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Friday, April 15, 2016

Lies, damned lies, statistics 2016

You no doubt recall that in 2015, the Yankees trailed only the Blue Jays across MLB in terms of average runs scored per game.

This year, we are currently 7th, but it's early yet. However, the other day, when our average was a wee bit higher, ESPN of course noted in its MLB home page blurb that the Yankees had lost even with a then-leading (I think) 6+ runs per game average.

This has got to be the dumbest statistic in baseball. Anyone who suffered through our 2015 season would know that. While it may say something about a team like Toronto, which scores a fairly high amount of runs with fairly high consistency, it takes the Yankees to demonstrate why it more generally means as much as Trump saying he will support whoever the Republican nominee happens to be.


Look at the top 10 teams in terms of avg. runs scored so far this season. Note the season number versus the last three games. Nobody.... NOBODY...in the top 10 shows anything like our inconsistency. (Only LA is even relatively close.) And given last year, I'm betting we maintain that throughout the season. We're like the proverbial broken clock that's right twice a day. Our broken team scores a jazillion runs twice a month (or whatever), and the rest of the time they can't scrape together more than a few hits and even fewer runs. This is a recipe for mediocrity in W-L record.

Sure, we'll have our good stretches where we suddenly put up double digits twice in a week, when the stars align and Jupiter is in Mars and A-Rod isn't in the terlet. 

For the record, our run production so far has been 3, 16, 8, 0, 8, 3, 2 and 2. Good for a 5.25 average!! Whoo. Man, we are fearsome...on occasion.

And we're 4-4. Pitching has allowed us to win one game where we didn't score 8 or more runs. But like last year, our hurlers have to go out there and assume they need to hold the other guys to 2 runs, probably less, to notch a W. I'm not the first guy to bring this up, but that doesn't really bode very well, now, do it?

5 comments:

KD said...

mean vs. median.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


In the insurance industry, when a point-headed actuary becomes too embroiled in his analysis and starts spouting nonsense backed up by his numbers, his fellow pointy-headed actuaries remind him that it's possible to drown in a river where the water is 1" deep, on average.

In other words, I completely agree that this is a completely meaningless statistic. As just one famous example, the Yankees scored more runs than the Pirates in the 1960 World Series. Have you ever seen a clip from that series that doesn't involve Bill Mazeroski's final at bat?

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU JOHN M.....I HAVE BEEN FEELING LIKE THE INCREDIBLE HULK THE LAST FEW YEARS UP TO NOW....READY TO EXPLODE AND RIP OUT OF MY CLOTHES EVERY TIME I HEAR A MEDIA MOGUL (OR BRIAN CASHMAN), SAY, "THE YANKEES DON'T NEED ANY HITTING...THEY HAVE PLENTY OF IT." ......OBVIOUSLY, THEY ARE NOT WATCHING EVERY SINGLE GAME OR ELSE THEY WOULD KNOW THE TRUTH.....THE QUESTION I HAVE IS: ... IS IT POSSIBLE BRIAN CASHMAN IS NOT WATCHING EVERY GAME?....I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE HE IS, WHEN HE INSISTS THE YANKS ARE FINE WITH THE BATS AS HE HAS THE LAST 4 - 5 YEARS...... OR IS IT THAT CASHMAN IS SUCH A "NUMBERS JUNKIE" THAT HE IS TOTALLY BLIND TO WHAT REALLY IS HAPPENING....I ACTUALLY THINK THAT THIS IS THE CASE...CASHMAN IS SOLELY LOOKING AT THE STATS AND LIKE A ROBOT, DOES NOT HAVE HIS FINGER ON THE PULSE OF WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS TEAM.....ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU JOHN M....LET ME PUT A NEW SHIRT ON NOW.....I'VE CALMED DOWN.

el duque said...

We all died somehow, we don't know it, and we are trapped in Yankee hell.

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