Jay Jaffe has written for more than a decade that hot Septembers have little to do with postseason success. Looking at roughly 25 years of data, he declares no statistical correlation between the two. The Cardinals, winners in 20 of their last 22 games, are just as likely to make a deep run as the world champion 2000 Yankees were after losing 15 of 18 to end the season.
Much like “there is no such thing as clutch” and other frothy internet baseball declarations, it’s both backed by the numbers and yet still doesn’t feel entirely right.