I am a season ticket holder for the Madison Mallards and have become a large fan of the Northwoods league. Particularly this year, when the Mallards have the best offensive team they have had since I’ve been going to the Duck Pond. As a baseball fan in general, I seek out statistics. Stats are an inseparable part of baseball, so much of the game is played around numbers. The problem is that the Northwoods League home site misses important information that mlb.com makes easily available.
On the Northwoods League site there is no elimination number. While not immediately important for MLB clubs (sans the Nationals), this number is important for the Northwoods League. We are heading into our last week of the first half and the winner of the first half makes the playoffs. Given that the south division has a pretty decent playoff race between three teams – you’d think you’d want an indication of where teams stand in that race. The elimination number is that measure for Major League Teams.
The other number that would be nice to know is the expected win/loss record of each of the teams. That is the calculation of a teams win/loss record based on the number of runs scored and the number of runs allowed. This provides some insight into how a teams offensive and defensive performance has contributed to their actual wins and losses. If a team has more wins than you’d expect, that means a team is “over-preforming.” Conversely, a team with less wins than you’d expect is performing below their talent level. Knowing this is crucial during a playoff race (for a fan). If you’re team is under-preforming and is only a few games back – its entirely possible that if you’re team plays at its potential, it could win the race.
Annoyed with the lack of these stats calculated for me, I calculated them myself. Here they are.
If you’re wondering, the elimination number for the Mallards is 4. (A combination of four Mallard losses and Eau Claire Wins eliminate the Mallards from the first season crown). Madison has hope though, Eau Claire has 10 games to go to reach the 33 game mark. I am not really sure how that works when a rain out game from the “first half” is rescheduled later. Do you count the first 33 games? Or do you count the games that are supposed to be made up later? If some one could enlighten me, that would be great. For now, with the information calculated, I can just wonder contently.
