Season is 1/10th done. Let's check OPS+ plus ERA+

Because not only did the Giants dominate the Rockies on the road but SDP lost a 1-0 game in 10 innings. So awesome to have that kind of garbage behind us—mostly.

Wow, the Cards and Reds have good offenses.

Any interest in doing this for AL teams too?

On the one hand, this stat makes a lot of common sense. On the other hand, Goofus came up with it.

OPS+ () ERA = OPERAS!

Very dramatic.

then exploded vs. the DBacks and Dodgers. Teehee!

If you are using the mean, it seems like the average is being dragged down overly much by the trash in LA and NY.

The median average is 202.5, which draws the line right in between Atlanta and Pittsburgh, which seems like a better place for the league average to reside. It’s just my opinion, but the Padres seem like a below average team.

By arcane means I won’t bother anyone with, I reckon that those numbers divided by 2.3 approximate probable seasonal wins. That would make this for the NL West, just by the numbers as they stand:

COL: 97
SFO: 96
SDG: 86
ARI: 80
LAD: 73

Those are—especially for a number so early on—pretty decent (based on my own projections). The only one I see changing a lot is Arizona, who will probably be around 87 or so. (As posted the other day, I see SFO finishing 1 game ahead of COL, which is obviously within the statistical-noise zone.)

we need to by playing at least A-

GO GIANTS

Especially because I really do like this idea, but I don’t think ERA+ works for this. Since ERA+ uses a different denominator from OPS+ (and the other adjusted stats) – player instead of league – a simple addition doesn’t correctly evaluate ERA’s contribution to the PlusPlus stat. I don’t know if it’s overrating or underrating, but I’m pretty sure it’s not strictly correct either way.

I feel like this is a minor difference (much like the OPS vs. wOBA debate, where wOBA comes out slightly better but OPS is almost as good and a much easier calculation given OBP and SLG), but still one worth noting, especially for a pitching-heavy team like the Giants and much of their competition. It’s still an interesting stat, though, and I don’t expect you to produce something that is statistically perfect not being a sabremetrician and all (I think). It’d be nice if WAR had the relative-to-league element like this instead of just being an absolute number.

It looks as if historically it’s closer to just about 2 even (or just average the PlusPlus numbers).

Goofus, you can see the PlusPlus data for any league, any year, that BBref has by just going to here:

   http://highboskage.com/PHP/goofus.php?yr=2010&lg=A

where, of course, you plug in the season and league you actually want (league code is case-insensitive). If no league is specified, it defaults to NL; if no season is supplied, it defaults to the current season.

If you want the complete PHP script, just let me know. You can upload it anywhere that PHP works, which is pretty much any host server. You could even use it locally if you have PHP on your personal system.

Sample output (except line breaks are doubled here for mysterious Chroniclesque reasons):

For the AL in 2010:

 

BAL : OPS+ =  90 and ERA+ =  93 for a PlusPlus of 183 and 107 games won, for ratio of 1.71

BOS : OPS+ = 109 and ERA+ = 104 for a PlusPlus of 213 and 93 games won, for ratio of 2.29

CHW : OPS+ = 100 and ERA+ = 107 for a PlusPlus of 207 and 104 games won, for ratio of 1.99

CLE : OPS+ =  97 and ERA+ =  90 for a PlusPlus of 187 and 107 games won, for ratio of 1.748

DET : OPS+ = 103 and ERA+ =  98 for a PlusPlus of 201 and 90 games won, for ratio of 2.233

KCR : OPS+ = 100 and ERA+ =  85 for a PlusPlus of 185 and 98 games won, for ratio of 1.888

LAA : OPS+ =  92 and ERA+ = 101 for a PlusPlus of 193 and 85 games won, for ratio of 2.271

MIN : OPS+ = 106 and ERA+ = 105 for a PlusPlus of 211 and 101 games won, for ratio of 2.089

NYY : OPS+ = 109 and ERA+ = 106 for a PlusPlus of 215 and 105 games won, for ratio of 2.048

OAK : OPS+ =  92 and ERA+ = 116 for a PlusPlus of 208 and 106 games won, for ratio of 1.962

SEA : OPS+ =  79 and ERA+ = 100 for a PlusPlus of 179 and 116 games won, for ratio of 1.543

TBR : OPS+ = 104 and ERA+ = 104 for a PlusPlus of 208 and 100 games won, for ratio of 2.08

TEX : OPS+ = 102 and ERA+ = 110 for a PlusPlus of 212 and 104 games won, for ratio of 2.038

TOR : OPS+ = 107 and ERA+ =  99 for a PlusPlus of 206 and 110 games won, for ratio of 1.873

 
Average ratio: 1.983