In Game Two of their first World Series appearance for 32 years, the Toronto Blue Jays could not repeat the feat. One day after shellacking the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff in an 11-4 victory in the series opener, they managed only one run in the second game, losing 5-1 in the face of a gem of a complete game performance by Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
This is not the time for the bats to go dry, no matter how good the opposing arms are. However, the Blue Jays do still have the ultimate trick up their sleeve.
The Blue Jays stuck their foot in the door of the World Series with a dramatic and historic come-from-behind victory in Game Seven of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners. It was a moment of history that belonged to the city, but particularly to star outfielder George Springer, whose three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning represented the winning runs.
It was however par for the course for Springer, as according to one statistic, he is the best postseason hitter in the whole entire history of Major League Baseball.
Finding A Statistic That Suits
As a variant of the more common Win Percentage Added statistic (WPA), MLB.com also offer a variant specific to predicting postseason production. Championship Win Percentage Added, or cWPA.
cWPA is a player metric that estimates how much a playerâs actions changed his teamâs probability of winning the championship, rather than just a single game. In other words, instead of just calculating the WPA for the game, cWPA seeks to express how much did the player’s contributions matter toward the team eventually winning the World Series.
Given the variables involved and the enormous reliance on context, it is a statistic to be used more for fun rather than objective analysis. That said, when it suits you, it is definitely something to cite. And it suits Blue Jays fans to do that right now, as Springer sits at the top of the prestigious pile.
George Springer: Clutcher Than Mickey Mantle
According to Baseball Referenceâs list of career cWPA marks, Springer has established himself as the clutchest player in postseason history, adding 90.8 percent odds in favour of his team. This puts him ahead of the game’s greats such as Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Lou Gehrig, and everyone else you can think of. Once pitchers are included, Springer still ranks sixth, trailing only Mariano Rivera, Madison Bumgarner, Rollie Fingers, Art Nehf and Jack Morris – and ahead of Sandy Koufax.
cWPA serves as a measure of clutchness, and is heavily biased by sample size and opportunity. For example, tenth all time is Hal Smith, a catcher for the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates who has only eight postseason plate appearances to his name. It just so happens that one of them resulted in a dramatic three-run home run off right-hander Jim Coates to give the Pirates a 9-7 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game Seven of that year’s World Series. It was possibly the single-biggest hit in postseason history.
Springer, though, has had more than one. This is his eighth season of playoff baseball, and his third with Toronto. And while the black cloud of the Astros cheating scandal will always loom over his five years in Houston, the numbers nevertheless are piling up.
With 23 postseason home runs, Springer is currently tied for third all time, behind only former teammate Jose Altuve and the enigma that was Manny Ramirez. When a big spot comes up, the Blue Jays have Vladimir Guerrero Jr in the middle of the order, swinging a brilliant bat – but they also have Springer at the top. The same George Springer who has outperformed Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose and Lou Gehrig. One more big clutch hit might be all it takes.
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