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James Smyth of the YES Network was nice enough to beat me to the punch in publishing the Guillen number for all the playoff teams. October is about short-sequence offense -- ball go far, team go far -- so the Yankees and Mariners, who both scored more than half their runs on homers, would seem to have an edge.
What I would point out is that this is very much an area in which variance swamps everything. My favorite example is the 2014 Royals, a low-power team that hit a bunch of homers in beating the Angels and Orioles on the way to the World Series. Two years ago, the Diamondbacks were 22nd in baseball in long balls, then hit 18 in 12 games to march past the Brewers, Dodgers, and Phillies and win the NL pennant. The year prior, the Padres were 21st in homers in the regular season, then hit nine in seven games to take out the Mets and Dodgers.
What I would point out is that this is very much an area in which variance swamps everything. My favorite example is the 2014 Royals, a low-power team that hit a bunch of homers in beating the Angels and Orioles on the way to the World Series. Two years ago, the Diamondbacks were 22nd in baseball in long balls, then hit 18 in 12 games to march past the Brewers, Dodgers, and Phillies and win the NL pennant. The year prior, the Padres were 21st in homers in the regular season, then hit nine in seven games to take out the Mets and Dodgers.
