The 2020 postseason has already been unlike any that came before it, and we’re still just getting started. The Division Series round begins Monday and Tuesday, and there’s a twist this year that we’ve seen just once before: each of the four matchups are intra-divisional. With the Central teams that made the postseason each losing in the Wild Card Series, both the ALDS and NLDS are an East versus East matchup and a West versus West one.
In 1981, there weren’t Central divisions, only East and West. When the season was interrupted, the unique, one-year-only playoff format introduced Division Series for the first time, pitting the first-half winner of each division against its second-half counterpart.
When the Division Series round reentered the postseason picture in 1995, one of the rules was that the Wild Card winner could not face the winner of its own division in that initial round. When a second Wild Card was added in 2012, that changed, and the Wild Card Game winner went on to face the division winner with the best record, even if that team was in the Wild Card winner’s division.
But not until the 2020 Wild Card Series were there enough playoff teams to make four matchups, all intra-divisional, possible. These teams know each other very well, having played each other plenty in the regular season. Here’s a look at the four divisional matchups in the Division Series round.
Astros vs. Athletics
This season
The A’s won the season series, 7-3, and did not lose the three games consecutively. The A’s scored 3.8 runs per game in head-to-head matchups, while the Astros scored just 2.5 per game. This was the first time the A’s won the season series between these teams since 2014, when the A’s won 11 and the Astros won eight.
Among the A’s players to perform well against the Astros this year was Matt Chapman, who hit three homers and batted .450 in five games against Oakland, but is now out for the season after September hip surgery. His fellow Matt, Olson, also hit three home runs against Houston this year, and Ramon Laureano tallied 11 hits against them.
Two Astros players hit multiple home runs against the A’s in the regular season: Yuli Gurriel and George Springer, with two each. No Astros player with at least 10 at-bats against Oakland hit .300 or better against them.
History
With the Astros still relatively new to the American League, and the teams having no World Series matchups when Houston was in the NL, this will be the first time these two meet in the postseason.
The A’s have a few notable former Astros on the team in second baseman Tony Kemp and starter Mike Fiers, both of whom were on the 2017 World Series team, though neither played in that year’s postseason. Robbie Grossman was also on the Astros, from 2013-15 to begin his career. On the other side, Astros right fielder Josh Reddick spent four-plus years in Oakland, playing in 596 regular-season games for the team, plus 11 postseason games. Astros catcher Dustin Garneau also had two separate stints with the A’s in 2017 and 2019.
Did you know?
The Astros pulled off a historic upset by winning percentage in the Wild Card Series, beating the Twins despite having a regular-season winning percentage that was .117 lower than Minnesota’s. That’s the third-largest such difference in an upset in a postseason series all-time. The A’s had an identical record to the Twins in the regular season, meaning the Astros would need to pull off an equivalent upset to advance further. (Of note, the difference between the Rays’ and Yankees’ regular-season records was also .117)
Yankees vs. Rays
This season
The Rays won the season series, 8-2, and scored 4.7 runs per game in head-to-head matchups, compared to the Yankees’ 3.4. It was the first time the Rays won the season series since 2014 (11-8). In 2020, the Rays were the only AL East team that the Yankees did not have at least a .500 record against.
Willy Adames and Ji-Man Choi had strong performances this season against the Yankees, totaling 12 and nine hits, respectively in those games and each homering at least once. Five Rays players hit at least two home runs against the Yankees this season, including Mike Brosseau, who hit three. Yankees’ MVP candidates Luke Voit and DJ LeMahieu each played well against Tampa Bay this year, with a .333 batting average each, along with multiple home runs.
History
This is also the first postseason meeting for the Yankees and Rays. They have a few current connections worth noting, though, like Choi -- who played six Major League games with the Yankees in 2017 and has now been on the Rays since 2018. On the other side, Erik Kratz played six games for the Rays in 2019, but returned to the Yankees in 2020 after being on the team previously as well.
Did you know?
The Yankees are 22-16 all time in postseason games against AL East opponents. Those matchups include games against the Orioles and Red Sox, as well as the Brewers in 1981. The Rays are 7-6 against AL East teams in the playoffs, including the two games they played against the Blue Jays in the Wild Card Series. The other 11 games were all against the Red Sox, in 2008 and 2013.
Marlins vs. Braves
This season
The Braves won the season series, 6-4, and scored 6.8 runs per game. Of course, if we remove the 29-run outpouring on Sept. 9, their runs per game in the other nine games against the Marlins was 4.3 -- actually lower than the Marlins’ 4.4 runs per game in all 10 against the Braves.
Adam Duvall hit five home runs against the Marlins this year, including three in the aforementioned 29-run game. He also knocked in 12 runs in those games. Marcell Ozuna chipped in three homers total of his own, and Freddie Freeman had 11 RBIs against the Marlins. Jesus Aguilar was the only Marlins player with multiple homers against the Braves -- he hit two. Garrett Cooper (.310) and Jon Berti (.364) each hit above .300 in more than 20 at-bats against the Braves.
History
These two teams have met in one previous postseason series: the 1997 NLCS, which the Braves won in six games. The Braves won 101 games and the NL East that year, while the 92-win Marlins were the Wild Card, but the Marlins won games started by Greg Maddux (twice), John Smoltz and Tom Glavine to win the series -- including scoring seven runs off Glavine in Game 6.
The most notable player facing a former team here is the Braves’ Marcell Ozuna, who spent the first five years of his career with the Marlins and was an All-Star twice. They traded him to the Cardinals in December 2017, and he played there for two years before signing a one-year deal in Atlanta for 2020. By rate stats, Ozuna put up his best year yet, and was even in contention for a Triple Crown entering the final day of the season.
Did you know?
You probably do know it by now, but it’s still worth repeating: the Marlins have never lost a postseason round. They are 7-0 all time. The Braves, on the other hand, are 15-22 in postseason rounds, which ranks 23rd among the 30 teams. None of the Braves’ last 15 postseason appearances entering 2020 have resulted in a World Series title, the longest such streak in postseason history.
Padres vs. Dodgers
This season
The Dodgers won the season series, 6-4, scoring 4.8 runs per game to the Padres’ 3.6. The Dodgers have won the season series each season since 2011, after the Padres won 10 of 18 matchups in 2010.
Three Dodgers players hit three home runs this season against the Padres: Mookie Betts, Joc Pederson and AJ Pollock. Betts hit all three of his in one game, on Aug. 13, and hit .429 overall against San Diego. Overall, the Padres allowed four multi-homer games to individuals in 2020, and two were by Dodgers, with a two-homer game from Pederson on Aug. 5 being the other. Wil Myers, the longest-tenured Padres player, hit three homers against the Dodgers in total this season, and Trent Grisham, Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr. each chipped in two apiece.
History
This is the first postseason meeting between the two teams. The Dodgers are 6-2 in postseason games against NL West opponents, including an NLDS series against the Astros in 1981 and NLDS against the D-backs in 2017. The Padres have never faced an NL West opponent in the playoffs.
The only player currently on either team who has played for the other at the Major League level is Machado, who played 66 games plus the 2018 postseason with the Dodgers after a midseason trade from the Orioles. He hit .227 in that postseason in 16 games, with three homers and 12 RBIs. As a free agent in the offseason, he signed his 10-year, $300 million contract with the Padres.
Did you know?
The Dodgers have won eight straight division titles, the third longest such streak since divisions were established in 1969. But unlike the two teams with longer streaks -- the 1991-2005 Braves and 1998-2006 Yankees -- the Dodgers have still yet to win a World Series in that span. The Padres, on the other hand, are looking to advance in the playoffs in hopes of becoming the second straight team to win a World Series without winning its division, after the Nationals did it in 2019.