Who is hero of the 2026 MLB playoffs?
To try to answer to that question, we're tabulating the cumulative win probability added figures for every player in the postseason. But we've added a twist: The deeper we get into the playoffs, the more weight the WPA carries. The division series counts double the wild-card round, then we'll double it again for the championship series and, finally, once again for the World Series.
This means that players who shine in the early rounds can still get on the leaderboard, but it's more difficult. Coming through when the championship leverage is at its highest is what becoming an October hero is all about.
Wednesday's hero: A trio of heroes paced the Brewers in a stunning NLCS Game 3. Jake Bauers grabbed the headlines with his 11-pitch, go-ahead homer off Blake Snell in the seventh. Lost in the shuffle perhaps was the mid-game performance of DL Hall, who came in after Abner Uribe struggled and wriggled out of the jam he inherited, keeping the score at 2-1 Dodgers. Hall went 2⅓ innings by the time he gave way to Trevor Megill, preserving lefty relief ace Aaron Ashby in the bullpen. But none of that would have mattered if rookie Robert Gasser had not bedazzled the Dodgers through five scoreless innings, giving him Milwaukee's HeroAXE crown for the night. Gasser's gem followed fellow rookie Logan Henderson's outing in Game 2 as the Brewers became the first team with win consecutive LCS games started by rookies, according to Elias.
Methodology
As mentioned above, each player's win probability added (WPA) is tracked on a per-game basis. Each round of the playoffs counts double that of the previous round. The tabulation is then converted to an AXE-style index in which 100 represents the average for all postseason players. The "Change" column looks in the changes in AXE numbers from the previous day for players who were in action. You can sort this column by clicking on it to see the day's heroes.
