There is a certain amount of debate in baseball about how important fielding is. Old school baseball people usually consider fielding to be the utmost importance, while many sabermatricians dismiss it all together (or at least dismiss stats like errors and fielding percentage). So I wanted to look at the past several years in the American League and see if there is any kind of correlation between fielding percentage and wins. In 2011 the rankings were: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | Tampa Bay 91 wins |
2 | Chicago Sox 79 wins |
3 | LA Angels 86 wins |
4 | Boston 90 wins |
5 | Kansas City 71 wins |
6 | NY Yankees 97 wins |
7 | Detroit 95 wins |
8 | Toronto 81 wins |
9 | Cleveland 80 wins |
10 | Seattle 67 wins |
11 | Baltimore 69 wins |
12 | Texas 96 wins |
13 | Minnesota 63 wins |
14 | Oakland 74 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | NY Yankees 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 | Minnesota 94 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 | Tampa Bay 96 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 | Toronto 85 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | Oakland 81 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 | Chicago Sox 88 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 | Baltimore 66 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 | Texas 90 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | Detroit 81 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | Cleveland 69 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 | Seattle 61 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Boston 89 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | LA Angels 80 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | Kansas City 67 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2009:
1 | Toronto 75 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 | Minnesota 87 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 | Boston 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 | LA Angels 97 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | NY Yankees 103 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 | Detroit 86 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 | Baltimore 64 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 | Cleveland 65 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | Tampa Bay 84 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | Oakland 75 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 | Seattle 85 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Texas 87 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | Chicago Sox 79 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | Kansas City 65 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008:
1 | Toronto 86 wins |
| | | | | |
2 | NY Yankees 89 wins | | | | | | |
3 | Boston 95 wins | | | | | | |
4 | LA Angels 100 wins | | | | | | |
5 | Tampa Bay 97 wins | | | | | |
|
6 | Cleveland 81 wins | | | | | | |
7 | Kansas City 75 wins | | | | | | |
8 | Seattle 61 wins | | | | | | |
9 | Oakland 75 wins | | | | | | |
10 | Baltimore 68 wins | | | | | | |
11 | Chicago Sox 89 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Minnesota 88 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | Detroit 74 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | Texas 79 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2007:
1 | Baltimore 69 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 | Boston 96 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 | NY Yankees 94 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 | Oakland 76 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | Seattle 88 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 | Cleveland 97 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 | Minnesota 79 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 | Toronto 83 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | Detroit 88 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | LA Angels 94 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 | Kansas City 69 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Chicago Sox 72 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | Tampa Bay 66 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | Texas 75 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2006: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | Boston 86 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 | Minnesota 96 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 | Oakland 93 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 | Seattle 78 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | Chicago Sox 90 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6 | Kansas City 62 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 | Texas 80 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 | Toronto 87 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | Baltimore 70 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | NY Yankees 97 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 | Detroit 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Tampa Bay 61 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | Cleveland 78 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | LA Angels 89 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2005:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | Seattle 69 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 | LA Angels 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 | Oakland 88 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 | Chicago Sox 99 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 | NY Yankees | 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
6 | Toronto 85 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 | Minnesota 83 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 | Cleveland 93 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | Baltimore 74 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | Texas 79 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 | Boston 95 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | Detroit 71 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | Tampa Bay 67 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | Kansas City 56 wins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So is there any correlation? No team that had the worst fielding percentage in the American League had 90 wins in this time (although the Angels had 89 in 06). The '06 Angels were the only team in this period who had the worst fielding percentage and a winning record. However, 3 times the team with the best fielding percentage had a losing record. The team with the worst record in the league averaged being about 11th in fielding percentage and was never better than 7th. The team with the best record in the American League averaged being about 4th in fielding percentage, with no team leading in both fielding percentage and wins. If one looks at one case study, Tampa Bay, one notices that when they were a bad team 05-07, they were near the bottom of the league in fielding percentage. When they have been been good 08, '10-11, they have been around the top in the league (being the best in 2011). When they were mediocre in 2009, they were in the bottom half. A relatively similar story can be told about the Minnesota Twins, while the Yankees and Rangers seem to be exceptions. There does seem to be a correlation between fielding percentage and wins, but there are exceptions and it is not absolute. It does seem to be a general rule, at least recently in the American League, that the better fielding percentage usually leads to better win percentage. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment