Jose Altuve hit his most recent playoff home run in game 7 of the 2023 AL Championship Series. His Houston Astros were eliminated by the score of 11-4. It was playoff home run number 27 for Altuve.
What? I remember when Mickey Mantle tied Babe Ruth for most World Series home runs at 15 when Mantle homered off Sandy Koufax in game 4 of the 1963 World Series to tie the score 1-1 in the 7th. His New York Yankees were swept in a 2-1 loss. Mantle passed Ruth in 1964 with three home runs; final home run was in game 7 off Bob Gibson. Yanks lost the 1964 World Series. Mantle still holds the World Series home run record at 18.
Altuve's 27 home runs are 50 percent more than Mantle's 18.
Mantle retired after the 1968 season and in 1969 the two major leagues were split into two divisions in each league. This was because each league had expanded from 8 to 12 teams since 1961. See for yourself:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1969.shtml
The League Championship Series was introduced: best of five games back then between the division champions.
Thus, "playoffs" began.
More expansion over the years and more teams in the playoffs until 2022 and 2023 when 6 of the 15 teams in each "league" qualified. That's 40 percent of teams.
In 2023 the fewest wins in either "league" to qualify for the playoffs were 84 by two National League (NL) teams: Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2023.shtml
Yesterday Arizona won game 7 of the NLCS against Philadelphia to advance to the World Series against the 90 win Texas Rangers who the day before that had defeated Altuve and his Houston team in 7 games.
Arizona:
Record: 84-78-0, 2nd place in NL_West (Schedule and Results)
Postseason:
Won NL Championship Series (4-3) over Philadelphia Phillies
Won NL Division Series (3-0) over Los Angeles Dodgers
Won NL Wild Card Series (2-0) over Milwaukee Brewers
That's an amazing record. The Dodgers won 100 games and the Braves 104. But Arizona is going to the World Series.
Why emphasize this in comparing Altuve and Mantle?
Obviously Arizona played three series just to reach the World Series while Mantle's Yankee teams 1951-1968 went directly into he World Series if they led the American League (AL) in wins.
Through 1960 the AL had 8 teams, so the chances of a team leading in wins were 1 of 8: 12.5%.
Then two teams were added in 1961, so it became 1 of 10: 10%.
But by 2023 the chances of making the playoffs had changed to 40% as mentioned previously. The chances of winning a series is 50%.
So the path for Arizona or any current team is:
40% divided in half for each preliminary series. For Arizona it was the maximum three series. The result: 5%.
Mantle's Yankees won 12 pennants the old fashion way. But what if those Yankees had to play one additional series?
1951-1960: 12.5% divided in half: 6.25%.
1961-1968: 10% divided in half: 5%.
As good as they were, the Yankees of 1951-1968 would probably have won no more than about half of those preliminary series and that could have reduced Mantle's World Series games and his home runs.
In 1954 the Yankees won 104 games, the most by a Yankee team managed by Casey Stengel. But Cleveland won 111 games, only to be swept by the New York Giants. So there was this season when the Yankees could have won the preliminary series and added to their World Series appearances.
In the THREE series Arizona played they had an additional 12 games after the 162 in the regular season. Altuve played an additional 12 games in the two series that his team played; they got a bye in round one.
The plate appearances in those extra games add up fast, especially for a team like Houston, which has been so successful since 2017.
Let's look at playoff home run totals, then broken down between playoff's overall and World Series only.
At least 15 career playoff home runs sorted by AB/HR:
Ah, the Babe! Altuve has plenty of At Bats (AB) but look at Derek Jeter. His games and PA dwarf the others and not just among home run leaders.
Top ten playoffs:
| Rank. | Player | ||
| 1. | Derek Jeter | 650 | 734 PA |
| 2. | Bernie Williams | 465 | 545 PA |
| 3. | Jose Altuve | 429 | 476 PA |
| 4. | Jorge Posada | 416 | 492 PA |
| 5. | Manny Ramirez | 410 | 493 PA |
| 6. | David Justice | 398 | 471 PA |
| 7. | Kenny Lofton | 392 | 438 PA |
| 8. | Yadier Molina | 373 | 406 PA |
| 9. | Alex Bregman | 362 | 426 PA |
| 10. | Tino Martinez | 356 | 405 PA |
| Rank. | Player | ||
| 1. | Manny Ramirez | 29 | 493 PA |
| 2. | Jose Altuve | 27 | 476 PA |
| 3. | Bernie Williams | 22 | 545 PA |
| 4. | Derek Jeter | 20 | 734 PA |
| Kyle Schwarber | 20 | 259 PA | |
| 6. | Alex Bregman | 19 | 426 PA |
| Albert Pujols | 19 | 360 PA | |
| George Springer | 19 | 309 PA | |
| 9. | Carlos Correa | 18 | 358 PA |
| Reggie Jackson | 18 | 318 PA | |
| Mickey Mantle | 18 | 273 PA | |
| Nelson Cruz | 18 | 207 PA |
Reggie Jackson will also appear on the World Series only list.
Top ten World Series:
| Rank. | Player | ||
| 1. | Yogi Berra | 259 | 295 PA |
| 2. | Mickey Mantle | 230 | 273 PA |
| 3. | Joe DiMaggio | 199 | 220 PA |
| 4. | Frankie Frisch | 197 | 216 PA |
| 5. | Gil McDougald | 190 | 215 PA |
| 6. | Hank Bauer | 188 | 199 PA |
| 7. | Phil Rizzuto | 183 | 219 PA |
| 8. | Elston Howard | 171 | 189 PA |
| 9. | Pee Wee Reese | 169 | 191 PA |
| 10. | Derek Jeter | 156 | 173 PA |
| Rank. | Player | ||
| 1. | Mickey Mantle | 18 | 273 PA |
| 2. | Babe Ruth | 15 | 167 PA |
| 3. | Yogi Berra | 12 | 295 PA |
| 4. | Duke Snider | 11 | 149 PA |
| 5. | Lou Gehrig | 10 | 150 PA |
| Reggie Jackson | 10 | 116 PA | |
| 7. | Joe DiMaggio | 8 | 220 PA |
| Bill Skowron | 8 | 141 PA | |
| Frank Robinson | 8 | 106 PA | |
| 10. | Gil McDougald | 7 | 215 PA |
| Hank Bauer | 7 | 199 PA | |
| Goose Goslin | 7 | 143 PA | |
| George Springer | 7 | 68 PA | |
| Chase Utley | 7 | 56 PA |
Eight of ten World Series AB leaders are Yankees but their AB are much lower than those for playoffs. Look at Jeter: 650 v. 156.
Reggie Jackson is on both home run lists.
Apples v. Oranges. There's plenty of interesting stuff in both.
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