Here’s another quick fact about David Ortiz, the supposed “greatest clutch hitter of all time.”

His career regular season AVG/OBP/OPS is .287/.382/.554 (through the end of the 2008 season)
His career postseason AVG/OBP/OPS is .293/.401/.543 (through the end of the 2008 postseason)

Do those numbers look similar? If Ortiz really was the greatest clutch hitter of all time wouldn’t his postseason numbers be significantly better than his regular season numbers?

I realize one could argue that not all postseason plate appearances would be considered clutch, but isn’t the postseason supposed to be when the “lights shine the brightest” and when the best players on the biggest stage are supposed to perform at their highest level? In other words, if being clutch was some sort of character trait, wouldn’t it show up in the postseason? If Papi was so clutch, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that his postseason numbers would be significantly better than his regular season numbers? If he was so clutch, he wouldn’t have hit .186 this postseason. The reason he hit .186 has nothing to do with him being clutch and everything to do with the fact that clutch hitting doesn’t exist.