Kenta Maeda’s Playoff Prowess

[Cody Christie]

It is hard not to be impressed with Kenta Maeda’s first season in a Twins uniform. He might be in the conversation for winning the Cy Young, if not for the season being compiled by Cleveland’s Shane Bieber. For better or for worse, playoff baseball is where a pitcher can go from great to legendary. Maeda has that opportunity with the Twins this season and his playoff track record puts him in rarified air.Maeda’s first playoff experience came as a starter back in 2016 and things were a little rocky. In his first start, the Nationals knocked him around for four runs on five hits in three innings. The Dodgers were still able to win the series and Maeda would get two opportunities to start against the Cubs in the NLDS.

 

In Game 1, the Cubs got to him early for three runs in the first two innings. He would pitch four frames with two strikeouts and three walks. His turn in the rotation came up again in Game 5 and this time he couldn’t make it out of the fourth. He struck out six in 3 2/3 innings and he held Chicago to one earned run on three hits. The Dodgers would lose the series and Maeda’s time as a playoff starter was also over in LA.

 

Over the next two seasons, the Dodgers would make back-to-back runs to the World Series and Maeda was one of their best bullpen weapons. He made 21 playoff relief appearances from 2017-2019 and only allowed four earned runs on 15 hits with a 27 to 5 strikeout to walk ratio and two of his walks were intentional. Opponents hit .185/.233/.272 against him with five extra-base hits in 81 at-bats.

 

There was only one game where he allowed more than one earned run in a relief appearance. Another one of his earned runs came in the 2017 World Series against the Astros when Houston likely knew what pitches were being thrown. What might be even more astonishing is the fact he pitched 2 2/3 innings during Game 3 in Houston, and he limited batters to one hit. Even if Houston knew what pitch was coming, the Astros still couldn’t hit it.

 

While it’s hard to ignore his previous playoff performance, the 2020 version of Maeda is more dominant than his years in Los Angeles. His four-seam usage is down to 18.9% from a career high 41.9% back in 2018. He has been relying more on his slider (39.7%) and changeup (28.8%) and one of the biggest changes has been his willingness to throw his slider to left-handed batters. Last year, he only threw his slider to lefties 11.1% of the time and this season he has used it over 30% of the time.

 

Maeda’s playoff experience certainly doesn’t hurt, but the Twins are only going to be able to use him once in their three-game first round series. Minnesota’s recent playoff experience has been a little painful as the Twins haven’t won a playoff game since 2004 and they haven’t won a playoff series since 2002. Maeda will look to help the Twins end both of those streaks, and while he has been great this season, legends are born in October.

 

Do you think Maeda’s previous playoff performance will impact his 2020 performance? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

 

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[davethekid]

Past history means nothing especially with the awesome season he’s had. And he’s now the ace.

[4twinsJA]

Having pitched in playoffs before definitely will help. Hope Meada continues to impress, Twins pitching staff in much better shape going into playoffs this year compared to last year.

[lake_guy]

 

Past history means nothing especially with the awesome season he’s had. And he’s now the ace.

Agree, he is the ace of our staff.  Now watch the Twins pitch Berrios in game 1.

[davethekid]

God hope not...

Agree, he is the ace of our staff.  Now watch the Twins pitch Berrios in game 1.