Pitching and clutch hitting in Major League Baseball: What 109 years of statistics reveal

► An archival design was employed, accounting for 109 years of baseball statistics. ► Theory on pressure performance in sport was applied to inspire hypotheses. ► Individual- and team-level statistics were analyzed across years. ► Pitching statistics remain consistent across individuals from season to postseason. ► From 1995-2011, better regular season pitching predicted team postseason success.