Posted by Dave Studeman
As the Twins and White Sox prepare to battle it out for the American League Central title tonight, I thought you might appreciate this little graph of how teams score. I first introduced this graph format in this article (quick tip: circle sizes are based on number of home runs hit), and it's still one of my favorites.
Take a look...
The Twins and White Sox are very different. The Twins excel at getting men on base and batting them in (which is why they're in the upper right-hand portion of the graph). The Sox, on the other hand, are on the left-hand side of the graph. This means they have had the least at bats with runners in scoring position of any team in the league. On the other hand, the large circle indicates that they hit home runs. Lots and lots of home runs.
Looking for a sign that the Rays will be even better next year? They had the worst batting average with runners in scoring position this year. That will almost certainly improve next year.
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.
