It’s postseason time for baseball, and if you’re a fan who’s lucky enough to have a team in the playoffs, then you’ve probably blown all your vacation time on the upcoming weeks. If you happen to live in Washington, D.C., you’ve most likely quit your job and applied to peddle kettle corn at Nationals Park just so you can watch the Nationals play for the first time ever in postseason action.
The year of the rookie
It’s postseason time for baseball, and if you’re a fan who’s lucky enough to have a team in the playoffs, then you’ve probably blown all your vacation time on the upcoming weeks. If you happen to live in Washington, D.C., you’ve most likely quit your job and applied to peddle kettle corn at Nationals Park just so you can watch the Nationals play for the first time ever in postseason action.
Their success is due to myriad reasons: a fantastic pitching lineup that includes Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, former all-star and current manager Davey Johnson and, arguably most important, rookie Bryce Harper.
Although Harper has cooled off a bit since the All-Star break, he played a significant part in the Nationals’ domination of the National League East division early in the season. His contribution was so notable that he was picked for the NL All-Star team, becoming the youngest position player to do so, at the tender age of 19. Repeat: 19. When I was 19, the only award I could have gotten was “MVP for most-developed gut in a college dormitory.”
The crazy thing is, Harper is just one of countless incredible rookies this year. In the pitching arena there’s Texas Rangers wunderkind Yu Darvish, who is about to finish the season with a 16-9 win-loss record and 221 strikeouts with 191.1 innings pitched—that’s an average of one strikeout every inning.
Speaking of rookie pitchers, the current A’s pitching roster is made up entirely of rookies thanks to Brandon McCarthy being pulled after a life-threatening injury, and veteran Bartolo Colón’s suspension. Despite the lack of experience, these rookies have led the A’s to clinch their first postseason shot since 2006.
Of course, I haven’t even mentioned Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout—the leading contender for the American League Rookie of the Year award and the American League MVP award. Even near the end of the season Trout continues to rack up benchmark records—recently, the
21-year-old became the first rookie to achieve 30 home runs and 40 stolen bases in a season.
To put Trout’s breakout season in better perspective, I have to mention his ridiculous WAR, or wins above replacement, for the season. WAR, by definition, is an all-encompassing stat that factors in , fielding, baserunning and more, and compares the data to his replacement (which is typically a Triple-A position player) and is then converted into one easy-to-understand value: wins.
As of now, Trout’s WAR levels off at 10—a feat last accomplished by Barry Bonds in 2004. In other words, Trout has given the Angels 10 wins throughout the season, and considering that the Angels are in Wild Card contention, Trout’s contribution is truly substantial.
As the postseason gets underway, the rookie faction will face a new kind of challenge—nerves. Can they handle the pressure of clinching a league pennant win? Or even a World Series title? I’m excited to find out.
