Who here, in all honesty, predicted that the Arizona Diamondbacks would sweep the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in quick succession?
Not me anyway. I’m not an example to follow because I always predict poorly in the series, but still.
All this to say that the Arizona club took the other teams by surprise. The guys did it with some great performances on the mound, which is…surprising about their bullpen.
It’s a bit of a world turned upside down since several ordinary pitching staffs on paper have the best earned run averages since the start of the series. #Phillies #Diamondbacks #Rangers
But even if it’s the mound that wins championships, we still know that hitters are important. This is what keeps the Rangers and DBacks 5-0 in the playoffs.
And in Arizona, it’s pretty crazy.
Since the start of the playoffs, the Diamondbacks lead the MLB with 13 long balls. They have four in two games against Milwaukee and nine in three games against LA
The Astros have one more in the division series, but in four games instead of three. On average, Arizona therefore gains from the exchange.
I know there’s more than just home runs in life, but look at the ranking of the most home runs in the series: it almost looks like power ranking.
The Diamondbacks and Astros are already in the championship series. The Phillies are one win away from doing that. We are talking about the three clubs with at least 10 circuits since the start of the series.
I know that not everyone played in the wild card games, but still: we can compare the number of home runs per game to have a similar ranking.
The Rangers are in fifth place with seven long balls and out of the top-5, only the Twins look like impostors right now.
The Braves, who are currently facing elimination, have only two home runs in three games. And one of them (Austin Riley) absolutely allows them to still be alive today.
Will the long ball be a factor for the rest of the playoffs? If so, watch out for the DBacks and Astros.
