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John Dewan's Stat of the Week
Can the Bears overcome the odds?
December 23, 2008 This week's Stat of the Week is about overcoming the odds. The Chicago Bears entered the weekend with a slim-to-none chance of making the playoffs. After the weekend's games, including last night's incredible come-from-behind victory by the Bears over Green Bay, every single game the Bears could need to make the playoffs went [...]
What is it with Chad Bradford anyways?
December 11, 2008 Chad Bradford was one of the poster boys for Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, a book set in the 2002 Major League Baseball season. In the book, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane considered Bradford a bargain, good value for his pay. Since that season, [...]
The best defense of all time?
December 21, 2005 The Chicago Bears defense this year has been incredible. The question is: how do they compare against the best defenses of all time? One way to measure this is to look at their points allowed and compare it to the second best defense in the league. For example, the 2005 Bears have allowed [...]
What's so magic about 100 pitches?
November 23, 2005 When Ozzie Guillen showed the baseball world in the playoffs that it's OK to keep starting pitchers in for the whole game, I was rejoicing because he was providing some evidence for my theory that today's managers tend to baby their starters. I believe that pitchers get stronger by pitching longer into [...]
Did the White Sox win because of "Small-Ball"?(A Reprise)
November 02, 2005 Back in our June 16th Stat of the Week, we gave the majority of the credit to the pitching staff for the winning ways of the Chicago White Sox. But we also gave some credit to small-ball because the White Sox were avoiding as many low-scoring games as they had the previous season, [...]
How do the 2005 White Sox compare to the last World Series team in Chicago?
September 01, 2005 Despite two teams in the Windy City, you have to go back a long way to find a World Series team. The 1959 Chicago White Sox were known as the Go-Go Sox. Pitching, speed and defense were their trademarks. How does the 2005 team compare? 1959 White [...]
Does hitting lots of HR mean your average HR distance is long?
August 11, 2005 One of the most popular (and easiest to find) leaderboards is HR leaders. But that combines HR in hitter’s parks, pitcher’s parks, and everything in between. Baseball Info Solutions collects the HR distance as well. The Bill James Handbook 2006 plans to add a bunch of new leaderboards and one of them is [...]
How do major league hitters fare against curveballs?
September 22, 2005 The short answer—not too well. Looking at the in-depth data from Baseball Info Solutions on all batters in Major League Baseball in 2005, they hit .285 when they put a fastball in play, bit only .221 on curveballs. The slugging percentage difference is even greater—.447 vs. .343. MLB Hitters—2005 [...]
Are there fewer HRs since steroid testing began?
June 30, 2005 Before 2005, the percentage of home runs per AB was increasing. Through games of Wednesday, June 29, 2005, that percentage is at a four year low, albeit only slightly lower than 2002 and 2003. Year HR/AB 2005 3.00% 2004 3.26% 2003 [...]
Does two-out hitting really mean anything?
June 09, 2005 You hear the stat all the time. "Aaron Rowand is hitting .474 with runners in scoring position and two outs." Is this a worthwhile stat? When looking at baseball statistics I look for three things: 1) Does it measure a skill? 2) Is it interesting? [...]