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2014 Cubs: A Bat Away From Normal

In theory by myles21 Comments

Any baseball fan likely realizes that the game is fundamentally different in 2013 than it was in, say, 1999 (the height of the "We Care About Steroids" era). In 1999, the league wOBA was .341; in 2013, it's .313. That's a titanic difference. Walks are at a 20-year low, and strikeouts this year are only lower than last year (and …

Anatomy of an Ace Pitcher

In Commentary And Analysis, theory by myles20 Comments

Now that the trade deadline is almost here, baseball fans are excited to see who might be dealt, and what prospect might be had. Invariably, people are looking for the "impact bat" or the "ace pitcher." When we talk about an ace, though, people can have different definitions of the word. For some people, it might just be the best …

Cubs Games Scores #1 (April 2013)

In Commentary And Analysis, theory by myles32 Comments

At the beginning of the season, I made a post with a new take on Game Score. That was the DiPS Game Score, found here. Tom Tango, a consultant for the Cubs, did similar work along these lines. He showed up in the comments (I still can't believe how cool that is, by the way) and pointed me towards his …

Better Know a Statistic: (K-BB)/PA

In Commentary And Analysis, theory by myles10 Comments

I have a confession to make.  When I first fell headlong into baseball analysis, I kind of took K/BB as my pet statistic. I loved how it was essentially "luckless": the only things the pitcher couldn't control was the discipline of the batter and the strike zone of the umpire, the two things he can only understand (but never master). …