Playoff Hitting vs. PitchingSo does good pitching beat good hitting in the playoffs? Isn't that the axiom? Let's put that to the test, albeit on a relatively small scale. We have 8 years in our record (more seasons than that, of course, but only 8 with accurate data). In these 8 years, their have been 24 playoffs series. 12 times, 1 playoff team had a better ERA and Runs Per Game total during the season than the other ... the team that was better in both of those stats won 7 of the 12. 11 times, 1 playoff team had a better scoring team, but was facing a team with a better ERA ... the better scoring team won 7 of those 11 series. In the 2003 series, Steve and Chris met, having scored the same amount of regular season runs, with Steve posting a better ERA during the season ... and as we know, the better pitching team lost that series. All told, better pitching teams have won only 11 of the 24 playoff series in our recorded history, with just a 4-8 record when they do not have a better hitting team as well. Here's the breakdown: Better Both (7-5 thru 2003) 1996 --- 1997 1-1 1998 0-2 1999 1-2 2000 1-0 2001 1-0 2002 1-0 2003 2-0 Better Scoring (7-4 thru 2003) 1996 2-1 1997 0-1 1998 1-0 1999 --- 2000 1-1 2001 2-0 2002 1-1 Better Pitching, Tied Scoring 2003 0-1 Again no great conclusions, except that if the perception is that pitching beats hitting, it hasn't quite played out that way in this small sample of data. | << Back | Main 2003 Notes Page | |