Players who need to step up in 2024 MLB playoffs

Regular-season achievements are great, but nothing compares to excelling in the postseason.

The players in this article have all experienced some measure of success in the playoffs. A few are World Series champions. One is an NLCS MVP. However, their performance in the playoffs hasn’t always lived up to expectations. Perhaps they have slumped in recent years or have produced subpar numbers overall. Either way, this year could give them a chance to stop any chatter about their past failures and cement their legacies as October heroes.

Chris Sale, SP, Braves
If you have one recollection of Sale in the postseason, it is probably from 2018 when he came out of the bullpen at Dodger Stadium and struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to secure the Red Sox’s fourth World Series title in 14 years. But that is just about where the October highlight reel ends for Sale.

The eight-time All-Star owns a 6.35 career ERA in the playoffs, tied for the highest among active players who have thrown at least 20 postseason innings. (We’ll revisit that ERA later.) Sale has never made it through six innings in any of his seven postseason starts. When he last participated in postseason baseball, he allowed eight earned runs across nine innings (three starts) in 2021.

Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees
We move from the likely National League Cy Young Award winner to the presumptive American League Most Valuable Player. Judge homered in his first postseason game and has decent career numbers thanks to the work he did from 2017-19. He’s added five homers since that stretch but has accomplished little else at the plate. The Yankees’ captain is slashing .143/.208/.357 over 17 games dating back to the start of the 2020 playoffs. That includes 25 strikeouts in 70 at-bats. Judge really scuffled in his most recent trip to the postseason, going 5-for-36 with 15 strikeouts and a .490 OPS in his 2022 MVP year.

José Ramírez, 3B, Guardians
The postseason was none too kind to Ramírez from 2016-18. Besides being on the losing end of the epic 2016 World Series against the Cubs, the Guardians’ star posted a .195 average and collected only three extra-base hits through 87 at-bats. The bottom fell out in ’18 when he went 0-for-11 while Cleveland was swept by the Astros in the ALDS. Ramírez started to change his postseason narrative over the past few seasons; he slashed .333/.344/.500 over 32 plate appearances in 2022. Still, he has just two career dingers in 124 postseason at-bats and a career .638 OPS.

Mookie Betts, OF, Dodgers
Yes, even a two-time World Series champion and proven postseason performer such as Betts gets a spot on this list. He has authored a few indelible postseason moments, including a crucial home run in the Dodgers’ Game 6 clincher versus the Rays in the 2020 Fall Classic. In 2021, he went 4-for-4 as the Dodgers defeated the Giants in a winner-take-all NLDS Game 5.

But since that perfect night at the plate, Betts — and the Dodgers in general — have had hardly any success. Betts went 4-for-23 as Los Angeles was knocked off by the Braves in the ’21 NLCS. He then collected two hits over the next two years as the Dodgers made consecutive early exits. Put it all together and Betts possesses a meager .125/.246/.167 slash line with two extra-base hits over his past 57 postseason plate appearances (13 games).

Luis Severino, SP, Mets
Severino’s worst and best postseason outings occurred within his first two October starts for the Yankees. The former saw him get the hook in the first inning of the 2017 AL Wild Card Game against the Twins after giving up two homers and retiring one of the six hitters he faced. He rebounded in the ALDS by striking out nine over seven innings in a victory over Cleveland.

But in eight starts since, Severino didn’t make it through six innings in any of them and fell short of five innings six times. He recorded a 4.63 ERA and issued 18 walks over those 35 innings. The right-hander has cleared five innings in all but two of his 30 starts in this bounceback 2024 season, and the Mets will need that kind of production from him in a possible NL Wild Card Series.

Kyle Tucker, OF, Astros
Tucker has had one standout run in the postseason with the Astros. That came in 2021 when he crushed four homers, compiled an .874 OPS and racked up 15 RBIs in 16 games. His four other postseasons have left something to be desired. Tucker has four home runs and a .327 slugging percentage through those 150 at-bats. And although he was fantastic during the 2023 regular season, leading to a top-five finish in the MVP voting, Tucker came up small in the playoffs, going 6-for-40 with one RBI and a .517 OPS.

Nick Castellanos, OF, Phillies
Last year, Castellanos put himself right next to one of the game’s most revered postseason players — Reggie Jackson, Mr. October — by launching five homers in a three-game span. That surge may make it easy to forget that after that power binge, Castellanos went 0-for-20 with 10 strikeouts in the next six games as the Phillies’ season came to an end in the NLCS. And prior to those three games, Castellanos had just one home run in 101 at-bats in the playoffs. He hit .198 and turned in a .547 OPS during that period.

Michael Wacha, SP, Royals
As a rookie with the Cardinals in 2013, Wacha’s first four postseason appearances couldn’t have gone better. He began his career by taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning of NLDS Game 4 versus the Pirates. He was named NLCS MVP after tossing 13 2/3 scoreless innings across two starts versus the Dodgers, and he added a quality start against the Red Sox in Game 2 of the World Series.

But it’s been all downhill for Wacha in four appearances since, resulting in an ugly 15.55 ERA. Six days after that Game 2 performance, he was tagged for six earned runs over 3 2/3 frames in World Series Game 6. He surrendered a walk-off homer to Travis Ishikawa as the Giants won the pennant in 2014. One year later, Wacha gave up three home runs in 4 1/3 frames in an NLDS Game 3 loss to the Cubs. His next and most recent postseason outing was a rough one in relief with the Rays: six runs and nine hits allowed in 2 2/3 innings against Boston in the 2021 ALDS.

Willy Adames, SS, Brewers
Adames is wrapping up a stellar season for the division-winning Brewers, highlighted by a career-best 32 home runs, also a club record for a shortstop. He hasn’t done much slugging in the postseason though. He’ll head into the 2024 playoffs riding a 27-game homerless streak that dates back to the 2019 ALDS. Adames went yard in Games 3 and 4 of that series that saw his Rays fall to the Astros. But he has struck out 37 times and registered a .198/.317/.267 slash line over his past 101 playoff plate appearances.

Eduardo Rodriguez, SP, D-backs
It has been a trying season for Rodriguez, one that saw him sidelined by injury until August and then post a 5.50 ERA in his first seven starts. But the lefty had his best outing of the year Wednesday and should have a place in the D-backs’ rotation during the postseason. Once there, Arizona will hope Rodriguez can top his previous playoff showings. Remember when we said that Chris Sale’s 6.35 postseason ERA is tied for the highest among active players with at least 20 innings pitched? He’s tied with E-Rod, a former teammate on the 2018 Red Sox. In four postseason starts, Rodriguez has a 5.40 ERA through 18 1/3 frames.