Ranking the top 10 heroes of Division Series action across 2024 MLB Playoffs

The four Division Series not only narrowed the field of contenders for baseball’s big prize, but in the process they produced a succession of heroes, some of them highly unexpected.

Here’s a rundown of the 10 most clutch performers in the division round, the players who did the most to ensure that their teams are still alive.

Our standard of measurement is Championship Win Probability Added. That’s a relatively new statistic calculating each player’s contribution to his team’s ability to advance. It’s represented by a percentage figure.

10. Teoscar Hernández, Los Angeles Dodgers, 4.84%. On the offensive side, Hernández was the biggest contributor to the Dodgers’ five-game victory over the San Diego Padres. Considering that LA rosters Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, that’s saying something.

Hernández batted 6-for-18 during the series, but two of those six hits were home runs, and he drove in a team-leading seven runs.  

His seventh inning Game 5 home run off Yu Darvish, doubling the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0, was statistically the second most consequential hit of that series, behind only Kiké Hernández’s second inning home run that put LA ahead. But Teoscar did a lot more than hit a single insurance home run.

His Game 1 fourth inning single turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 Dodger lead, plating the eventual winning run. In Game 3, his grand slam shortened a 6-1 deficit to 6-5 and gave LA hope, although the Padres clung to that 6-5 victory.

9. Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres, 4.86%. This list is naturally dominated by members of winning teams, but Darvish is one of two members of losing teams who starred in defeat.

Darvish started Games 2 and 5. The first was a rout, a 10-2 Padres win in which he covered seven innings, allowing just three hits and one run. In Game 5, the Hernández boys touched him for home runs that provided the decisive margin. But not to be overlooked was Darvish's six and two-thirds innings, allowing just three base hits.

8. Lane Thomas, Cleveland Guardians, 4.87%. Thomas’ role in Cleveland’s five-game victory over the Detroit Tigers accorded him borderline legendary status along the shore of Lake Erie. In Game 1, his three-run first inning home run sent the Guardians on their way to a 7-0 victory.

Then in Game 5, his fifth inning grand slam off Tiger ace Tarik Skubal permanently fractured a 1-1 tie and sent the Guardians on their way to an ALCS-clinching 7-3 win. Statistically, it was the single most decisive hit of any of the four Division Series.

It capped a sensational series for the team’s trade deadline pickup from Washington. In the five games, Thomas was six-for-19 with nine RBI.

7. Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees, 4.97%. The Royals controlled Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, but they had no answer for Stanton. In four games, he was 6-for-16 with three extra base hits and a team-high four RBI.

Stanton’s heroics in Game 3 turned the series in New York’s favor. In the fourth inning of a scoreless tie, his double to left-center off Seth Lugo scored Soto. Four innings later, Stanton for a second time broke a tie, this time 2-2, with a home run off reliever Kris Bubic into the left field seats.

One night later, Stanton’s two hits helped the Yankees to a 3-1 series closeout victory.

6. Evan Phillips, Los Angeles Dodgers, 4.98%. Phillips appeared in all three Dodger victories, covering four and one-third innings, retiring all 13 Padres hitters he faced and earning credit for the Game 4 victory.

He killed a desperate Padre rally in Game 4, and in Game 5 fanned three of the five batters he faced to protect a 1-0 Dodger lead.

5. Kerry Carpenter, Detroit Tigers, 5.01%. Carpenter’s effort to carry his team beyond the DS may have ended in failure, but that does not make the performance less noteworthy.  His ninth inning Game 2 home run off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase broke a scoreless tie and gave Detroit a stunning victory.

In Game 5, he broke another scoreless tie, this time with a fifth inning long single. That lead didn’t hold up, evaporating in the wake of Lane Thomas’ grand slam.

For the series, Carpenter had four hits, and was the only Tiger to drive in more than a single run; he had four RBI.  

4. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets, 5.58%. The Mets’ emotional leader, Lindor’s five base hits against the Phillies included two doubles and a home run. He drove in five runs and scored four.

It fell to Lindor to deliver the blow that buried the Phillies. In the sixth inning of Game 4, the Mets leading the series two-games-to-one but trailing 1-0, Lindor faced reliever Carlos Estévez with the bases loaded and one out. On a 2-1 count, he laced a home run deep into the right-center field seats at Citi Field.

The grand slam positioned Lindor’s Mets to close out the series a few innings later, which they did.

3. Luke Weaver, New York Yankees, 6.81%. Weaver, the Yankee closer, appeared in all four ALDS games and saved three of them.

In the process, he protected leads of one, two and two runs, striking out five and allowing just two baserunners over four and one-third innings.

His late-inning, under-pressure victims included the heart of the Royals order. Weaver set down Vinnie Pasquantino three times, Bobby Witt Jr. twice and Sal Pérez once.

2. Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians, 8.07%. Kwan’s accomplishments weren’t as dramatic as Thomas’, but statistically they were more consequential. As Cleveland’s leadoff hitter, he was all over the bases. He had 11 hits in 21 at bats, a .524 batting average. He scored six runs, and was involved in all three of Cleveland’s game-winning rallies.

That shouldn’t be surprising, given Kwan’s incessant productivity. The Guardians only scored in nine innings during their five-game series with the Tigers. Kwan had a contributory role in seven of those nine productive innings.

1. Mark Vientos, New York Mets, 9.05%. Vientos’ fingerprints were all over the Mets’ elimination of the Phillies.

In Game 1, his team trailed 1-0 when Vientos came to bat against reliever Jeff Hoffman with runners at first and second. His liner down the left-field line scored the tying run and set up what would become a five-run inning.

One day later, his ninth inning two-run home run erased a 6-4 Phillies lead, although the Phils scored in the bottom of the ninth to win.

 His first of two Game 4 hits set up two Mets runs, and his second hit one inning later set up a third.  

For the series, Vientos was 9-for-16 – that’s a 5.63 batting average – with three runs scored and five driven in.