Hot and Not going into postsesaon

The players listed here were the statistical leaders during the final week of the season for the nine teams still playing in the majors.
This post is designed to help you in forming a fantasy team for leagues or special contexts involving postseason play, or merely to help you enjoy the playoffs while having your friends marvel at your incredible baseball knowledge.
Batting averages are based on 20 at-bats, and ERA and WHIP on seven innings pitched. In most cases, we eliminate batters with an average lower than .280 and pitchers with ERAs above 4.00 from the Hot list. Keep in mind players’ career performance and current-season totals even more than current trends in deciding on whether to keep those players in your lineup.

Hot

Pos. Name, Team H-AB Avg. HR-RBI SB

OF Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 12-22 .545 1-6 0
SS Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies 11-22 .500 2-6 2
SS Orlando Cabrera, Twins 15-33 .455 0-5 0
OF Delmon Young, Twins 12-27 .444 1-10 0
1B Todd Helton, Rockies 11-26 .423 1-5 0
SS Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 10-25 .400 1-2 1
1B Ryan Howard, Phillies 9-25 .360 2-5 1
1B/3B Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox 7-20 .350 2-7 1
OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox 7-20 .350 0-0 3
OF Denard Span, Twins 10-30 .333 0-2 0
OF Jason Bay, Red Sox 7-21 .333 0-3 0

This is the second consecutive week for Helton on the Hot list.

Home runs – Tigers OF Curtis Granderson and Angels 1B Kendry Morales 3; Howard, Tulowitzki, Youkilis, Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira and Phillies OF Jayson Werth 2.

RBI – Young 10; Morales 8; Youkilis 7; Ordonez, Tulowitzki, Cardinals RHP Chris Carpenter and 1B Albert Pujols, Twins OF Jason Kubel and Red Sox 1B/C Victor Martinez 6. Carpenter had a very productive three at-bats in his final start.

Stolen bases – Werth 4; Ellsbury 3; Pujols, Tulowitzki and Dodgers SS Rafael Furcal 2.

Runs – Cabrera and Helton 8; Howard, Morales and Tulowitzki 7. Note that Tulo was on each of these lists, making him a five-tool fantasy player.

Throws Pitcher, Team IP ERA W-L WHIP SO/BB

RHP Matt Palmer, Angels 7.0 0.00 1-0 0.57 4:3
RHP Ervin Santana, Angels 9.0 0.00 1-0 0.89 2:1
RHP Aaron Cook, Rockies 8.0 1.13 1-0 0.63 2:1
LHP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 10.0 1.80 0-0 1.10 14:4
RHP Nick Blackburn, Twins 14.0 1.93 0-0 0.79 9:1

Blackburn has been on this list in each of the last two weeks.

Wins – Twins RHP Jon Rauch 2.

Saves – Angels LHP Brian Fuentes 4-for-4; Twins RHP Joe Nathan 3-for-3; Phillies RHP Ryan Madson 2-for-2. This is the fourth consecutive week for Nathan on this list, and the second for Fuentes. Madson's success increases the possibility that he, and not RHP Brad Lidge, would be Philadelphia's closer for the NLDS.

WHIP – Palmer and Angels RHP Sean O'Sullivan 0.57; Cook 0.63; Blackburn 0.79; Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa and Yankees RHP Chad Gaudin 0.88.

Strikeout/walk ratio (at least 10 Ks and a 2.5:1 ratio) – De La Rosa 12:3; Kershaw 14:4; Rockies RHP Ubaldo Jimenez 10:4.

* * *

Not

Pos. Player, Team H-AB Avg. HR-RBI SB

C Gerald Laird, Tigers 2-20 .100 0-1 0
2B Chase Utley, Phillies 2-20 .100 0-2 0
2B/SS Clint Barmes, Rockies 3-21 .143 0-0 0
OF Matt Kemp, Dodgers 3-21 .143 0-1 0
OF Ryan Ludwick, Cardinals 3-21 .143 0-4 0
1B James Loney, Dodgers 4-22 .182 0-0 0
1B Miguel Cabrera, Tigers 5-26 .192 1-1 0
OF Colby Rasmus, Cardinals 4-20 .200 0-1 0

Walk/strikeout ratio (generally 10 or more strikeouts) – No players on a playoff team struck out 10 times during the regular season's final week. The worst performance was by Dodgers OF Manny Ramirez 3:9.

Caught stealing – Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury 3-for-5.

The following pitchers made two starts last week, doubly damaging their real and fantasy teams.

Throws Pitcher, Team IP ERA W-L WHIP SO/BB

RHP Edwin Jackson, Tigers 12.0 9.75 0-2 1.50 8:4
LHP Cole Hamels, Phillies 9.2 8.38 0-2 1.76 7:5
RHP Joe Blanton, Phillies 11.2 7.71 1-1 1.89 7:6
LHP Andy Pettitte, Yankees 10.1 4.35 1-1 1.94 5:7
RHP Kyle Lohse, Cardinals 11.0 4.09 0-2 1.45 9:2

Losses – Hamels, Jackson and Lohse 2.

Blown saves – Dodgers RHP Jonathan Broxton, Cardinals RHP Kyle McLellan, Rockies RHP Jon Rauch and Red Sox RHP Takashi Saito 0-for-1; Rockies RHP Huston Street 2-for-3.