Yes my friends, I wasn't joking. The BLOG editions will be few and far between this season I'm sad to say. Hopefully I'll be able to roll with the stats one on a fairly regular basis though. I finally got all the setup stuff done and Mr Conforti is working diligently on the data entry and Mr Chiasson on the upload to the website.
So then what are the these stats? Well, some sit patiently on Sunday morning waiting for this to be published and won't have their coffee until they see it. In fact, they'll even email me in Florida and complain that its not up! Its okay, I'm honoured that anyone notices really. But the point is that people who like these stats, REALLY like them. Then I found out (at this weeks executive meeting) that some people don't even know that we track additional stats other than what's on the league site. That's okay too of course.
These stats aren't necessarily "pretty". I try, but I worry more about content than presentation.
Above is an example of a pretty stat. But its not terribly meaningful, is it? It try and give a little explanation as I go along.
We track, the number of times a player reaches base, number of at bats and number of runs scored. From there we (okay, me) do some supplemental stats. In the coming weeks you'll see that we'll also report in six games segments so if you have a bad start, your hot streak later in the season won't be lost! It won't be lost on me anyway, I watch for these trends. :)
Above is an example of a deceiving stat. See? It looks like its meaningful, but its about cats and therefore stupid. On to real stats. (almost)
Consecutive Games Reaching Base
This is kind of simple. This list simply tracks players who have hit in every game. Right now we have 81 of our 168 players who have accomplished this. When the number of players remaining gets down under 20 I'll start naming them.
To be honest, most people fall off this list because they miss a game, not because they go 0/4 or 0/5. There's not a heck of a lot of shut outs in this league.
Consecutive Games Scoring A Run
Much the same as above with the exception that its harder to stay on this list! We're already down to only 29 players left, so I'll probably start naming them as early as next week.
TEAM STATS
Defense: Things you expect....The Draft Kings leading the league in defense. Things you don't expect, the Grisslies in 11th in defense! So this will feed into other more whole stats later, but I always tend to trust defensive stats a little more than offense.
Offense: Then we have the offense. Things you wouldn't expect? The Grisslies having a hitting team? That's never happened since I've been here. Not like this anyway. More on that later, but with 6 games in its going to get harder to move the needle on team stats.
Power Rankings
I'll admit that this is probably my most favourite little stat. Its pretty simple. Each team is ranked 1 thru 14 in points in the standings; runs scored; runs allowed and Plus/Minus. Their totals in the categories are added together and the lowest total is top of the heap for the week. Not surprisingly, as it addresses all aspects of the league statistically, its a pretty accurate reflection of who's hot.
My read on this is that we have four teams at the top that are cementing a top 6 finish for themselves. Then we have the next 6 teams that haven't quite figured out who they are yet. They're good enough to do well in at least one category, but haven't found consistency yet. Then we have the 4 at the bottom that have found the wrong kind of consistency and have some fixing to do.
Standings
The official league standings can be found at www.tottenhamoldtimers.ca Those ones are the only ones that count, but I'm not a big fan of them as most people know, because they are hockey standings and not baseball standings. There is a reason for that, which is the got forsaken tie. Ties make proper standings difficult. But this is my version of baseball standings.
The differences are very subtle and more accurate in my opinion. Plus the Grisslies tied for 5th is way better than tied for 6th on the league site.
Runs Per Hit
I've been toying with this one for a couple of years, mostly looking for trends. I think I found some.
First, this measures how many hits it takes a team to score a run on average. Not complicated. On average it 2.22 hits to score a run in the league two years ago, then it went down to 2.10 last year. This year through 6 games there is only one team that isn't scoring better than last years league average! And, had they not scored only one run in their opener, everyone would be ahead of pace.
So what does this mean? Offense is up. Dramatically. Plus the hits are bigger. The doubles and triples are cashing multiple runs on a single strike of the ball. We're at 1.93 hits to score a run now across the league.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
These are cut back from previous years. I'm trying to find an amount I can keep up with, so hopefully this is good.
At Bats: Pretty straight forward. Whoever is at the top at the heap at the end of the season will have not missed a game, be on a pretty good offensive club and hit near the top of the order. Dodge, Grisslies and Master Batters are leading the charge with Ryan Feehely getting in for the Tap Masters.
Hits: Sometimes the average guy is also the hits guy. Last season that was the case, but not the two seasons prior. Scotty Barton looks like he's back being Scotty Barton and Jeff Behan is proving that last years sensational rookie campaign was no fluke! This will heat up in the summer when guys start missing a game or two.
Runs: Well Mr. Muirhead is putting his stamp on this category, huh? Barring rain, we'll close off the 1st 6 game segment next week, which it looks like Jerry will win going away. Three Rounders and four Grisslies in the top 10. Yowza.
Most Improved: My favourite individual stat. Cliffy (former Grisslie) is off to a great start as is Craig Escott. Dude closed last year absolutely punishing the ball and it looks like he's started this year the same way. There's lots of other good stories in here to keep an eye on.
Rookies: Who will be this year's Mason, Slipetz or Behan? So for the Grisslies own Manager of Bats is leading all rookies with an .800 average and 20 hits have him in a tie for 7th overall in the entire league! Wow, great start!
Sophomores: Go figure. A Grisslie leads in rookie average and another Grisslie leads in Sophomore average. The Grisslies, like the Tap Masters have 3 second year players and all six (Hollmann, Byran, Ford, Feehely, Bickford and Hodge) have gotten out of the gate well!
