Now that I wrote two articles comparing players head-to-head in Home Run Decimal, it is time to attempt a three-way analysis. Since the postseason is right around the corner, I thought it would make sense to analyze three different playoff performances from the past.
Considering the fact that the Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005, they have a representative in this study (from that season). There is no better representative than their best and most popular player of the last decade, Paul Konerko to apply the study to. Now, there are still two more players needed. Who will they be?
Since the Sox are one of the teams, I thought I would tie the Sox and postseason opponents into it. This it how it will be done: Since the last team the Sox beat in the playoffs were the Houston Astros (World Series 2005 sweep-HOU is now in the American League) and their final playoff appearance was in 2008 versus the Tampa Bay Rays (lost 3-1 in ALDS), the other two players will come from these teams.
Both players outside of Konerko have one thing in common outside of having great ability, that being the fact they are outfielders. For the Astros, I am going to take the 2004 postseason of Carlos Beltran, and from the Rays I will be using the 2008 performance from B.J. Upton (who now goes by Melvin Upton Jr.). Even though I won’t be using the 2005 Astros, I am going to use the same organization just a different year. On top of that, I will be using the entire postseason, not just the series versus the Sox for Upton.
You will see the results from Home Run Decimal (HRD) and Decimal Power Average (DPA) in this study.