American League Team Graphs
5/4/2003
Text Box: How to Read this Graph This graph highlights each team's runs scored and allowed per game, adjusted for park factors. Teams on the right side of the graph have strong offenses; teams on the top of the graph have strong defenses (pitching and fielding). The three isobars (dotted lines) represent winning percentages of .400, .500 and .600. Teams can be group according to their position relative to the isobars. Teams in the upper left of each group have stronger defenses, while teams in the lower right have stronger offenses. Though runs scored and allowed are closely related to wins and losses, they are not perfect predictors of wins. The table to the right of the graph lists the number of wins each team has achieved, relative to the number of wins that would be expected, based on actual runs scored and allowed.
Team Wins +/-
ANA -2.04
BAL 0.24
BOS 3.54
CHA -0.36
CLE -1.72
DET -1.84
KCA 1.85
MIN 0.84
NYA 1.40
OAK -0.97
SEA -0.06
TBA 0.04
TEX 0.22
TOR -0.70
Text Box: Commentary This is why I love graphs. You can say that the Yankees are way better than the Tigers, but this graph lets you SEE it. The disparity between the two teams is staggering. The Tigers don't have a bad defense, but their offense is horrendous. This chart also indicates that Boston isn't quite as good as they seem. Their 8-1 record in one-run games is a giveaway. The other three elite teams, Royals, A's and Mariners, are all being led by their defense.
Text Box: How to Read this Graph This graph lays out the two basic offensive components of each team: getting on base and slugging. Teams to the right have higher On Base Percentages, and teams on the toward the top have higher slugging percentages. The two dotted lines represent the league average for each category. The teams in the upper right quadrant are the best offensive teams, and the teams in the lower left quadrant are the worst. Although these two components are highly related to actual runs scored, they are not perfect predictors. The table to the right of the graph lists the number of runs scored per game above or below the predicted number of runs scored. This table is created using David Smyth's Base Runs formula.
Team Runs +/-
ANA 0.31
BAL 0.53
BOS 0.29
CHA -0.21
CLE -0.69
DET 0.23
KCA -0.68
MIN -0.01
NYA -0.27
OAK 0.06
SEA 0.40
TBA 0.17
TEX -0.92
TOR 0.13
Text Box: Commentary Talk about graphic disparity. Sheesh. Really, the Tigers throw this graph off altogether. It's hard to pick out the dynamics among the other AL teams. Suffice to say that the Yankees' OBP goes far beyond every other team; their SLG, while it leads the league too, is closer to the pack. Oakland, for all of the publicity around Billy Beane, is below average in OBP. Texas has had outstanding offensive elements, but they haven't put the elements together well, averaging almost a full run a game below what they "should" be.
Text Box: How to Read this Graph This graph highlights the two key, relatively independent functions of defense: pitching and fielding. The horizontal axis plots Tango Tiger's Fielding Independent Runs (FIP), which are a function of the things a pitcher controls: strikeouts, walks and home runs. Teams to the right have better pitching. The vertical axis plots the Defensive Efficiency Ratio (DER) of each team. This is a measure of the percent of balls hit inside the park that the defense actually turns into an out. The dotted lines represent league averages. Teams in the upper right quadrant have good pitching and fielding; in the lower right good pitching/worse fielding; in the upper left good fielding/worse pitching and the lower left is pretty poor pitching and fielding. Some parks are more spacious, have wider foul territory or Astroturf. All of these things have an impact on DER. The table to the right of the graph lists the impact of each park. You would have to add or subtract each number to normalize DER by team.
Team DER +/-
ANA 0.002
BAL -0.007
BOS 0.011
CHA -0.004
CLE 0.003
DET -0.001
KCA 0.009
MIN 0.007
NYA -0.007
OAK -0.006
SEA -0.006
TBA 0.001
TEX 0.003
TOR 0.002
Text Box: Commentary At last, the Yankees have a weakness: their fielding is one of the worst in the league. Of course, you can't tell due to their outstanding pitching. The fielding for Oakland and Minnesota, meanwhile, has been excellent. It's been overlooked that the HumpDome isn't exactly a fielders' paradise, which makes the Twins' performance even more remarkable. Kansas City has profited from both strong pitching and fielding. This especially impressive given the fact that Royals Stadium is a lousy park for pitchers (and fielders). Tampa Bay's defense isn't too bad. Unfortunately, their pitching stinks.