Beyond the Box Score: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
Around SBN: Steve McNair Found Shot to Death


User Tools

We use numbers and stuff.
Community Guidelines
Start posting on Beyond the Box Score »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

More great SBN Blogs

Baseball

Football

Basketball

College

Hockey

Soccer

General

Subscribe to BtB via Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

BtB Goes Social

BtB on Facebook

BtB_Sky on Twitter


BtB Ranked Second Best Sports Blog By Wikio

Wkio sent me an email allowing me to share their new sports blog rankings a day early. We're number two! The rankings are based on number and source of incoming links. In case you haven't figured it out yet, one of my goals for BtB is to build on the community we already have, adding people who find us via one of all those links. If you have any ideas, definitely let me know.

1Deadspin2Beyond the Boxscore3MLB Trade Rumors4TrueHoop5The Big Lead6The LoHud Yankees Blog7MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com8MetsBlog9Kissing Suzy Kolber10AstrosDaily.com's Astrowire11EDSBS12Minor League Ball13Mile High Report14Baseball Analysts15River Ave. Blues16Draft Express17Stampede Blue18Blazers Edge19Bleeding Green Nation20Sactown Royalty Ranking by Wikio.

comment about 16 hours ago Limes_125_tiny Sky Kalkman comment 7 comments 0 recs

Daily Box Score 7/4: As American as Baseball

Today, we celebrate the independence of the United States of America. Mind you, July 4th was not the day upon which the vote was taken to sever all ties with Britain (that was July 2nd, and the vote was 12-0-1), but rather the day that the language of the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted. Baseball was a ways off yet, but something about baseball has always seemed quintessentially democratic. In the words of Don DeLillo, baseball has a

democratic clamor, a history of sweat and play on sun-dazed afternoons, an openness of form that makes the game a kind of welcome to my country.

Today's box score celebrates the intertwining of the United States and baseball.

Continue reading this post »

0 comments | 0 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

Graph of the Day: UZR Comparisons for 2008 NL Playoff Teams

Here is a quick look at the last season's four NL playoff teams comparing their UZR numbers.  First here are the team totals:

Team Total
Phillies 69.8
Brewers 13.9
Cubs 13
Dodgers -35.9

 

As it can be seen from for the chart, the Philies were by far the best team with the Brewers and Cubs fairly equal and the Dodgers well off the mark.  The Phillies averaged 0.65 less runs allowed per game than the Dodgers.

Here is a positional look at each team's positional values:

Phillies_medium

Continue reading this post »

2 comments | 1 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

Why it Matters: Umpires, Computers, Wins, and Dollars

 

Today, I am not very happy.  I'm not happy because my team, the Milwaukee Brewers, lost a game to the Chicago Cubs, our hated rivals, on a walk-off walk.  I'm not happy, because my team lost on this pitch, ball 4 to Jake Fox.

Ballfoureh2_medium

via i261.photobucket.com

Continue reading this post »

67 comments | 2 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

BtB Poor Man's Projected Season Standings as of July 3, 2009

Woo! Where are we heading? Up the standings? That's right! (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Woo! Where are we heading? Up the standings? That's right! (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Welcome to this holiday edition of the BtB Poor Man's Projected Season Standings. 

This week we see a lot more movement than in previous weeks with the brightest fireworks coming from the Chicago White Sox who vaulted seven wins from last Friday, and solidly into second place in the AL Central.

The Yankees jump four wins courtesy of their seven game win streak and overall better performance, while the Jays went four wins the other direction.  The AL East is still a dogfight with three teams between 95 and 97 wins.  If it stays close throughout it's going to be one heck of a September.

The Angels and Brewers take back the top spots they lost last week and are joined by new arrival Philadelphia who took advantage of the slumping Mets (who dropped five games).

In the NL West, the Dodgers dropped below 100 projected wins for the first time in this series, while the Giants continue their climb - reaching .500.  The division houses the two best teams right now in LA and Colorado, with San Francisco among the other top teams.

Full standings after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

0 comments | 0 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

Daily Box Score 7/3: Bees, Bans, and the Great Convergence

Do we live in the era of the Great Convergence? The age-old battle between scouts and stat-heads seems to be subsiding, little by little. The latest evidence of the shrinking divide are Ned Colletti's comments on a sports radio station:

I think the sabermetrics gets you interested. I think it gives you a chance to seek more information on somebody. But I’d have a hard time trading for a player or drafting a player that I really didn’t know what was inside his head and inside his heart and how he thought and how his priorities were set up and if he aspired for greatness and was willing to sacrifice. I’m not sure you’re going to get that off a stat sheet. But the numbers do tell part of the story.

Ok, perhaps I've spoken too soon. But maybe we're getting closer.

Continue reading this post »

0 comments | 0 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

Graph of the Day: Aroldis Chapman's Fastball


Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman raised eyebrows around the baseball world this spring.  Pitching for the Cuban team in the World Baseball Classic, Chapman flashed an incredible fastball and some nasty secondary stuff, despite some poor results (6.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 K, 4 BB).  Those who hadn't noticed Chapman prior to this year's classic were certainly struck when he hit 100 MPH on the gun in his start against Japan at Petco Park.  Now, at age 21, he may be the most prized prospect in the world.  Unfortunately, his aforementioned WBC appearance is all we have in the Pitch F/X database on him.  Brooks Baseball's WBC database has Chapman's average fastball at 93.47 MPH, but thanks to Harry's great work on identifying pitches, we can throw out some pitches that were either splitters or changeups and come closer to how fast his actual fastball darts to the plate.  Harry's data has the average Aroldis Chapman fastball at 94.6 MPH.  Here's how it stacks up to Major League starters.

Aroldischapman_medium

Continue reading this post »

8 comments | 0 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

Jason Hammel Finds Control With Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies starter Jason Hammel follows through on a delivery against the San Diego Padres in the first inning of a baseball game in Denver on Monday, April 27, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

2 months ago: Colorado Rockies starter Jason Hammel follows through on a delivery against the San Diego Padres in the first inning of a baseball game in Denver on Monday, April 27, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The Colorado Rockies were one of the best teams in June. One reason for that was Jason Hammel just happened to be one of the major's best pitchers in the month. The former Tampa Bay Rays swingman is now a staple in the Rockies rotation. Hammel went 4-0 with a 3.41 ERA in five June starts. His FIP was an even better 3.00.

Even with above average stuff, Hammel hasn't racked up many K's. His K/9 for the season is a meh 6.25, but improved control has put his K/BB at nearly 3.0 (2.95). After his lastest outing, a complete game five-hit one-run performance (loss), he has been worth 1.9 wins above replacement this year.

Continue reading this post »

1 comment | 0 recs | Share on Facebook Digg!

More Posts from Beyond the Box Score

Explore Full Archive Next Page


FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

P1_iannetta_small
Matt Herges: The reason we look at peripherals
Small
SLG and Speed
Small
Interleague Attendance Nonsense
Limes_125_small
A Note About Becoming a BtB Author: Contributing to the Community Helps
Small
Is Adrian Beltre underrated...?
Limes_125_small
How Do You Like the New Daily Link Roundup Posts?
Stlouiscardinals_small
Depth Charts Help
Zorilla_small
How Do You Measure a Pitching Coach?
Limes_125_small
Looking For SQL & Tech Geek Help For Collaborative Projects
Small
When do MLBers get paid...?

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

There's your human element.  Why, when the technology is readily available, are humans still calling balls and strikes?
Fire Jim Leyland: Fu-Te Ni Follow Up; Concern Over Big Three?
Rany Gets Banned By the Royals
Contract Retrospective: Vernon Wells' 7-year, $126 Million Contract
The Rockets are innovative
Flip Flop Fly Ball
Yanks Considered Trading Rivera For Wells In '95: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com
Bullpen Usuage Charts for Last 5 days
MiLB Game of the Week
Drive Mechanics Looks at Chris Perez's Mechanics and Pitch F/X numbers

Post_icon New FanShot All FanShots Carrot-mini

Most Commented

BtB_Sky on Twitter


Managers

Mos-def-the-ecstatic_small R.J. Anderson

Limes_125_small Sky Kalkman

Editors

Rawlings_baseball_bigger_small Dan Turkenkopf

Face_small Harry Pavlidis

770insig_small Jeff Zimmerman (TucsonRoyal)

Rickstache_small erik

Authors

Jinaz-reds-avatar_small JinAZ

Hms_surprise_small Graham

Wisc19cropped2_small jhmoore

Raysring1_small Tommy Rancel

E52205a2_small tbsmkdn

Official Partner of Yahoo! Sports