MLB playoffs: The 2020 ALCS and NLCS MVP’s are making history

Randy Arozarena is dancing his way up the ranks

The breakout star of the MLB playoffs who literally came out of nowhere must be getting tired of carrying his team on the back, or so we thought. Randy Arozarena has not slowed down and has been consistently been great. Like the NLCS MVP, Arozarena has also hit seven home runs in the 2020 postseason.

Seager is now tied with Arozarena and five others at seven home runs in a single postseason. The ALCS MVP now takes the lead for most single postseason home run among rookies when he hit a screamer in game seven of the ALCS against the Astros. As previously mentioned, both Arozarena and Seager have several games left in the World Series to rise up to the top of the most home runs in a single postseason. How cool would it be if two players tied for first, or took the lead from the same postseason?

The Rays outfielder has been so consistent that he is in contention for several other postseason records. For starters, Arozarena is currently in the top five for postseason career slugging percentage. Arozarena is not close to first place which is held by Colby Rasmus (1.038). Everyone in the top 10, including Arozarena, are in the .700s for slugging. This is also Arozarena’s first year in the postseason so it will be hard to say whether his postseason career slugging will remain static at what he finishes with this season.

Similarly, Arozarena is in the top 10 for career postseason OPS. But again, Arozarena is a rookie in his first postseason who will most likely be playing in other postseasons as well. It is interesting though, because Colby Rasmus leads both career postseason slugging and OPS but he only has 35 plate appearances. Arozarena already has 74 plate appearances.

On the other hand, Arozarena does have a very good shot at total bases in a single postseason in addition to the home run record. The young outfielder is currently at 48 total bases after hitting a single yesterday in game two. Arozarena was tied in second place for single postseason total bases before yesterday, but now he takes second place all by himself.

First place is taken by none other than David Freese, with his historic 2011 season. Freese leads single postseason total bases with 50 in 71 plates appearances. Arozarena is now in second place at 48 total bases in 74 plates appearances. All Arozarena needs to do to pass Freese is to hit at least three singles. Of course, a home run will do the job as well. I totally expect Arozarena to surpass Freese for single postseason total bases based on the way he is consistently performing. I recommend Freese to videotape or draft his congratulatory video or tweet to Arozarena now.

The 24 year old is also not too far off from the single postseason hit record. As mentioned before, Sandoval leads with 26 hits and I am not sure if Seager will be able to get near the record, but Arozarena is well within reach. Randy currently has 22 hits, so he is only four off from first place. To the sports bettors out there, I would consider this a lock that Arozarena breaks the single postseason record for hits.

Arozarena is one run short of Seager in terms of runs in a single postseason. They both have a slim chance of beating the record, but I would not be comfortable saying it is a given. The lead is held by Beltran at 21 runs.

Overall, both Seager and Arozarena have been outstanding in the 2020 MLB playoffs. The Dodgers and Rays would not be where they are without Seager and Arozarena this season and they are competing for postseason records for good reason. I expect Arozarena and Seager to continue their hot performances and end up on top of some of the records I mentioned in this article.

The teams have a much needed day-off on Thursday and will be back in action Friday at 5:08PT/8:08PT with Walker Buehler and Charlie Morton on the mound.