Unlike the 162-game marathon of a regular season, a hot streak or a slump in a postseason series is magnified and scrutinized. That said, it’s a time for new heroes to be made and unfortunate failures to be singled out. Here are those who fit each side of the ledger during the Division Series.
Winners
5. Kendrys Morales, Royals
Admittedly, there were plenty of Kansas City heroes, especially those who contributed to the Game 4 comeback. Ironically, that was the only game in which Morales didn’t record a hit. He was pretty good in all the others, though. Morales book-ended the five-game series with Houston by homering twice in the opener and putting the finishing touches on the clincher with a three-run blast in the eighth.
4. Daniel Murphy, Mets
Whoever said Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw were invincible never relayed that message to the Mets second baseman. All three of Murphy’s home runs came against Los Angeles’ two aces. The first (off Kershaw) opened the scoring in New York’s Game 1 victory. The last (off Greinke) put the Mets on top to stay in the sixth inning of Game 5, a night in which he went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a nifty piece of baserunning that caught the Dodgers napping – and led to him scoring the tying run.
3. Kyle Schwarber, Cubs
It’s possible no one will ever retrieve the moonshot he fired off against Kevin Siegrest. That round-tripper finished off the Game 4 offense – and all but finished off the Cardinals. At just 22, Schwarber is one of many Cubs who doesn’t seem fazed by postseason pressure. Carrying the momentum generated from his three-RBI effort in the Wild Card victory, he torched St. Louis pitching with a .500 batting average – including a Game 3 homer, as well.
2. Jacob deGrom, Mets
His 13-strikeout performance in the opener put him in the Mets playoff record books alongside Tom Seaver. But deGrom showed the makings of a true ace during Thursday’s winner-take-all affair at Dodger Stadium. Clearly lacking his best stuff, relying mostly on guile and determination, the 2014 Rookie of the Year overcame two early runs and battled through six innings – deftly escaping potential trouble in most of them.
1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
Joe Carter may forever have the greatest home run in Toronto Blue Jays history, but the long ball from “Joey Bats” was not without its share of drama and context. Capping off the wildest seventh inning in recent memory, Bautista launched one over the left-center field fence (and hurled his bat halfway to Ottawa) to provide the difference in a win that sent Toronto to the ALCS for the first time since the 1993 championship season.
Losers
5. Michael Wacha, Cardinals
The dawning of the postseason didn’t result in any change of fortune. After struggling mightily during September (7.88 ERA over five starts), Wacha stumbled again in the pivotal Game 3 at Wrigley Field – allowing four runs (and three homers) in 4.1 innings. Even though the Cardinals made Jake Arrieta look human, Wacha’s poor outing put St. Louis in too deep of a hole to recover.
Coming into tonight, Michael Wacha had pitched in 70 games in his career. Never before had he allowed three home runs in one game. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 12, 2015
4. Lucas Duda, Mets
Just because his team prevailed doesn’t mean he gets off the hook so easily. Duda’s feast-or-famine tendency is leaning heavily in the wrong direction right now with the weight of 11 strikeouts and just two singles in 15 at-bats bringing him down. Only a solid glove at first base and the unwavering faith of his manager has kept him in the starting lineup.
3. Prince Fielder, Rangers
His 3-for-20 effort in the loss to Toronto won’t completely erase the fact that Fielder revived his career after an injury-plagued 2014. There were no extra base hits on Prince’s 2015 playoff record, and the lone RBI he produced came in Game 5. This was quite the surprise, considering he batted nearly .400 over the final month of the regular season.
2. Jose Altuve, Astros
He’s usually the spark plug for the Houston offense. However, in the Division Series versus Kansas City, he failed to ignite. Altuve managed to hit a measly .133 in the five-game set. All three of his hits were singles – and all three of his hits came in the opener. Altuve and the Astros will have many more opportunities, but this was an auspicious beginning to his postseason career.
1. Elvis Andrus, Rangers
The normally sure-handed shortstop picked the worst time to have the worst half-inning of his life. He began gifting the Blue Jays in Game 5 with a botched grounder to start the bottom of the seventh. Then, he couldn’t handle a potential force play at second (on a bounced throw by first baseman Mitch Moreland, who got the error). No sooner did he follow by dropping a potential force at third on a bunt. Three batters later, when Jose Bautista went deep, it simultaneously earned the Blue Jays slugger heroes laurels while also squarely placing the goat horns on Andrus.