Johnson: The 10 not-to-be-forgotten plays of the 2014 postseason
From Brad Johnson at The Hardball Times on November 11, 2014:
Five years from now, when we think back on the 2014 postseason, we’ll remember Madison Bumgarner. His fantastic October was one for the ages, and it’s easy to say the Giants are champions because of Bumgarner.
In the THT Annual, we use a stat called ChampAdded, which is a WPA-related tool that measures the share of a championship contributed by each player. Bumgarner was credited with .869 ChampAdded. Read another way, he won 86.9 percent of a championship single-handedly. Remember in 2013 when David Ortiz stopped making outs in the World Series? That was worth just 35.2 percent of a championship. In 2012, Marco Scutaro was the hero of the postseason with a measly (by comparison) 19.6 percent of a championship.
The point, which probably does not need to be made, is Bumgarner was very good. Now let’s put that aside. This article is not a celebration of Bumgarner. It’s about the meaningful plays we’ll forget over the years–those poignant turning points that will get lost in the shuffle of ages. Please join me in enjoying the quirky, unlikely, and tear-breaking moments of the 2014 postseason.
Read the full article here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-10-not-to-be-forgotten-plays-of-the-postseason/
Originally published: November 11, 2014. Last Updated: November 11, 2014.