Drew Rasmussen made a strong case for October recognition on Sunday, when he threw seven lights-out innings in Tampa Bay's Game 5 win. In a postseason race that is now tracking through cumulative win probability added, that kind of outing matters even more because the leaderboard gives extra weight to later rounds.
That approach is designed to separate a good playoff run from a great one. is tabulating WPA for every player in the postseason, and it is also giving the championship series extra weight as part of its October hero ranking system. In other words, performances in the deepest rounds carry more value than early-round production.
Rasmussen's postseason profile keeps growing
Sunday's seven innings were not Rasmussen's only notable work in this postseason. During the ALDS, he posted a game score of 88 against the New York Yankees, which stood as a strong benchmark before his latest outing. His Game 5 performance added another layer to that run and helped push him into the conversation for the sixth-best game score of the postseason at 70.
For Tampa Bay, the significance is straightforward. A starter who can work deep into a game in a tight postseason setting gives a team real stability, and Rasmussen did exactly that when the Rays needed it most.
How the ranking system views October
The broader point is that 's current leaderboard is built to reflect context, not just raw totals. A playoff performance in the wild-card round does not carry the same value as one in the division series, and the championship series is weighted even more heavily. That makes Rasmussen's seven-inning Game 5 outing especially relevant if the goal is to identify the player making the biggest impact in October.
Whether the Rays continue moving forward or not, Rasmussen has already done enough to stand out in the postseason picture. With measuring cumulative WPA and layering in round-by-round importance, his latest start is exactly the kind of performance that can rise quickly in an ALCS MVP-style conversation.
