If you like strikeouts, then you are loving this postseason
NEW YORK — Through the first two and a half rounds of the postseason, we are feeling the full force of the breeze of modern-day analytical baseball where bullpens dominate and over and over again potential rallies evaporate into a flurry of strikeouts.
The “home runs or strikeouts” lack of action on the field is a problem that’s been plaguing baseball the last few years, one the game’s poohbahs are seeking to at least partly rectify by outlawing the shifts next year. But after successfully emasculating starting pitchers with pitch counts, innings limits and the “third time around the lineup” analytic edicts, baseball has been transformed into a bullpen game. We will doubtless never again see a starting pitcher hurl a complete game in the postseason, a feat Madison Bumgarner most recently achieved three times from 201416. What we will continue to see are multiple relievers from the sixth inning on, all of them bringing 97-100 mph heat and diminishing batters into helpless windmills.
As of Friday, there had been 29 postseason games, 11 of which were decided by home runs. Meanwhile, there were 406 hits in those games and 593 strikeouts. Yes, that’s a lot of wind and, one would think from a fan’s standpoint, not a whole lot entertaining. I’m sure Yankee fans especially did not enjoy watching Aaron Boone’s lads striking out 30 times (as opposed to the Astros’ eight) in the first two losing games against the Astros. In beating Cleveland in five games in the previous AL division series, the Yankees, as is their offensive formula for success, out-homered the Guardians 9-3, but also out-fanned them 53-45.
Good as they are, the Astros too have had to resort to the long-ball-or-bust offense this postseason, all three wins of their sweep of the Mariners in the ALDS decided by home runs. They’re better, more diversified than that, but their main offensive catalyst, Jose Altuve, has been embroiled in a historic slump, going hitless in 23 at-bats as of Saturday to eclipse the immortal Dal Maxvill’s longest postseason hitless record of 22.
Brian Cashman & Co. pride themselves in analytics, but the hard truth in the first two games of the ALCS was the Yankees were flat out “out-analyticed” by the Astros, who out-homered them 4-2 and whose bullpen struck out 10 batters to their two. We knew going in the Yankee bullpen was their Achilles heel, especially compared to the Astros relievers, whose 10.45 strikeouts per nine innings was the highest in baseball this year. But add to that two of the Yankees’ best contact hitters, DJ LeMahieu and Andrew Benintendi are on the sidelines with injuries, replaced in large part in the lineup by Josh Donaldson, who can no longer catch up to the fastball, and Matt Carpenter, who clearly was not ready to be activated — and it’s become evident the Yankees’ only chance in this series is with a flurry of home runs by their big power hitters.