MLB Playoffs 2010: Ranking the Top Five Performances
If the Wild Card system in Major League Baseball had any remaining detractors entering this season's Division Series round of postseason play—and it did—the pair of excellent series (San Francisco-Atlanta and Texas-Tampa Bay) may have wooed them all.
Even aside from Roy Halladay's historic October debut, there were great performances by batters and pitchers alike all around the playoff circuit. Cliff Lee, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte solidified their sterling playoff reputations, while Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and Curtis Granderson began building their own October legacies.
The Rangers may be the best story entering the 2010 Championship Series round, having won their first-ever postseason series. But there are plenty of individual superstars who will vie for the bright spotlight of postseason glory. Through the first round, these five men have made the best cases.
5. Mariano Rivera
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In all three games of the New York Yankees' second consecutive ALDS sweep of the Minnesota Twins, the legendary Rivera came on to close out Minnesota. He earned saves in only two of the victories—the final contest was a 6-1 blowout—but dominated in every outing. In Game 1, he came on in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and the tying Twins run on second base.
The batter at the plate was Denard Span, the Twins leadoff man who would finish the ALDS with a career .357 October batting average. Span could do nothing, though, with Rivera's six consecutive cutters, chopping the last one to shortstop Derek Jeter for an inning-ending groundout.
In each of the first two games of the set, Rivera got Twins slugger Jim Thome (one of the league's five best hitters this season) to fly out softly for the final out. His overall performance (no earned runs and a 0.60 WHIP in three and a third innings) brought his unfathomable career line in the playoffs down to a 0.72 ERA and 0.76 WHIP. He will turn 41 in November and may not have many of these postseason rodeos left, but for this first round of the 2010 playoffs. Rivera remained a force.
4. Nelson Cruz
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Cruz played only 108 games this season due to a recurring hamstring injury, but he hit 22 home runs and stole 17 bases while he was on the field, all of which made his .318/.374/.576 batting line even more impressive.
Fully healthy at the outset of the team's playoff run, Cruz did not slow down. Playing both corner outfield spots to accommodate Texas's outfield platoons, Cruz hit .400 in 20 at-bats in Texas's five-game win over the Rays, including three home runs and two doubles. He also stole a base. He had a hit in every game of the set, including three in the decisive Game 5 win, and added an outfield assist on a throw to third base for good measure.
3. Ian Kinsler
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It might seem unfair to give two spots on a list like this to batters from the same team, but Cruz and Kinsler wrought havoc that is hard to ignore. No one else in baseball had an OPS as high as Kinsler's 1.444—and Cruz was second. Kinsler drove in six runs in the series, and it might have been seven had not Kelly Shoppach thrown the ball away on Cruz's Game 5 steal of third base, allowing him to score without Kinsler's help.
In the ninth inning of the final contest, with the Rangers already up by two runs, Kinsler mashed a two-run homer (with Cruz scoring ahead of him) that put the game out of reach. The bomb victimized Rafael Soriano, one of the most dominant hurlers in baseball this year. Soriano had surrendered just four home runs during the regular season.
2. Roy Halladay
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If the Reds had put up more of a fight and forced Halladay to pitch a second time in the NLDS, there can be little doubt that the good doctor would be at No. 1 on this list. As it is, he still deserves recognition for the best single-game performance in the 2010 playoffs, and one of the very best of all time.
He no-hit the Reds with such precise ease that it seemed almost certain after only four innings. Only Jay Bruce (who himself had a fine series, if we ignore his very costly error in Game 2) reached base, and that via a walk wherein ball one was in fast a strike.
Halladay punched out eight and needed only 104 pitches to finish the job. He did it all without ever having stepped onto the hill in a playoff setting before. Not bad for a first-timer.
1. Cliff Lee
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Three Rangers? Yes, three of them make this list. Texas was the most impressive team in the league during the first round, disposing a much stronger opponent than Philadelphia or New York and doing so with more authority than San Francisco.
Lee took the mound twice in the set, and may have laid a legitimate claim to the title of best playoff pitcher of his era. In 16 innings that included an utterly dominant Game 5 complete, Lee struck out 21 without issuing a single walk. He threw 120 pitches in the final game, which was two more than he had thrown in any start this season, but remained as ruthlessly efficient as ever.
If he were ever unsure of it (and there was once reason for such uncertainty), Lee can now safely and easily command $20 million as an annual salary over five or more seasons when he becomes a free agent this winter.
