March 17, 2014

What is the best possible season a player could have?: "Our superhuman player is only 20 wins better than Danny Worth, and getting to that superhuman player was pretty difficult. This makes you think about how small the difference is between terrible and great in baseball and why the games are so entertaining. Even the worst teams manage to win and the best teams manage to lose, and this illustrates why that's the case."

posted by yerfatma to baseball at 04:42 PM - 5 comments

That was a fascinating (if stat-heavy) article.

posted by Bonkers at 11:03 PM on March 17, 2014

I know this was about a single player, but to show the difference between greatness and bottom feeders, if a team goes 4-3 every week they'll finish with 92-93 wins and probably make the playoffs. If that same team goes 3-4 each week they'll lose 92-93 games and get their manager fired, etc. It's amazing to think that the difference is that minimal that one game out of every seven makes that big of a difference.

posted by jagsnumberone at 04:15 AM on March 18, 2014

It's amazing to think that the difference is that minimal that one game out of every seven makes that big of a difference.

That is the team version of this quote from "Bull Durham".

Know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It's 25 hits. 25 hits in 500 at bats is 50 points, okay? There's 6 months in a season, that's about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week - just one - a gorp... you get a groundball, you get a groundball with eyes... you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week... and you're in Yankee Stadium. -- Crash Davis

posted by grum@work at 08:19 AM on March 18, 2014

I know this was about a single player, but to show the difference between greatness and bottom feeders, if a team goes 4-3 every week they'll finish with 92-93 wins and probably make the playoffs. If that same team goes 3-4 each week they'll lose 92-93 games and get their manager fired, etc. It's amazing to think that the difference is that minimal that one game out of every seven makes that big of a difference.

I've always been impressed by how low the spread is between great teams and horrible teams in baseball -- the best 162-game record was the 2001 Mariners, who crushed out 116 wins for a .716. Five NFL teams and two NBA teams beat that percentage last season. The worst 162-game record was the 2003 Tigers, with a pitiful .265; better than seven NFL teams and two NBA teams last year. Even if you take out the NFL with its tenfold fewer games, imagine a baseball equivalent of the 1995-96 Bulls -- they'd win a hundred and forty-two games. The 1972-73 76ers would have won just eighteen, and that's rounding up.

posted by Etrigan at 02:21 PM on March 18, 2014

In baseball, inventing a player who makes Trout look like a scrub can only swing 12% of the season compared to someone you could find in AAA.

Incredible...

posted by DraftSharksFF at 03:42 PM on March 20, 2014

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