Instant expert: your cheat sheet for baseball's postseason

October's finest

Since 1995, the year wild cards were
added to the playoffs, 22 teams have
made the postseason at least once. No
team has taken better advantage of its
opportunities than the Marlins, who
have won the World series in each of
their two appearance.

Appearances   Rings    W    L

11              4     76    43
11              1     48    44
6                     29    28
6                     26    23
6               1     22    24
6                     11    19
4                     15    19
4                     12    16
4               1      8    12
3               1     13    10
3                     12    12
3                      7    13
3                      6    12
3                      1     9
3               1      1     9
2                     22    11
2                     13    11
2                      9    10
2                      6     9
2                      3     3
1                      3     4
1                      1     3

Records through Sunday.

Story lines

1 The Astros can score. Offense has been Houston's biggest weakness all season, but the Astros' hitters came alive against the Braves, producing 25 runs in four games. Heading into the NLCS, the Astros' lineup was right there with the Cardinals'.

2 Speed, defense and ... power. Fans credit "Ozzieball" for the White Sox's turnaround this season, but most of Chicago's offense against the Red Sox came via the long ball. That shouldn't be a surprise--the White Sox hit 200 home runs this season, fifth-most in the majors.

3 Over the hill? Aside from Roger Clemens' relief outing in Game 4 against the Braves, the playoffs' collection of 40-something starters--Clemens, Randy Johnson and David Wells--all had problems in the Division Series. Has the fountain of youth finally run dry?--Shawn Reid

TSNumbers

7 Consecutive postseason losses for the Padres. They never led in their series against the Cardinals.

14 Hours between Games 3 and 4 of the Braves-Astros series. There were 52 hours between Games 2 and 3 of the Cardinals-Padres series.

42 Players used in the Astros' 18-inning Game 4 NLDS victory against the Braves. Outfielder Chris Burke, who entered in the 10th inning, homered off Joey Devine, the Braves' sixth pitcher, and ended the longest game in postseason history.

3 Successful suicide squeeze plays in the first 13 Division Series games. The White Sox's Juan Uribe, the Cardinals' David Eckstein and the Angels' Steve Finley all provided proof that small ball is making a comeback.

0-7 Randy Johnson's record in his past eight Division Series starts. His ERA is an equally unimpressive 5.33.

45 The uniform number of White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, the same as an outfielder who was with the club in the mid-1990s--Michael Jordan.

50 Postseason games played at Busch Stadium, which will be leveled at the end of the season. After the first two games of the NLCS, Busch will be one game shy of tying Fenway Park as the site of the second-most playoff games. Busch would have to stand for many more seasons to match Yankee Stadium's record of 155.

Heroes

Reggie Sanders, LF, Cardinals. Guess he has recovered from a broken bone in his right leg that kept him out for nearly two months in the second half of the season. Against the Padres, he hit a grand slam in Game 1 and finished the series with an NLDS-record 10 RBIs. Not a bad way to make people forget you were hitting. 198 in your previous four postseasons.

Morgan Ensberg, 3B, Astros. For the first time in nearly a generation, a Killer B does not lead the Astros' offense. More like a Lethal E. Ensberg drove in seven runs in the Astros' first two victories over the Braves. In the clincher, however, he was held hitless.

Robinson Cano, 2B, Yankees. Forget the occasional defensive lapse. Whenever the Yankees did anything against the Angels, this rookie was the man making it happen. He certainly made Joe Torre look good for moving him up to sixth in the order, ahead of veterans Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams. Through the Yankees' first four games, Cano had five RBIs--as many as Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui combined.

Goats

Tony Graffanino, 2B, Red Sox. He let a double-play grounder roll through his legs against the White Sox; two batters later, Tadahito Iguchi hit a 3-run homer that proved to be the difference in Game 2. But even the Fenway faithful felt sympathy for the likeable Graffanino. He received a loud standing ovation when introduced before the home crowd. Hmmm. Think they would have been so forgiving if the Red Sox had failed to win the World Series in 2004?

Jake Peary, RHP, Padres. San Diego's ace was supposed to give his club a chance against the Cardinals. But unbeknownst to his manager, Peavy had injured his ribs during the Padres' division-clinching celebration the last week of the season. He aggravated the injury early in his Game 1 start against the Cardinals. At least it lessened the surprise of his being pounded for eight runs in 4th innings, the worst start of his big-league career.