The perception of Carlos Beltran’s performance in the playoffs is largely built around his once taking an Adam Wainwright curveball for an NLCS-ending called third strike. That narrative, like many narratives, couldn’t be further from the truth.
After homering twice last night Beltran has now gone deep 13 times in 25 career playoff games while hitting .362 with a 1.297 OPS. He’s played in six different playoff series and has posted an OPS above 1.000 in four of them (including that NLCS against Wainwright and the Cardinals in 2006).
Obviously those are amazing numbers, but did you know Beltran now owns the highest slugging percentage and the highest OPS in postseason history? Here are the career leardboards among everyone with at least 100 plate appearances in the playoffs:
PA SLG PA OPS CARLOS BELTRAN 115 .819 CARLOS BELTRAN 115 1.297 Babe Ruth 167 .744 Babe Ruth 167 1.211 Lou Gehrig 150 .731 Lou Gehrig 150 1.208
Carlos Beltran. Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. No big deal or anything.
