October’s Excitement is Contagious in Baseball

NEW YORK — Though he wasn’t the offensive star of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series — he didn’t hit a moonshot into the second deck like Shohei Ohtani or Max Muncy — Will Smith did collect two hits in the Dodgers’ 8-0 victory over the Mets. They weren’t exactly scorchers, but one was of critical importance, as it drove in the game’s first run. Remarkably, Smith’s performance was just the second time this postseason that a catcher has collected multiple hits in a game, and for as much as Smith has struggled, his numbers still stand out relative to the competition. It’s been an exceptionally difficult October for the men wearing the tools of ignorance. These days, those tools actually suggest anything but ignorance. Armed with more data than ever, and playing in a pressure-cooker atmosphere where a single pitch can turn a series, Smith and those of his peers who are still standing (or squatting) in October — namely the Yankees’ Austin Wells, the Mets’ Francisco Alvarez, and the Guardians’ tandem of Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges — might be required to navigate a short-working starter and half a dozen relievers through opposing lineups, controlling the tempo of the game when things threaten to spiral out of control. Hitting? That’s part of the job, but this fall, these catchers’ offensive contributions have felt particularly secondary, not unlike those of pitchers swinging the bat in the days before the universal designated hitter. The numbers certainly look like those bygone pitchers hacking away. Thus far, the catchers for the 12 postseason teams have collectively hit .169/.236/.255 (40 wRC+) with five homers and a 28.3% strikeout rate through 254 plate appearances. In other words, they’ve been outhit by Madison Bumgarner (.172/.232/.292, 44 wRC+ career). Prior to Thursday’s Game 4, when Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke of the responsibilities borne by his young backstop, and where his offense fit into the picture, he could have been speaking about any of the aforementioned men behind the mask, regardless of their level of experience. “The thing with Alvie, he’s 22 years old. He’s got a lot on his plate, especially when it comes down to preparing and game planning for a game. Nowadays there’s so much information, and he has to lead a pitching staff. And then on top of that, he’s got to be a hitter as well. But he’s one swing away,” said Mendoza, referring to the chance that Alvarez, for all of his recent offensive woes, might launch a homer. Homers have been in particularly short supply from this crew, with Smith’s two-run shot off the Padres’ Bryan Hoeing in Game 4 of the Division Series — which expanded Los Angeles’ lead from 3-0 to 5-0 — the only one from among the four remaining teams. Because of that, and the fact that his hit total for October doubled on Wednesday night, his numbers tower over the remaining field:

That’s a cumulative .130/.201/.163 (10 wRC+) postseason line for those players, even worse than the field when including the catchers of the eight eliminated teams. Entering Thursday, Smith was the only one of the above whose postseason wRC+ was even positive, which, woof. In addition to his dinger, he has walked six times, two more than the rest of the still-active catchers combined. As for Smith’s two hits on Wednesday, the big one — conceptually speaking — came in the second inning, with one out and runners on second and third. On the ninth pitch of a tenacious plate appearance in which he’d fallen into an 0-2 hole, he expanded the zone a few inches off the plate to hit an 85-mph comebacker that deflected off Luis Severino‘s glove and slowly trickled over to shortstop Francisco Lindor. The ball spent so much time in the no-man’s land behind the mound that Muncy was able to race home. Three pitches later, Tommy Edman’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a second run, and they never looked back. Smith’s other hit in that game was of the more traditional variety, but far less significant given that it came in the ninth inning with the Dodgers up eight runs. Facing Tylor Megill, he hit a 102.6-mph grounder through the 5.5-hole, between Lindor and third baseman Mark Vientos. Asked on Thursday whether he felt his two-hit game had unlocked something at the plate, the 29-year-old catcher wasn’t exactly buying. “I don’t know. I’ve felt fine the whole postseason at the plate,” he said. “So I was just trying to keep that going.” Smith did allow that he was “try[ing] to clean some stuff up,” with his swing, noting that it was a constant battle. “The body changes a little bit. Fields change. Obviously the pitchers are really good. It’s just a fight… But I go up there with every at-bat, try to swing at the right pitches and try to do something good and move the ball.” Smith did get on the board again late in Thursday’s 10-2 victory. Having already gone 0-for-4 against Jose Quintana, José Buttó, and Phil Maton, he capped a three-run rally — and the Dodgers’ scoring for the night — with a two-strike single off Danny Young. Smith’s hits would barely be worth noting if not for the ups and downs he’s dealt with over the past seven months. Fresh off signing a 10-year, $140 million extension the day before his 29th birthday (March 28), he hit .362/.403/.543 (159 wRC+) through the end of April, but sank to .202/.303/.358 (86 wRC+) from June through August before closing strong with a .289/.365/.556 (153 wRC+) line from September 11 onward. Though he drew two walks and scored twice in the NLDS opener, he went hitless through his first 13 PA before his homer. His other hit was a seventh-inning single off Jason Adam in Game 5, moments after Teoscar Hernández had doubled the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 with a solo homer off Yu Darvish; pressing the advantage, Smith followed with a surprise stolen base, but wound up stranded at second. Smith has caught 27 of the last 28 Dodgers postseason games, DHing while Austin Barnes started Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS against the Padres (the Dodgers lost that one). He’s a far more capable hitter than Barnes, and manager Dave Roberts spoke glowingly on Thursday of his work shepherding a pitching staff that had combined for four shutouts in a five-game span, including the eight-pitcher all-reliever Game 4 when the team was facing elimination by the Padres. “I think Will is doing a fantastic job just sharpening every part of it — whether it’s catching the baseball, whether it’s the right pitch at the right time, game-calling with urgency,” said Roberts. Smith is now catching in his sixth postseason. Alvarez, his opposite number, is going through his first, and his road to this point has been rocky. Three weeks into the season, he sprained his left thumb. He was sidelined for seven weeks, and the Mets bottomed out during his absence; they were 11-8 to the point of his injury but went 17-28 before he returned on June 11, having clawed their way back from being a season-high (low?) 11 games below .500 circa June 2 (24-35). Alvarez hit .333/.410/.552 (170 wRC+) from…