In the wild-card era, there has been a carryover factor from the final month of the regular season to the playoffs. Of the 28 World Series teams in that span, 21 had a winning record in the final month. A look at the performances of this year’s playoff teams and the previous World Series teams in the final month:

This year
20-11    .645    Colorado Rockies
20-11    .645    Minnesota
20-11    .645    New York Yankees
19-13    .594    Boston
19-13    .594    Los Angeles Angels
17-13    .567    Los Angeles Dodgers
17-15    .531    Detroit
18-16    .529    Philadelphia
14-16    .467    Cardinals

World Series teams
Record    Team    Year
21-8    Colorado    2007
21-11    Boston    2004
20-9    Cleveland    1995
19-9    Atlanta    1999
19-11    Houston    2005
19-12    Chicago White Sox    2005
18-8    San Francisco    2002
18-8    Florida    2003
18-9    Los Angeles Angels    2002
18-9    New  York Yankees    2003
18-13    Cardinals    2004
17-8    Philadelphia    2008
17-14    New  York Yankees    1999
16-9    New York Yankees     2001
16-11    New York Yankees     1996
16-11    New York Yankees    1998
16-11    Boston    2007
16-12    Atlanta    1995
16-13    Cleveland    1997
15-14    New York Mets    2000
14-13    Arizona    2001
13-14    Tampa Bay    2008
13-18    New York Yankees    2000
12-15    Atlanta    1996
12-15    Florida    1997
12-16    Detroit, 2006
12-17    St. Louis, 2006
9-15    San Diego    1998

Research by Gerry Fraley.