Posted by Dave Studeman
The Yankees have set the record for the greatest Pythagorean Variance by a playoff-qualifying team. The Pythagorean Variance is just a fancy name for a comparison between a teams win/losses and runs scored/runs allowed. The Yankees scored 897 runs and allowed 808 runs. Normally, this would result in about 89 wins, but the Yankees won 101 games.
As we discussed last week, the previous record for largest Pythagorean Variance by a postseason-bound team was 11, by the Cincinnati Reds in 1970. The Reds won the NL Championship over the Pittsburgh Pirates, but lost the World Series to a great Baltimore Orioles team.
Actually, I doubt this means much of anything for postseason play. But Yankee fans should be a bit worried about next year -- teams that typically overperform their Pythagorean Variance one year are likely to find it much closer to zero the next.
