I think playoff appearances and overall w/l record is a pretty decent way to gauge if a team's strategy is working. Baseball playoffs are so random. Look at the Dodgers. 8 straight appearances and the only year they won it was the Covid year. That's probably not indicative of their true talent level. If you're running a small market team, and consistently winning enough games to compete and make the playoffs, you're doing something right. Playoff baseball is weird. I'm not saying you shouldn't think about how baseball is played in the playoffs when you build your roster, but it's just not indicative of overall talent level. 5 and 7 game series don't normalize out at all. 2-3-4 guys have a cold snap at the wrong time or one Sean Marcum has a dead arm or your manager decides to start Mark Kotsay in CF for some reason, and that's all it takes in a short series.