One defining stat for each playoff team

As we gear up for a postseason unlike any other, it’s a good time to evaluate what each team headed to the playoffs did in the regular season, so we can try to figure out what to expect from them moving forward.

One way to get a sense of each team is to assess the facts that defined them throughout the season. There’s no one stat that encapsulates each club, given all of the elements that comprise a postseason-ready squad, but there are certainly trends and notable players worth pointing out.

• 2020 postseason schedule

Here’s one amazing stat for each playoff team.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Astros
Framber Valdez had a breakout season for the Astros in 2020, posting a 3.57 ERA in 70 2/3 innings -- the exact same innings total he had in 2019, when he had a 5.86 ERA, primarily as a reliever. The pitch that really worked for him was his curveball, which had an average spin rate of 2,981 rpm -- second-highest among pitchers who threw at least 50 curves this year. He got 60 strikeouts on the pitch, the most of any pitcher -- ahead of Tyler Glasnow, Shane Bieber, Aaron Nola and everyone else, too.

Twins
Home-field advantage won’t matter beyond the WIld Card Series, but it’s certainly worth noting in the Twins’ case -- especially as they gear up to host the Astros. The Twins’ offensive numbers at home compared to on the road were similar, but there was a significant difference pitching-wise. The team had a 2.89 ERA at home and a 4.38 ERA on the road. All of that amounted to a 24-7 record at home and a 12-17 mark on the road. Their .774 winning percentage at home is the highest by any team in a season since the Reds had a .790 mark at home in 1975, as well as the best in franchise history.

White Sox
The White Sox led the Majors with a .523 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers this season, and they hit .285 against southpaws, which ranked second behind the Tigers. All of that success against lefties translated in a big way for the Sox, who finished the season 14-0 in games against left-handed starting pitchers. They became the first team since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893 to go undefeated in games against left-handed starting pitchers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The prior best winning percentage in games against lefty starters was .889, when the 1895 Brooklyn Bridegrooms went 8-1 in such games.

A’s
The A’s started the season with a walk-off grand slam, and they carried that momentum throughout the entire season. Oakland finished the year with six walk-off wins -- most in the Majors and two more than any other AL team. In addition to the Opening Day walk-off slam, the A’s also hit another, meaning they finished the year tied for the most walk-off grand slams by a team in a single season, with 16 other squads. And the A’s did that in just a 60-game season.

Blue Jays
Youth is the name of the game with the Blue Jays, whose batters’ average age this season was under 26 years old and pitchers were under 30 years old. In fact, the Blue Jays did not have a single player appear for them in 2020 who was in his 10th year in the Majors or later. Their most experienced player by that measure was Anthony Bass, in his ninth Major League season. They’re the first team in the Divisional Era (since 1969) to make the playoffs in a year where no player with at least 10 years of experience played for them, and third in the Modern Era (since 1900) -- along with the 1915 Phillies and 1912 Red Sox, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Rays
We’ve been hearing for a few years now about the versatility of the Rays’ bullpen, and 2020 was no exception. This year, part of that versatility involved spreading the opportunities around. Twelve pitchers recorded at least one save for Tampa Bay this season, tied with the 1973 Rangers for the most pitchers with at least one save in a season since the stat became official in '69. The most saves on the team belonged to Nick Anderson, who had six. Diego Castillo had four, and three pitchers -- Aaron Slegers, John Curtiss and Oliver Drake -- had two apiece.

Yankees
The Yankees have finished above .500 in every season since 1993, so to say they’ve been good -- and have had good players -- would be an understatement. But in 2020, they still managed to do something that had yet to happen in franchise history. This season, the Bronx Bombers had the Major League leader in both batting average and home runs. Luke Voit led the Majors in homers with 22, while DJ LeMahieu hit an MLB-best .364. They became the first pair of teammates to lead the Majors in those categories since Hank Aaron (batting average) and Eddie Mathews (home runs) did it in 1959 for the Braves, and just the third such duo in the modern era.

Indians
Shane Bieber’s season was one of those "best pitcher on the planet" performances. He led the Majors in ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122), and tied for the lead in wins (eight). That’s a Major League Triple Crown -- not just leading his league, but having at least a share of the lead over everyone. He’s the first pitcher to win a Major League Triple Crown since Johan Santana in 2006, and first ever to do it in an Indians uniform. He finished the season with a 40.7% whiff rate, second in the Majors. He and Jacob deGrom (41.0%) are the first qualified pitchers since pitches were tracked in 1988 with whiff rates at or above 40% in a season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Braves
The Braves' offense was a powerhouse in 2020 -- remember that time they scored 29 runs? NL MVP Award candidate Freddie Freeman, NL home run leader Marcell Ozuna and young star Ronald Acuña Jr. were all big contributors. In fact, each finished with an OPS of at least .985, with Acuña at .987, Ozuna at 1.067 and Freeman at 1.102. They became the eighth team in the modern era, and first since the 2004 Cardinals (Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen), to have three qualified players with a .985 or higher OPS in a single season.

Reds
They’re very homer-happy. The Reds scored 59.7% of their runs via the home run this season, by far the highest such rate in the Majors -- with the Dodgers at 51.3% a distant second. The Reds’ 59.7% of runs scored via the homer is the highest such rate by a team in a season since at least 1950. In related news, they went 28-16 when hitting at least one home run and 3-13 in games where they did not homer in a game this season.

Cubs
Ace Yu Darvish got himself into the NL Cy Young Award discussion with a great all-around season in which he had a 2.01 ERA and 3.0 WAR, per FanGraphs. That included a 41.5% whiff rate on his four-seamer, by far the highest by any starter with at least 50 four-seamers swung at, ahead of Luis Castillo’s 37.2%.

Marlins
Sixto Sánchez threw heat for this team after being called up Aug. 22. The 22-year-old averaged 98.6 mph on his four-seamer and 96.6 mph on his sinker. He threw 13 pitches clocked at 100.0 mph or faster -- second-most among starters to deGrom’s 33 -- in fewer innings. Sánchez got three strikeouts on those 100-mph pitches, also second-most to deGrom among starters (six).

Padres
San Diego was really Slam Diego in 2020. In four games from Aug. 17-20, the Padres hit a grand slam every game, becoming the first team in Major League history with a slam in four straight. In total, they hit six grand slams in August and seven on the season. Their six August grand slams tied the record for any team in a single calendar month, and their seven total were three more than any other team in 2020. The Padres haven’t hit a postseason grand slam in franchise history. Yet.

Cardinals
An Adam Wainwright renaissance helped steady the Cardinals throughout the season. His 3.15 ERA was his lowest in a season where he made at least 10 starts since 2014, which was the last time he was an All-Star. Kwang Hyun Kim, in his debut season, played a key role as well, with a 1.62 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts). He had a stretch of four straight starts of at least five innings with no earned runs allowed -- the longest such streak by a Cardinals pitcher since Bob Gibson had five straight in 1968.

Dodgers
Just how dominant were the Dodgers? They finished the season with an average run differential per game of plus-2.3. That means they outscored their opponents by an average of 2.3 runs per game -- for the entire year. That’s the third-highest mark by a team in the World Series Era (since 1903), behind only the 1939 Yankees (+2.7) and 1927 Yankees (+2.4). Both of those prior teams went on to win the World Series.

Brewers
Reliever Devin Williams was dominant this year. His changeup -- also known as ‘Airbender’ -- had a 61.1 percent whiff rate, and hitters went just 2-for-62. That 61.1 percent whiff rate was the highest by any pitcher on a single pitch type, with at least 100 swings against that pitch type this season. And the opponent average was the lowest of any pitcher on a single pitch type, with at least 30 plate appearances ending on that pitch type. Overall, he had an 0.33 ERA in 27 innings and an 0.63 WHIP.