MLB Playoffs 2011: Power Ranking the Experience of All 8 Postseason Teams

After yesterday's jaw-dropping regular season finale, the 2011 MLB Playoffs are finally set with baseball's top teams ready to compete for baseball's greatest award, the World Series Championship.

This year, the playoff experience that each team brings is at an all-time high. The Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers have all made the playoffs at least once in the past decade. In the last 10 years, seven of the eight teams have advanced to the World Series and four of those seven have won it. Four times in the past 10 years have some of these teams faced against each other in the World Series, Diamondbacks vs. Yankees in 2001, Cardinals vs. Tigers in 2006, Rays vs. Phillies in 2008 and Yankees vs. Phillies in 2009.

With all of these teams making the playoffs in the recent past, there is a great deal of familiarity on display in the matchups. The importance of playoff experience cannot be overstated and it will be a key factor in deciding who wins the World Series.

8. The Milwaukee Brewers: 2011 NL Central Champs

The Brewers' playoff drought of 26 years only recently came to an end in 2008 when the team finished one game ahead of the New York Mets and played the Phillies in the NLDS where it was quickly ousted in just four games. The Brewers only managed to win one playoff game in 2008 and have not made the playoffs since.

The 2011 Brewers season offered a great turnaround for a team that has never won a World Series in its 41-year history. The 2011 NL Central crown is the first for the Brewers since joining the division in 1997.

The Brewers, led by former rookies of the year and MVPs, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, are looking to win their first NL Pennant and their second pennant overall in franchise history. With a first-round matchup against the Diamondbacks, the Brewers look to have a chance to make it out of the first round of the playoffs and keep hope alive to win their first pennant since 1982.

Out of the eight playoff teams for 2011, the Brewers are the only ones who have not made it to the World Series in the past 10 years. What the team lacks in experience, however, it makes up in skill. The Brewers have a shot to win the World Series, but it will be tough going up against teams that have been there and won that. 

7. The Arizona Diamondbacks: 2011 NL West Champs, 2001 WS Champions

The Diamondbacks were the hot new team in 1998 and, in 2001, after only four years of being in MLB, they took home their first and only World Series title in a seven-game thriller against the Yankees.

Since that World Series win, the Diamondbacks have struggled, having only made the playoffs one other time in 2007. This year is the fourth time in franchise history that the Diamondbacks have won the NL West and they are looking to return to World Series glory with a crop of young and talented players.

The Diamondbacks are the youngest team in this year's postseason with their players at an average age of 28.7. They have a solid mix of veterans and rookies that helped this team to success this year and helped it keep the defending champion Giants out of the playoffs.

Where the Diamondbacks falter, however, is their lack of experience. Most of their everyday lineup starters have never been in a postseason game, so anxiety and nerves may set in at some point. Also, none of their starting four postseason pitchers have pitched in a playoff game.

This may come back to hurt them, but in the NLDS against the equally inexperienced Brewers, the Diamondbacks' talented pitching could help them advance to the NLCS. 

6. The Detroit Tigers: 2011 AL Central Champs, 2006 WS Runner Up

The Detroit Tigers may have finished as runner-up in the 2006 World Series, but other than that, the Tigers are just as worse off as the Brewers and Diamondbacks with regard to postseason experience as a team.

Before 2006, the last time the Tigers made the playoffs was in 1984. The team had not been good for a while, but with an MVP-worthy candidate in Justin Verlander and offensive stars including Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers are confident that they can ride their season momentum all the way to the World Series.

Although the Tigers lack a lot of postseason experience, they do have some players from the 2006 team remaining and they have also acquired players with their own postseason background including former Marlins world champions Brad Penny and Cabrera.

Cabrera was a member of Florida's World Series team and has a lot of veteran postseason experience, at the young age of 28, to share with the Tigers. Penny also was a member of the Marlins' 2003 Championship team and went 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in his two starts against the Yankees, the team the Tigers will get in the 2011 NLDS. 

Although the Tigers have not had the postseason consistency of some of 2011's other playoff teams, they do have guys who won the World Series and who will be very beneficial if the Tigers hope to get past the Yankees and to the World Series.

5. The St. Louis Cardinals: 2011 NL Wildcard, 2006 WS Champions

The Cardinals are the second-most decorated team in baseball history with 10 World Series and 17 NL Pennants. The latest of these came in 2006, but even though the Cardinals haven't won a World Series in five years, they have still been a perennial playoff team and have a lot of experience spread out among the team.

The Cardinals have made the playoffs via the wild card or NL Central crown eight of the last 12 years and have advanced to at least the NLCS in all but a few of these appearances. The World-Series-winning team in 2006 has lost many of its key players, but it still has one important constant and that is Albert Pujols.

Pujols has not only helped the Cardinals to these eight playoff appearances, including the 2004 and 2006 World Series, but he also has the experience of playing in and winning baseball's championship. Pujols' talent is one thing, but couple that with his experience and the Cardinals have a strong chance to go deep into the postseason.

In order to reach the NLCS, however, the Cardinals first need to beat the Phillies, a team that also has a wealth of postseason experience. It won't be easy, but the Cardinals, behind Pujols and World-Series-winning Manager Tony LaRussa, offer a lot of advice they can share with the postseason rookies and give the Cardinals a great shot to once again win the World Series.

4. The Tampa Bay Rays: 2011 AL Wildcard, 2008 WS Runner Up

The Tampa Bay Rays came into the MLB in 1998 with the Diamondbacks. Although the team has not seen the same amount of success as Arizona, the Rays know what it is like to come so close to winning a World Series.

In 2008, the Rays reached the postseason and won the AL East for the first time in their then 10-year existence. They had one of the best records and stats that year and managed to beat the Boston Red Sox in a thrilling seven-game NLCS to book their first ever trip to the World Series. Although they lost to the Phillies in five games, Tampa Bay has a lot of postseason experience in a lot of different ways.

The Rays have experience of winning a series after they led 3-1, but winning the series in seven games. The Rays know what it is like to almost throw a series away and this is something that they know not to do again. Youth and inexperience almost hurt them in the Red Sox series, but now the Rays team is a little older and the guys from the 2008 team of Evan Longoria, David Price, James Shields and BJ Upton among others, have all benefited from that experience.

This year, the Rays are being called the team of destiny. They came back from a remarkable nine-game deficit in the month of September to take the Wild Card from World Series favorites Boston and have all of the motivation to reach the World Series. A first-round matchup against Texas will prove if the Rays have what it takes to make the World Series and possibly be on a collision course to a 2008 World Series rematch and a chance at redemption.

3. The Texas Rangers: 2011 AL West Champs, 2010 World Series Runner Up

In 1972, the Washington Senators moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers. 24 years later in 1996, the Rangers won their first NL West title and in 2010 they advanced to their first World Series in franchise history, losing to the San Francisco Giants in five games.

The Rangers do not have a lot of playoff experience, but what they do have is recent playoff experience and that is something the Brewers, Diamondbacks and Tigers do not have. Although many of the current Rangers have only ever been to one playoff series, it is the loss of pitcher Cliff Lee that really hurts the team. Lee brought postseason experience and incredible talent to the team.

Despite all of this, however, the Rangers still have the majority of their 2010 World Series team intact. These guys who first tasted the World Series last year certainly are yearning to go back. Their experience will serve as good leadership for the rookies on the team. The team has the experience of coming so close to winning and since it is only one year removed from that, the atmosphere of the World Series is still fresh on its mind.

The Rangers' first-round matchup against the Rays is going to pit two teams with recent World Series experience against one another. In order for the Rangers to advance to play in their second World Series in franchise history, they are going to have to draw on this experience as much as possible because Tampa Bay is determined to go back to the World Series as much as Texas is.

2. The New York Yankees: 2011 AL East Champs, 2009 WS Champions

27 World Championships and 40 Pennants are enough to make the Yankees the most decorated franchise in all of professional sports. It isn't, however, a testament to the experience the current Yankees roster has when it comes to making the postseason.

Ever since Derek Jeter's rookie year 16 years ago, the Yankees have only missed out on making the playoffs once in 2008. They have an immense body of playoff experience as a team, but as individual players, only a handful have experienced the winning tradition of the Yankees franchise including stars such as Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Manager Joe Girardi.

The Yankees' pitching rotation is very young with the exception of C.C. Sabathia. He and AJ Burnett are the prominent names who have a body of playoff experience. Other players also have experience, but either not with the Yankees or not at a time when the Yankees were winning consistently.

In 2009, the Yankees won the World Series and most of that team is still around today. Those players have the experience of winning a World Series and also have the experience of some upset losses, none of which the Yankees team wants to see happen in 2011. With almost the entire team having some sort of playoff experience, the Yankees will be a force to be reckoned with.

1. The Philadelphia Phillies: 2011 NL East Champs, 2008 WS Champions

They may not have the 27 World Championships of the Yankees, but in terms of playoff experience, the current Phillies team is better off and has a better shot at winning based on that experience than the Yankees or any of the other seven postseason teams.

The 2008 Phillies team was a great team, but it is easy to say that the 2011 team is better. This team won a franchise record 102 wins and locked up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Almost every player on the team has some sort of playoff experience and that bodes well for the Phillies, who are hoping to return to baseball's biggest stage.

The Phillies' core of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino and Cole Hamels has been around for the team's five consecutive NL East titles and has contributed to the success they have seen in the playoffs since this time. This team has the experience of winning a World Series and then the following year finishing second in MLB to the Yankees. With both the experience of winning it all and losing it all, the Phillies not only have motivation, but they know what it is like to win the World Series and how that feeling is much better than coming close.

The Phillies' pitching rotation has postseason experience and every pitcher except Roy Halladay in the Big Four all have World Series experience. The entire Phillies projected lineup from leadoff to the eight hole all have World Series experience, with Polanco being the only one to not get it in Philadelphia and Hunter Pence, the longtime Astro, being the only exception.

With the combination of talent and extensive and recent postseason experience, the Phillies are going to be very tough to beat in the playoffs. While experience alone will not get the Phillies another World Series, it will certainly help them that almost the entire team knows what the feeling of winning and then losing the next year is like.

The Phillies want to be back on top and they have a great shot of that happening with their 2011 assembled team.