Baseball Basics for Brits Volume 5. Numbers and Statistics This volume of Baseball Basics for Brits provides an introduction to the numbers and statistics you will encounter while watching ballgames or reading about the sport. This includes: ● Team statistics e.g. win-loss record and winning percentage ● 'Game' statistics e.g. Line scores and Box scores ● Standard statistics for batters, base runners, pitchers and fielders ● An introduction to advanced statistical analysis, fantasy baseball stats and historical stats. Statistics are important in all sports. A striker's the team's win-loss record. In the above value is weighed by the number of goals he example, the Braves have won 40 games and scores just as a kicker in rugby is judged on his lost 34. The win-loss record is pronounced by conversion success rate. Cricketers are replacing the dash with "and", so an announcer subjected to even more statistical scrutiny. A would state that "the Atlanta Braves are forty batsman lives and dies by his average along and thirty-four on the season". with the number of fifties and hundreds he has scored (and also his strike rate in the shorter The win-loss record is normally accompanied version of the game). A bowler is assessed by by the team's winning percentage, which the number of wickets he takes, how many runs shows what percentage of the team's games they he concedes per over and his strike rate. have won. In baseball, percentages are very rarely written in the standard way you would But the importance of statistics even in cricket expect (e.g. 57%). Instead, they are written as pales in comparison to the integral role they three digit numbers preceded by a decimal play in baseball, whether from the perspective point. Therefore, Atlanta's winning percentage of a player, manager, general manager or fan. in this example would be written as .571 and would be pronounced as "five seven one". If Team statistics the percentage was .570, it would be Once the season has got under way, you will pronounced as " five seventy". often find a team's name being followed in brackets by two numbers. For example: The first sign to respectability for a team is to Atlanta Braves (40-34). The numbers represent win as many games as you lose, finishing 81-81 and with a .500 winning percentage. This Volume 5, Version 1 1 www.baseballgb.co.uk figure is pronounced as "five hundred" and as the "top half of the inning" and the "bottom the season draws to a close you will often hear half of the inning". Note that the home team some of the also-rans stating that they at least always bats in the bottom half. want to "reach five hundred". A team with a winning percentage above .500 is said to have a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E "winning record", whereas a team below .500 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 0 has a "losing record". Oakland 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 X 5 9 1 There are no draws (or "ties" as The above line score is from 26 March 2008, Americans call them) in MLB and, as a when the Boston Red Sox faced the Oakland result, teams do not play to win points; Athletics in the second game of the 2008 therefore teams can solely be judged on regular season. The column R (Runs) shows how many games they have won or lost. the final score: the A's won five runs to one. In MLB, each team plays 162 regular season games. Even an excellent team The 'X' in Oakland's ninth inning (the 'bottom' that wins one hundred games will still of the inning) denotes that they did not come up lose sixty-two times over the course of to bat. When the home team is in the lead in the the season. middle of the ninth inning (i.e. after the road team has had their final chance to score runs in the top of the inning), the game is over. Game statistics and information Box scores Scores Reading box scores has been a daily ritual of Baseball scores are published in the standard millions of baseball fans for over a century. "Boston Red Sox 1 – 5 Oakland Athletics" They provide a statistical account of a game in a format; however the teams are invariably stated table form. The box score is effectively split in the opposite order to the British way. into two, with the batting information first, Whereas in Britain the above scoreline would followed by the pitching stats. indicate that the game was played in Boston, in the American method the 'away' team (or 'road' For the offense, a team's batting lineup team) is stated first. The fixture would be (including any mid-game substitutions) is listed referred to as "Boston at Oakland"; therefore in the left hand column. Each player's row will the score is listed in that order. tell you what they did during the game: which fielding position they played, how may hits they Only in the most limited account of the game got, how many runs they scored etc. There is a (e.g. the sort you would find in a British separate table for each team's offense, followed newspaper) would the score be recorded in such by any relevant additional information (details a bare fashion. A baseball game is typically of any stolen bases etc). recorded in two ways: a line score and a box score. The process is then replicated for the two teams' pitchers. This will list the pitchers in the order Line scores in which they pitched, with details on how A line score records the number of runs each many innings they pitched, how many hits they team scored in their half of each inning, as well gave up, how many runs/earned runs they as the final score, the amount of hits each team allowed etc. accumulated and the number of errors they committed. Box scores are similar to the scorecards you will see in cricket. Here, the batsmen are listed Looking at a line score helps to explain why in their correct batting order alongside details people refer to each inning as being split into such as how many runs they scored, how many Volume 5, Version 1 2 www.baseballgb.co.uk balls they faced, how many fours/sixes they hit he has a batting average of .300. Hitting 'three etc. The bowlers' performances will be hundred' (as it is pronounced) is the mark of a recorded in the same way, showing how many very good hitter, .270 is about average, .250 or overs they bowled, how many runs they below is poor, .400 is the holy grail that hasn't conceded, how many maidens they bowled, been reached since Ted Williams hit .4057 in how many wickets they took, their economy 1941. rate etc. Batting average is seen by many as the main This similarity is more than just a judge of a hitter's ability and the player with the mere coincidence. Henry Chadwick, best batting average in each league at the end of the man enshrined in the baseball the season is said to have won the “batting hall of fame as “the inventor of the title”. However it is something of a box score”, was born in Exeter, controversial stat among some stat fans who England in 1824. He was an dispute the idea that it is the best way to assess incredibly influential figure in a hitter's contribution. The main limitations baseball during the second half of with the stat are that it doesn't take into account the nineteenth century after he the ways a batter can contribute to the offense moved to the States. His cricketing other than by getting a hit (e.g. via a walk or a roots undoubtedly helped shape hit by pitch etc) or what sort of hits are being some of his thinking and are accumulated (singles, doubles, triples or home apparent in his lasting legacy on the runs). Consequently you will often see the game. AVG listed alongside two additional numbers that specifically take these factors into account: On-base percentage and Slugging Percentage. A full example of a box score is provided at the end of this volume in Appendix A. On-base percentage (OBP) Really an average rather than a percentage (you will sometimes see it referred to as on-base Player Statistics average) a player's on-base percentage shows how frequently a player gets on base, whether Box scores introduce us to the significant world that's via a hit, a walk or a hit-by-pitch. While . of player stats. There are a vast amount of 300 is the key watermark for batting average, . different statistics that record every aspect of a 400 is the equivalent mark for OBP. player's performance (both positive and negative). They can be broken down into Players with a good on-base percentage will batting statistics, base running statistics, generally be more patient hitters who are pitching statistics and fielding statistics. We prepared to take their share of walks. will take each category in turn, looking at the main statistics you will encounter and explaining any relevant 'scoring rules' as we go. The actual equation for OBP is: Batting Statistics (No. of Hits + No. of Walks + No. of HBPs) (No. of At-bats + No.