It’s almost time for the MLB playoffs, and these 25 players are the most interesting to watch as the season heads to October.
Temperatures are dropping (sort of), leaves are falling (almost) and football is back (meh). You know what that means? Playoff baseball is right around the corner. Baseball fans have been treated to epic playoff series in each of the past three years, with young superstars relishing and thriving in the pressure cooker that is October baseball.
In 2014, Madison Bumgarner made himself a postseason legend. A year later, the Royals were back to claim the title that had so narrowly eluded them a year before. That 2015 postsesaon also featured the emergence of the young Chicago Cubs studs as well as Carlos Correa becoming the youngest number-three hitter in a playoff game since Mickey Mantle. Experience has not been a prerequisite for postseason heroics lately.
The 2016 postseason may have topped them all, with the Cubs clawing back from a 3-1 hole to win their first title in 108 years. The Cleveland Indians very nearly ended a lengthy drought of their own with Francisco Lindor announcing himself to the world as a force to be reckoned with at the age of 22. If that wasn’t enough, Terry Francona rewrote the rules of bullpen management.
Most of the teams in the MLB playoff dance for 2017 are set in stone, with only one spot still legitimately up for grabs. Now is the time to begin thinking about which players will offer the most intrigue in October. These 25 players can make all the difference for their respective teams while also taking the next step toward cementing their status among the all-time greats.
25. Kyle Schwarber
This was supposed to be the year of Kyle Schwarber in Chicago. The big left fielder, who was a hero in the World Series last year, was slated to hit first for the Cubs and redefine what a lead-off man could like like and do. On paper, it made a lot of sense. Schwarber’s raw power and patient approach at the plate should have played well. In reality, it has been a struggle for Schwarber all season. His role for the postseason is up in the air.
Schwarber’s production has been on an upswing in September where he is hitting close to .300 with more power. That bodes well for the Cubs going into the playoffs, where Schwarber has been the single greatest hitter in franchise history.
24. Paul Goldschmidt
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is heading back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2011 season, where his team was eliminated in the NLDS despite his .438/.526/.813 slash line. Goldy is putting the finish touches on a typically great season, and is in the running for his first NL MVP award. He is hitting .308/.417/.587 with 35 home runs, 115 RBI and 17 stolen bases.
There is no player in the league who produces more quiet brilliance than the 30-year-old Goldschmidt. He may be the most underrated player in the league, and deserves much more national attention. If the Diamondbacks are able to move past the NL Wild Card Game, he will get just that. It’s hard to keep a player with a career .300/.400/.500 line a secret, but few baseball fans on the East Coast get a chance to see Goldschmidt more than once or twice a year unless they completely eschew sleeping.
The Diamondbacks have one of the best lineups in baseball, and will be one of the teams to beat in the National League if they can get to the NLDS. Arizona has no reason to be intimidated by the Los Angeles Dodgers given how well they have handled them in September. Goldschmidt has plenty of help around him in the lineup, but it all flows through him. Fans in Arizona already know he is a top-ten player in baseball, but this postseason could be the moment the rest of the country realizes it.
23. Carl Edwards Jr.
The Chicago Cubs will have one of the more traditional pitching staffs entering the postseason. They are not blessed with a multi-inning relief ace like Andrew Miller or Dellin Betances. The Cubs faced down this same issue last season as they won the World Series and nearly lost because Joe Maddon was overly reliant on closer Aroldis Chapman. In Wade Davis, the Cubs have a dominant closer, but their middle relief corps has been a problem in the second half.
Carl Edwards Jr. was one of the few Cubs relievers not named Aroldis Chapman who was given a chance to pitch in October last year. He appeared in eight games in the playoffs and had a 2.84 ERA but struggled to throw strikes. Edwards as a rookie last year, and the Cubs expected him to take the next step in 2017 and hold down their eighth inning.
That seemed to be exactly how the season would play out for Edwards. He finished the first half with a 2.29 ERA and 12.7 K/9. Paired with Davis, the Cubs had their late-game one-two punch to shut down any opponent in the playoffs. Edwards kept the train rolling through July, holding opponents to a .105/.292/.132 line for the month. When the calendar turned to August, however, the wheels fell off for the second-year righty.
Edwards finished the month of August with a 6.35 ERA and was hit hard. His ERA has fallen to a more respectable level in September, but he is still a notch below the dominant levels he showed in the early months of the year. The Cubs traded for Justin Wilson to help shore up their bullpen for the playoffs, but Maddon’s life will be much easier if Edwards locks it in.
22. Didi Gregorius
New York Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius has quietly emerged as one of the best in baseball the past two years. He now has over 40 home runs and 150 RBI over the past two seasons with an OPS over .800 in 2017. Gregorius has gotten better every year with the Yankees after being acquired in a minor trade with Arizona before the 2015 season.
In his three years with the Yankees, Gregorius has done a much better job replacing legend Derek Jeter than anyone could have predicted. Along with Starlin Castro, he forms one of the best offensive double-play combos in the American League. Castro is hitting .294/.331/.450 with 14 home runs and 55 RBI in 99 games.
The rise of Gregorius and the resurgence of Castro, who was given up on by Chicago, are a huge credit to the excellence of Yankees GM Brian Cashman. He got two All-Star caliber middle infielders for next to nothing and has them both on team-friendly contracts. The rest of the league has enough trouble keeping up with the Yankees and their bottomless budget. It’s almost unfair that the Yankees have one of the sharpest front offices in the league to boot.
21. Kyle Freeland/Jon Gray
The Colorado Rockies will have two options to make the start in the NL Wild Card Game (it was touch and go for a few weeks, but their postseason spot looks safe). Manager Bud Black has to choose between rookie Kyle Freeland and Jon Gray. The left-hander and the right-hander have combined for a 19-14 record with a sub-4.00 ERA on the year.
Freeland’s innings have been managed well this year, and he will be able to pitch in the postseason without blowing too far past his innings from last year. Gray showed flashes of dominance last season, but was slowed at the start of the 2017 season, but was slowed by a stress reaction at the start of the year. His arm is very fresh heading into October.
Gray and Freeland have both pitched well against Arizona this season, with Gray holding the slight edge. Both have pitched against the Diamondbacks three times, so there’s no ambushing them with an unfamiliar pitcher. Freeland has begun wearing down in the second half after ending the first half with a near no-hitter. Look for Gray to take the ball in the playoff game for the Rockies, but don’t be surprised if Freeland is the choice.
20. Fernando Rodney
The Arizona Diamondbacks have one of the best lineups in the National League and a dominant starting rotation. Their only real weakness is in the ninth inning where the Fernando Rodney Experience has been a roller coaster ride all season. Rodney is the worst closer in the playoffs.
At 40, Rodney’s best days as an MLB closer are behind him. His command issues have not come back to bite the Diamondbacks much this season because of how good their lineup is, but in the playoffs, they may have more one-run games that require a steady closer. Rodney has a 4.50 ERA on the year, but has strung together a few very dominant stretches.
From May 2 to July 1, Rodney pitched 20 times and did not allow a single earned run whil eholding opponents to a .035/.141/.035 line. He allowed two hits in a month, which is just impossible to fathom. On the other side of the coin, when Rodney has been bad this year, he’s been very bad. He has allowed more than three runs in five games,.
The Diamondbacks do have ace reliever Archie Bradley to help support Rodney, but there is certainly potential for ninth-inning drama for the Diamondbacks.
19. Mookie Betts
At the start of the year, there were some in the baseball world openly wondering whether Mookie Betts could begin chipping away at Mike Trout’s status as consensus best player in baseball. It’s safe to say the shark was sufficiently jumped when making that argument. Without David Ortiz for protection in the lineup, Betts’ numbers have severely regressed. His OPS is down over 100 points from 2016.
It’s saying a lot about how good Betts was last year that a season in which he tops 40 doubles, 20 home runs, 20 steals and has an OPS near .800 could somehow be classified as a disappointment. The power numbers are still way up for Betts, but he has made much more weak contact this year.
The Red Sox were the overwhelming favorites to win the AL pennant last year, but they were unceremoniously dumped by the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS. Betts hit just .200/.333/.300 in the three-game sweep with one extra-base hit. The pressure of the postseason was too much for Boston’s young hitters.
Now a year older, it will be up to Betts to lead the Red Sox deeper into the playoffs this time around. They are almost an afterthought in the AL playoff picture this year, but the pieces are definitely there to make a run. The Red Sox will need MVP Mookie to have any shot at taking down Houston and Cleveland.
18. Trea Turner
There will not be a faster, more dynamic player in the 2017 postseason than Washington Nationals shortstop and leadoff man Trea Turner. His legs may be one of the most dangerous weapons in these playoffs. A midseason injury may have been the only thing keeping Turner from taking a crack at stealing 100 bases this year.
Turner has been the most dynamic leadoff hitter in baseball for the last two seasons. Dusty Baker and the Nationals left him in the minor leagues a little too long last season, which cost him the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year. His freak wrist injury in June also kept him from playing a full season this year. In 159 games in parts of the past two years, Turner is a .309/.350/.501 hitter with 207 hits, 120 runs, 34 doubles, 14 triples, 22 home runs, 81 RBI and 73 stolen bases. Those are MVP numbers.
The Nationals are expecting to get Bryce Harper back in time for the postseason, but Turner may actually be their most dangerous player in the postseason where scoring runs becomes much more difficult. His speed is just unmatched in the sport today, but he is also much more than a slap hitter like Juan Pierre. Turner also has great instincts on the bases and has been thrown out only 12 times. He knows when to take off and will not give away outs.
17. Carlos Gonzalez
Colorado Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez has had a distinguished MLB career. In 10 years, he has hit over 200 home runs, been named to the All-Star Game three times and has three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers. Go ahead and downplay his career .288/.345/.510 career line as a product of Coors Field, but CarGo has been a very productive hitter for a full decade.
The start to Gonzalez’s walk year (he’s finishing up a seven-year, $80-million contract that has been a great deal for the Rockies) could not have gone much worse. He entered the month of August hitting a pitiful .228/.301/.339, by far the worst numbers of his career. Since August 1, however, Gonzalez has hit .318/.395/.576 with 13 doubles, seven home runs and 28 RBI in 40 games. The Rockies have been surging with CarGo finding his old form.
Gonzalez has been even better in the month of September, hitting .391/.500/.870 with seven doubles, five home runs and six multi-hit games. If he is able to continue this hot hitting into October, the Rockies are a real threat in the National League. They’ll have to get past the Arizona Diamondbacks first, but could give the Dodgers fits. The Rockies have given Clayton Kershaw the business on multiple occasions already this year, and that was without Gonzalez hitting. If he plays postseason hero, CarGo may set himself up for a nice payday.
16. Robbie Ray
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo is going to have quite a hard time deciding which of his aces will start the NL Wild Card Game. He has the $206.5-milion man Zack Greinke and the explosive Robbie Ray to choose from. Really, Lovullo can’t go wrong. Greinke is 16-6 with a 2.99 ERA and is striking out 9.7 per nine, which is his highest mark since 2011. Ray is 14-5 with a 2.73 ERA and leads the NL with 12.3 strikeouts per nine.
Zack Greinke & @RobbieRay join Randy Johnson & Curt Schilling ('01, '02) as the only #Dbacks teammates to tally 200 strikeouts. #OurSeason pic.twitter.com/YVavfJuwX7
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 16, 2017
Since the scary line drive off his head, Ray has returned to absolutely dominate the National League. In five starts, he is 5-0 with a 1.39 ERA and has struck out 15.3 per nine while holding down his opponents to a .474 OPS.
Ray’s fastball-curveball-slider arsenal is one of the nastiest in the league. His slider and curveball are both whiffed on nearly half the time when hitters attempt to swing at them. Ray is still a relative unknown to most of the country as he pitches in Arizona, but a star turn in the playoffs could make him a household name.
If the Diamondbacks elect to use Greinke in the single-elimination game and get through to face the Los Angeles Dodgers, that could set up a matchup between Ray and Clayton Kershaw. Talk about must-see TV.
15. Yu Darvish
When the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Yu Darvish at the deadline, he was viewed as the missing piece to push their World Series hopes over the top. As is incomrehensible as it would have seemed at the time of the deal, Darvish may now fail to make the Dodgers postseason rotation. He is 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA in seven starts since joining the Dodgers and has allowed seen home runs in 37.1 innings.
Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood will lead the Dodgers rotation in the playoffs, and it’s anyone’s guess as to who will take the ball in Game Threes. Rich Hill has been better than Darvish and his strikeout numbers are on par. The only concern with Hill is his durability. Hill and Darvish both threw well in their most recent start, and whoever pitches best down the stretch should get the nod in the NLDS.
Darvish needs this postseason to recover some of his value as he gets set to enter free agency for the first time since coming over from Japan. He is 31, has already had Tommy John, is having the worst year of his career and has the stigma of being a Japanese pitcher entering his thirties. There is not a good historical track record for pitchers like him. Making a few quality starts in the playoffs where his strikeout stuff plays up will help Darvish make his case for a nine-figure deal.
14. Yasiel Puig
After two years in the wilderness, Yasiel Puig is living up to the massive hype that followed him from the minor leagues to Los Angeles. The Dodgers right fielder is having his best full season since 2014 and has already or will set career highs in home runs, RBI, slugging and stolen bases. He is quietly putting together a season worthy of consideration for NL Comeback Player of the Year. Puig is hitting .264/.348/.491 on the year with 26 home runs and 69 RBI while playing strong defense in right field.
The 2017 season has been devoid of drama and controversy for Puig. At 26, it may have clicked for him that it’s time to put up or shut up. He shook off terrible months of April and May to stake a claim to a full-time spot in the crowded Los Angeles outfield.
Puig has hit .286/.387/.554 for the Dodgers in the second half and is one of the biggest difference makers in a lineup that is consistent but lacks the firepower to match teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks or Washington Nationals run for run.
Manager Dave Roberts has penciled Puig in up and down his lineup, and he has responded regardless of where he is hitting in the lineup. His best production has actually come while hitting in the lower third of the order. Puig has settled in the five-hole for now, but can move up and down to help the team find the best matchups.
13. Dallas Keuchel
Things could not have been going any better for 2015 AL Cy Young Dallas Keuchel through the first two months of the 2017 season. He was 9-0 on June 2 with a 1.67 ERA. His start on June 2 would be his last until well past the All-Star break due to a nerve condition around his neck and throwing shoulder — the same shoulder that affected his 2016 campaign.
Keuchel has not been the same since the injury. He has won only four of eight decision and has a 5.02 ERA while giving up a .261/.338/.415 line to his opponents. Keuchel has mixed in a few strong starts that point to his health problems being in the past, but has a 5.59 ERA in three starts prior to twirling six innings of one-run ball on Saturday against Seattle.
Keuchel’s struggles, along with the injuries that have held Lance McCullers back in the second half, forced the Houston Astros to part with a handful of their best prospects to acquire Justin Verlander who has looked sharp since the trade. Even with Verlander in the fold, the Astros need Keuchel pitching well to get past the Cleveland Indians and the rest of the American League. Keuchel’s fastball sits in the low 90s, and when he is not able to locate it, he gets hit hard. The Astros need him to get sharp before October.
12. Mike Trout
The Los Angeles Angels need some help if they are going to make it back to the postseason for the first time since 2014 where they were swept out in the ALDS by the Kansas City Royals. Those are still the only three games MVP Mike Trout has played in the postseason in his stellar career. MLB fans, especially those on the East Coast, would certainly like to see Trout in October more often.
In his single trip to the playoffs, Trout went only 1-for-12 with three walks. He is long overdue for a signature moment in the month of October. It is unfortunate that the Angels have not been able to surround their franchise player with better talent. In a better situation, Trout may have already been to the World Series multiple times.
The Angels are in an all-out fight with the Minnesota Twins to sneak into the playoffs as the second Wild Card. The front office was aggressive in going out and getting Justin Upton and Brandon Phillips, but their impact to date has been minimal. It’s still on Trout to get this team to the playoffs, same as ever.
Trout is MLB’s best player, and the league and its fans need to see him in the playoffs more often. Even with his thumb injury, he is still a leading candidate for his third MVP award.
11. Byron Buxton
The Minnesota Twins are creeping up on a playoff spot thanks to the explosion of former consensus top prospect Byron Buxton. The center fielder has flipped the switch and has been one of the best hitters in the league since the Fourth of July. Already among the best defenders in the game, Buxton’s newfound offense makes him a fringe MVP candidate.
Since July, Buxton has batted .330/.376/.589 with 11 home runs and 13 stolen bases. In their wildest dreams, the Twins could not have imagined Buxton turning in this type of second half. He was a .200 hitter for the entire year leading up to his breakthrough. There are still things Buxton needs to work on at the plate, like patience, but all in all, he looks like a future All-Star and possible MVP.
The Twins will enter the playoffs with the lowest chance of making it to the World Series of all the teams in the bracket. They will need a huge game out of Buxton to get past the Wild Card round and into the ALDS where they will also be huge underdogs. Even if the Twins do go one and done in the playoffs, Buxton will find a way to impact the game, be it with his glove, bat or legs.
10. Jake Arrieta
Jake Arrieta took a back seat in the Chicago Cubs run to the World Series last year to Jon Lester, but it may be on him to carry the rotation to the Promised Land this time around. Lester has been dinged up all year and 4.30, which would be his worst full-season mark since 2012. Arrieta’s walk year has not been without its own pitfalls, but he went 7-2 in July and August with a 1.69 ERA.
Unfortunately, Arrieta suffered a strained hamstring in his only September start and will not be back until the end of the month. Leg injuries can be tricky for pitchers, especially when the temperature drops. Even with his chiseled physique, Arrieta is not immune from tight muscles.
The Cubs need Arrieta to be Arrieta now more than ever. He is their best chance to match up against the Max Scherzers, Clayton Kershaws, Robbie Rays and Stephen Strasburgs of the world. Jose Quintana just isn’t cut out to handle that burden, but he is fine as a number-two starter in a playoff series.
Arrieta also needs this postseason to build on his free-agent case. This winter is his one shot at chasing in on the open market. The Cubs have been lukewarm about keeping him long term, but he may make himself too hard to let go for an organization that has already dealt away their top pitching prospects for MLB talent.
9. Danny Salazar
The Cleveland Indians redefined how a bullpen should be used in the playoffs last season, and they may ratchet things up to an even higher level this year. Andrew Miller and Cody Allen are back to shorten games to five innings, but they’ll have one more weapon out in the bullpen to make life miserable for the rest of the American League — right-hander Danny Salazar.
Danny Salazar's stuff is so good. If he can throw strikes, he could be a real postseason weapon in the bullpen for the #Indians.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) September 16, 2017
No one doubts that Salazar has some of the best raw stuff in the game. Commanding it has proved the bigger problem this year. Back-to-back starts in which he allowed 10 earned runs in 5.1 innings. Pitching in shorter, explosive bursts has helped Salazar with throwing strikes so far. In four appearances in relief, he has walked only one with seven strikeouts.
A locked-in Salazar coming in and throwing smoke out of the bullpen for two or three innings at a time would allow the Indians to make virtually every playoff game a five-inning game. The game has changed, and Salazar’s ability to get outs without contact is more valuable than ever in a short series. Pitching in relief is still very new to him, but the Indians were smart to make the move as early as they did to allow him to ease into his new role.
8. Aroldis Chapman
The first year of Aroldis Chapman’s record-setting contract with the New York Yankees has been an unmitigated disaster. The $86-million closer is in the midst of his worst season in the big leagues and has been hampered by injuries off and on all year. Chapman will throw the fewest innings of his career in 2017 while allowing more runs, hits and walks since his first full season at the MLB level. His strikeouts are also way down from the 17.7 K/9 he registered in 2014.
After giving up six runs and two home runs in a three-game span in the middle of August, Chapman has turned it around. He has not allowed a run in the month of September and has 10 strikeouts in 5.1 innings while allowing only four baserunners.
The nagging health issues that bothered Chapman in August appear to be behind him at the most crucial time of the year. His velocity has ticked noticeably upward in September. Chapman is sitting right at 101 mph for the month and his slider has also climbed closer to 90 after sitting below 88 in July.
Chapman was exposed in the World Series last year by the Cleveland Indians. When his fastball begins losing steam, he can be handled. His slider is not strong enough as a secondary pitch for him to survive throwing 97-98. The Yankees will be fine using him as a single-inning closer thanks to their dominant group of relievers.
7. David Price
This has been a year to forget for David Price of the Boston Red Sox. His season started late due to lingering elbow soreness that flared up early in Spring Training. Price was able to make 11 wstarts before the elbow landed him back on the DL. In those 11 starts, he went 5-3 with a 3.82 ERA and 4.01 FIP, his worst mark since his first full season in the big leagues. Along the way, Price got himself embroiled in a feud with Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley.
Price is off the disabled list and will head to the bullpen for the rest of the season and will pitch in relief in the playoffs. When he made his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, Price was used primarily as a reliever and appeared twice in the World Series. He also inexplicably pitched in relief during the 2015 ALDS for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Price pitching out of the bullpen is going to be an interesting experiment for the Red Sox. He is no longer blessed with dominant velocity and is not used to the rigors of pitching in short bursts. There’s a reason starters working their way back from Tommy John are not immediately rushed back to pitch two times in three days at maximum effort.
The Red Sox need a multi-inning reliever who can match up against the likes of Andrew Miller, Chris Devenski and Dellin Betances. Without enough time to stretch back out for a starting role, Price will have to try and make it work as a reliever before trying to get fully healthy this winter. This move feels like a stretch, and all parties involved might be better off shutting Price down for the year.
6. Corey Kluber
Oh — you thought Corey Kluber was good last season? He’s been unconscious this season. The Klubot is 17-4 with a 2.35 ERA and leads the league in wins, ERA, complete games, shutouts, WHIP, hits per nine and walks per nine. In the second half, Kluber is 10-1 with a 1.92 ERA. If not for Rick Porcello winning the Cy Young last year because pitcher wins, the Cleveland right-hander with the unhittable breaking ball might be accepting his third award after the votes are counted.
Given his first taste of the postseason last year, Kluber put the Indians on his back and carried them to the World Series. He went 4-1 with a 1.83 ERA in six starts, including two wins in the World Series.
Kluber has given up only 18 hits on his slider the entire season. Opponents have hit .085 against the pitch with 125 strikeouts. It is a pitch unlike any other in the game today. Kluber’s slider has more velocity and bite than the average curveball. He mixes in three different fastballs to keep hitters off balance.
The Indians ace just pounds hitters with his heavy fastballs and then blows them away with his breaking ball with two strikes. His velocity is nothing special, but a pitcher who can command 93 mph with movement to both sides of the plate and finish it off with a devastating slider is made to succeed in the postseason.
5. Aaron Judge
Making contact in playoff games is one of the most difficult tasks in professional sports. The game has been changed by the new bullpen-management strategies that became the norm last October. Starters can now squeeze more max-effort pitches into five or six innings instead of attempting to stretch themselves out to pitch into the eighth. That’s bad news for most power hitters, and it is definitely bad news for New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge.
Judge was the story of the baseball world in the first half of the season when he hit 30 of his 43 home runs and posted an OPS of 1.139. The rest of the league figured the big rookie out in the second half, and he has struck out in well over 40 percent of his official at-bats since the break. He has flashed the raw power from time to time, but it has been far more bust than boom for Judge.
In the second half, Judge has been abused with curveballs and sliders. He is hitting .079 off sliders and .133 against curveballs since the All-Star break. When Judge runs into a poorly-placed pitch, he’s probably hitting it 425 feet, but otherwise, he has provided a lot of free air conditioning.
Playoff arsenals will be heavy on the breaking stuff in the dirt to Judge, and teams may elect just to pitch around him. If the New York Yankees are able to come back to win the AL East or get past the Wild Card Game, Judge can still impact the game without hitting home runs.
4. Chris Sale
In his first season with the Boston Red Sox, southpaw Chris Sale has been worth every bit of the massive prospect haul it took to acquire him from the Chicago White Sox. He is a contender for the American League Cy Young and may go over 300 strikeouts depending on how many starts he makes the rest of the year. Sale is having the best season of his eight-year career.
With the White Sox, Sale never got a taste of the postseason — didn’t even come close, for that matter. As the calendar turns to October, he’s getting ready for a whole new ballgame. With his bulldog mentality on the mound and borderline scary intensity and laser focus, something tells me he will be fine under the brighter lights and stifling pressure of playoff baseball.
Sale has not wavered under the pressure of carrying a Red Sox rotation in the second half that has been without David Price for weeks and has seen 2016 AL Cy Young Rick Porcello lose 17 games and counting. He has struck out 100 in only 68 innings.
The only troubling stat to consider with Sale as the Red Sox look towards the playoffs is his career 4.78 ERA against the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe hit him around in August and is on an incredible roll. On a more positive note, Sale has a career 1.31 ERA against the Houston Astros, Boston’s likely ALDS opponent.
3. Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander’s first two starts with the Houston Astros have been nothing short of spectacular. The right-hander has given his new team 14 innings of one-run ball with 16 strikeouts. The initial shock of being traded away from the only team he ever played for has not appeared to phase Verlander, and he has been dealing in the second half.
Verlander struggled with his command in the first half, but he has been dialed in since the All-Star break. In 12 starts, he is 7-2 with a 2.10 ERA and is striking out 10.4 per nine with an opponents slash line of .180/.232/.239. Verlander has been even better than he was last year when he nearly won the AL Cy Young.
With the Detroit Tigers, Verlander’s pitching in the postseason was typically stellar. His only real hiccup came in the 2012 World Series where he was tagged for two home runs by Pablo Sandoval and five runs in four innings. Take that one ugly start out of the equation, and Verlander has a career ERA of 3.05 with well over a strikeout an inning.
The Astros were forced to go out and empty their farm system for Verlander due to the concerns over the health of Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers. He is the ace the team needed to push itself over the hump and navigate the postseason, where it is often much harder to score runs. Verlander’s career is already building towards a spot in the Hall of Fame, and he can further cement his place as an all-time great with a World Series trophy.
2. Bryce Harper
Bryce Harper has been out with a knee injury since he slipped on a wet base on August 12. The injury Harper suffered looked ugly and potentially of the season-ending variety at first, but he was diagnosed with a hyperextended knee and a severe bone bruise. His rehab has progressed slowly, but the Washington Nationals are confident he can return in time to play in the postseason.
Prior to the injury, Harper was making his case for another MVP award. In 106 games, Harper was hitting .326/.419/.614 with 92 runs, 27 doubles, 29 home runs and 87 RBI. Had he stayed healthy, he would have blown his 2015 MVP numbers out of the water.
The initial scare of seeing Harper writing on the ground in pain and grabbing his knee has worn off, and the Nationals seem certain his body will be ready physically for the postseason. What remains to be seen is how well he will get himself locked back in at the plate. Minor-league seasons are over, and his rehab is different from Kyle Schwarber’s season-long recovery from a torn ligament last year. Schwarber was able to hole up at the Cubs training facility and work with the minor leaguers and hit in the Arizona Fall League. Harper doesn’t have time for that, and his timetable does not offer much wiggle room to get ready.
If Harper is able to feel comfortable running, he will be out there when the playoffs begin. His presence in the lineup or lack thereof does not much change the Nationals status as legitimate World Series contenders. They are a deep team that has a chance to win it all even without their biggest star.
1. Clayton Kershaw
Recent losing streak notwithstanding, the Dodgers have been the best team in baseball the entire year. Up until three weeks ago, they would have been everyone’s first choice to win the World Series. Their long losing streak — no team has ever won a World Series in a year where they lost 15 of 16 — has revealed more than a few flaws, but the Dodgers still have the hammer in a playoff series. They have Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw missed close to a month again this year with a back injury, but he has been so good that the NL Cy Young should be his. He leads the major leagues with 17 wins and a 2.12 ERA. Although he has made only 24 starts, Kershaw has done enough to cement his fourth Cy Young. He is the best pitcher in the league, and it’s not even close.
For all of his dominance in the regular season, Kershaw has run into trouble in the playoffs almost every year. In 18 career appearances in the playoffs and 89 innings, the left-hander has a 4.55 ERA. Kershaw has been much better the past two years. His reputation as a postseason choker is unfair. In Kershaw’s early years with the Dodgers, the team’s bullpen was awful and he was often forced to pitch deep into games or saw his ERA inflated by inherited runners coming into score.
Missing a month with a minor back injury may prove to be a blessing in disguise. He will enter the playoffs fresh. At his best, Kershaw is the ultimate equalizer in a playoff series where he can pitch three times. Even with their flaws exposed, the Dodgers can still win the World Series if the best pitcher on the planet pitches like the best pitcher on the planet.