed both teams at their best and worst in some cases; the inability to hit was the downfall for the A’s in the end and the defense and suprising lack of hitting could have lead to the Tigers.  In the end the bats of the Tigers were just too much for a A’s pitching staff that, to be honest, disappointed this post season.

Detroit Tigers: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.235	.364	.295	.361	.616	.213	.321	0%	22%	7%	4.2

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
2.86	1.14	2.04	6.3	1.6	4.3	.79	5%

Oakland A’s: Hitting

AVG	RISP	OBP	SLG	OPS	GPA	BABIP	SB%	K%	BB%	K/BB
.217	.128	.276	.380	.656	.219	.344	100%	32%	8%	4.1

Pitching:

ERA	WHIP	FIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	GB/FB	HR/FB
3.48	1.16	3.20	4.2	1.4	2.9	1.38	8%