Only 23 teams in major-league history have struck out more than 1,400 times in a season. Eleven did it this season, including three of the five National League playoff teams.
Baseball continues to become a three-true-outcomes game to an increasing degree, with home runs, strikeouts and walks all rising. Those are called the true outcomes because they are pitcher-batter interactions in which the defense isn’t involved.
All three outcomes are rising. The 6,105 homers this season crushed the old record of 5,693 set in 2000. The 40,104 strikeouts easily topped the old record of 38,982 set last season. The 15,889 walks weren’t a record, but they were the most since 2009.
Against that backdrop, it’s only natural that the true outcomes would be up among playoff teams, too. Eight playoff teams hit at least 200 homers, and the 10 playoff teams totaled 2,136. Last season, it was six with more than 200 and 2,021 total.
There are homer highlights throughout the playoff rosters. Led by Aaron Judge’s rookie-record 52, the Yankees lead postseason teams with 241 homers, followed by the Astros with 238.
The Cubs, whose 223 homers lead NL playoff teams, had a club-record six players hit 20 or more, led by Anthony Rizzo with 32 and Kyle Schwarber with 30.
Walks among playoff teams are up from 5,430 last season to 5,903, and strikeouts are up from 12,633 to 13,164.
The leading true-outcomes team missed the playoffs. The Brewers, who jumped to 86 victories this season from 73 in 2016, had 37.4 percent of their plate appearances end in true outcomes and struck out a record 1,571 times.
We have don’t have to look far back to see a team well above average in true outcomes winning the World Series. In 2016, the Cubs won it all after 34.6 percent of their regular-season plate appearances ended in homers, strikeouts and walks. The NL average was 32.8 percent.
This season, when NL teams averaged 33.8 percent true outcomes, the playoff leaders are the Dodgers (36.3), followed by the Diamondbacks (36.2), Cubs (35.7), Rockies (34.2) and Nationals (33.5).
In the American League, the Yankees (35.3) and Twins (34.2) exceeded the league average of 33.2 percent. They’re joined by the Indians (31.6), Red Sox (31.0) and Astros (29.2).
Historically, teams have put the ball in play more often. The 2000 Yankees, the last team to win a second consecutive World Series, were at 29.2 percent true outcomes, and the 1995 Braves, who won in the first season of the wild-card era, were at 29.7 percent.
In earlier times, the 1976 Big Red Machine was at 26.4 percent, the 1927 Yankees — with Babe Ruth becoming the first player to hit 60 homers — at 22.7 and, in the dead-ball era, the 1908 Cubs at 16.5.
But the game today is played differently than it was in the dead-ball era, in Ruth’s day or even at the beginning of the wild-card era. The true outcomes are an expanding fact of baseball life.
Follow me on Twitter @GrochowskiJ.
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