It's not how you start, but how you finish. Or so the wisdom goes.
In baseball, a strong finish can pay big dividends for players, which can pay big dividends for teams. A heater during the final month can make the difference in winning a stat race, play a big role in winning an MVP or Cy Young Award, and help push a team toward a postseason berth.
Whether they led to eye-popping stats, MLB records or team success, there have been some incredible player performances to close out seasons. Here's a look at some of the best statistical stretch-run finishes of the Expansion Era (since 1961).
Quick caveat: We're defining "finishes" as regular-season production in September and October, even though not every season has the same number of games in those months.
Batting average: Richard Hidalgo, 2000 Astros (.477)
Hidalgo hit a very respectable .275 and was a powerful presence (33 homers) in the Houston lineup through Aug. 31. But in September? He took things to another level -- or maybe two other levels. Hidalgo hit an incredible .477 (51-for-107) that month and carried a 1.486 OPS. Over his last 29 games of the season, he recorded at least one hit in every game but two -- and one of those times, he left the game before coming to bat. Overall, he raised his average by 39 percentage points.
Result: The Astros lost 90 games, but Hidalgo finished the season with career highs in basically every category, including average (.314), OPS (1.028), homers (44) and RBIs (122). He appeared in the MVP voting for the first of two times in his career, finishing 20th in the NL race.
OPS: Barry Bonds, 2001 Giants (1.685)
September-October 2001 was the most monster stretch within what was arguably Bonds' most monster season. He clubbed an MLB-best 16 homers, but he also drew 38 walks (compared to 31 hits), which added up to an otherworldly 1.685 OPS over his final 27 games. Of his 31 hits, 20 went for extra bases (or, about 65 percent). His slash line during that span: .403/.607/1.078. It's also notable that Bonds and everyone else had an unexpected weeklong delay in the middle of September after the 9/11 attacks, but the time away didn't affect his production at all.
Result: Bonds' gaudy numbers down the stretch helped produce a final slash line of .328/.515/.863, an MLB single-season record 73 homers and a career-high 137 RBIs, which all led to a unanimous NL MVP Award, Bonds' fourth of what would be seven MVP honors.
Home runs: Albert Belle, 1995 Indians (17)
Belle was one of the most feared hitters of the '90s, as he averaged nearly 39 homers per season during the decade. His 1995 campaign appeared to be right on track for a similar output of long balls until he upped the pace to near-ludicrous speed in the second half. After hitting 14 homers in August, he clubbed another 17 in September to bring his total to an MLB-leading 50. His homer tally got a big boost when he hit five dingers over two days against the White Sox on Sept. 18-19.
Result: Belle finished the season as the MLB leader in homers (50), doubles (52), slugging percentage (.690) and total bases (377), while leading the AL in RBIs (126) and runs (121) as the Indians won 100 games in a strike-shortened season and captured the AL pennant. He finished second to Boston's Mo Vaughn in a very close AL MVP vote.
RBIs: Troy Tulowitzki, 2010 Rockies; Don Mattingly, 1985 Yankees (40)
Tulo came into September 2010 with an unremarkable, even disappointing, 55 RBIs on the season. He'd averaged just under 17 RBIs in September the previous four seasons, so it seemed highly unlikely that he'd even approach the 92 RBIs he produced one season earlier. But then Tulo started driving in runs in bunches. He had 11 multi-RBI games that month, aided by 15 homers, and had six games in which he drove in three or more runs. The highlight was a seven-RBI performance against the Padres on Sept. 15. A five-RBI game on Sept. 25 gave him 40 for the month. Oddly, he had no RBIs over his last seven games.
Result: The Rockies were one game back of the NL West lead as late as Sept. 18, but then they closed the season on a 1-13 skid and missed the postseason. Meanwhile, Tulowitzki finished with 95 RBIs and a .949 OPS, a career high at that point, and finished fifth in NL MVP voting.
Mattingly was in a tight race for AL MVP entering the final month in 1985. He started September with a .325 average, 23 homers and a .924 OPS as the Yankees were battling the Blue Jays for the AL East title. But once the calendar flipped, Mattingly turned on the slug -- and began driving in runs at a very high clip. He hit 12 homers and had a .991 OPS over the final 34 games, and had at least one RBI in nine straight games from Sept. 20-30. A solo homer on the last day of the season -- in his last at-bat, no less -- gave Mattingly an even 40 RBIs for the final month-plus.
Result: Mattingly's torrid month pushed him over the top in the AL MVP race, as he finished with a league-best 145 RBIs and won a relatively narrow victory over future Hall of Famer George Brett for the honor. His production also kept the Yankees in the hunt for the AL East crown until the final weekend. But, though they won 97 games, they finished two games behind the Blue Jays.
Stolen bases: Rickey Henderson, 1980 A's (34)
If Rickey was on base, Rickey was running. That might be how the Hall of Famer would've described his prowess on the base paths, especially during the '80s. Henderson started the decade with a bang in 1980, his first full season, when he stole more bags down the stretch than anyone before or since. He pulled it off largely because he was adept at swiping multiple bags per game, recording eight games with two or more steals in the final month, including two games in which he stole four. Henderson alone stole more bases from Sept. 1-Oct. 5 than 19 teams.
Result: The A's went 83-79 and finished well out of the playoff race in 1980, but Henderson's 40 steals over the final month gave him 100 stolen bases for the season -- the most in the Majors -- and made him the first player to reach the century mark since Lou Brock stole 118 in 1974. It was the first of three 100-plus-steal season for Henderson, and also the first of seven straight seasons in which he led either his league or MLB in steals. His skills were reflected in the AL MVP vote, too, as he finished 10th in the balloting.
ERA (min. 30 IP): Orel Hershiser, 1988 Dodgers (0.00)
Hershiser would not allow anyone to score during the final month of the 1988 season. Literally nobody. In six starts, the Dodgers' righty pitched 55 innings and allowed no runs for a perfect 0.00 ERA. Those six starts also included five complete games that were part of a streak of EIGHT straight complete games. In his last start of the season, he pitched 10 scoreless innings and took a no-decision in a 2-1 Dodgers loss to the Padres in 16 innings. Hershiser ended the month with a 0.71 WHIP.
Result: Hershiser had about as good a finish to the '88 season as is possible. Those six scoreless outings to close the regular season allowed him to set a new MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings (59), gave him an MLB-best eight shutouts and 23 wins, helped the Dodgers clinch the NL West, led to an NLCS MVP, then a World Series championship, a World Series MVP and a unanimous NL Cy Young Award.
Strikeouts: Nolan Ryan, 1972 Angels (86)
Ryan was just entering his prime in 1972, a season that first hinted at what was to come for MLB's eventual strikeout king. The final month, in particular, was a level of punchout prowess seldom seen. Ryan made eight starts and threw 68 2/3 innings from Sept. 4-Oct. 4, fanning double-digits in six of those games. No other MLB pitcher had more than three such games during that stretch. The dominance was punctuated by a 15-strikeout game against the Rangers on Sept. 12 and a 17-strikeout performance against the Twins on Sept. 30.
Result: The ending flourish allowed Ryan to easily lead all MLB pitchers in strikeouts, with 329, and also helped him post an MLB-best nine shutouts. The Angels finished fifth in the AL West with a 75-80 record, but Ryan finished 19-16 with a 2.28 ERA for the season, which led to an eighth-place finish in the AL Cy Young voting. 1972 was also the first of six 300-plus strikeout seasons Ryan would post over his 27-year MLB career.
WHIP (min. 35 IP): Jake Arrieta, 2015 Cubs (0.57)
Arrieta's final month of the 2015 season was one for the ages. In six starts for the Cubs, he pitched 46 innings, went 5-0, had an MLB-best 0.39 ERA and .141 average against, and allowed just four walks -- which is why he managed a 0.57 WHIP, the lowest September/October mark of the Expansion Era among pitchers who tossed at least 35 innings. The highlight of this stretch came on Sept. 22 against the Brewers, as Arrieta allowed three hits and a walk and struck out 11 in a complete-game shutout for his 20th win of the season. From there, he allowed just four base runners over his final two starts.
Result: Arrieta's dominance helped the 97-win Cubs secure a Wild Card berth, which they parlayed into an NLCS appearance. His success down the stretch was just the latest showing in what had been an unexpectedly amazing season for a guy who struggled with consistency for much of his first five seasons in the bigs. But he finished 2015 with an MLB-best 22 wins, a 1.77 ERA and an 0.87 WHIP en route to the NL Cy Young Award.