Yes, the Guardians bullpen is good. The overall pitching staff ranks 11th out of 12 postseason teams in K/9.
Yes, in the small sample size of the last 30 days, the Guardians have a better wRC+. They also are 29th in EV, 28th in Barrel%, and 30th in HardHit%, meaning they've outperformed their peripherals, and don't necessarily have a sustainable top 10 offense.
This team doesn't strike out batters like a postseason team should, you have to finely parse the data to be able to squint to see a decent offense, and even then, the best you can get is "maybe things get wild". There is little to suggest that they should be expected to do well in the playoffs, but since it is the baseball, they've got a 40% or so shot each round anyway. Hopefully they get lucky.
Yes, the Guardians bullpen is good. The overall pitching staff ranks 11th out of 12 postseason teams in K/9.
Yes, in the small sample size of the last 30 days, the Guardians have a better wRC+. They also are 29th in EV, 28th in Barrel%, and 30th in HardHit%, meaning they've outperformed their peripherals, and don't necessarily have a sustainable top 10 offense.
This team doesn't strike out batters like a postseason team should, you have to finely parse the data to be able to squint to see a decent offense, and even then, the best you can get is "maybe things get wild". There is little to suggest that they should be expected to do well in the playoffs, but since it is the baseball, they've got a 40% or so shot each round anyway. Hopefully they get lucky.
I don't see anything in here other than a shrug of the shoulders and going "who knows?". Which, yeah, anyone could do for a playoff preview.
Good stuff, thanks for writing!