MLB Scoring Categories

[St. Louis Sting]

There has been some interest in adding another scoring category to the baseball league in order to guard against ties in weekly matchups. The most popular suggestions have been Batting Average Against for pitchers or Fielding % for positional players. In order to add a category there must be general agreement on which category to add, and even whether to add a category at all. Please post any comments you may have on the matter in order to defend your choice or mention a different category to add.

[Jon (Huskies)]

I like fielding % and would like for that to be the category that is added. Right now defense means nothing but I feel that should it count for something even if it is a small amount. I like it a lot

[Jeff (Haze)]

Hi guys,

Ties suck.

Football doesn't apply so much since its points based. In 204 matchups, we've had zero ties.

Basketball, which has an odd # of categories (9), has had 2 ties in 198 matchups to date (1%).

Hockey, also with an odd # of categories (11), has had 10 ties in 218 matchups to date (5%).

Baseball, with an even number of categories (10), has tied 12% of its matchups so far (18 out of 150).

I don't mind ties so much in hockey, but they shouldn't exist in baseball.

[St. Louis Sting]

I agree that ties suck, but since the standings are decided by total categories throughout the season, who "wins" a regular season matchup doesn't really matter all that much in the grand scheme of things. The only time this comes into play is the playoffs.

We also already have 14 categories in a 7x7 format. Adding a category to either side without adding to the other will throw off the balance between pitcher and hitter value.

[Jeff (Haze)]

Let's take away a category then!

Ties suck regardless, they just happen to have actual implications when it comes to playoffs.

Though the sample size be small, the numbers so far show that it is much more likely to happen in baseball than in other sports. Not to imply that correlation is causation, but baseball is the only category sport with an odd number of categories.

Maybe we just need to declare a tiebreaker that is something that happens within the playoff week (in every sport)?

That would bring us back to the balance between pitchers and hitters to determine that tiebreaker, though I don't think that pitchers and hitters have equal value solely because there are an equal number of scoring categories. I think pitchers are much more stratified in the ways they can meaningfully contribute to a particular category than are batters.

I don't think a playoff week should be decided by a metric that isn't calculated the week the playoff occurs.

[Jon (Huskies)]

One other point I feel very strongly about is obp not being included. There is no bb category and yes I know obp is included in ops, but why do we need ops if we already have home runs to represent power? I propose we add fielding % and obp in place of ops and maybe even eliminate avg because it really is not a true indicator of a players contribution to their team. Obp>avg. In baseball, your ability to get on base and field your position well are crucial. I do not think there is enough of an emphasis on this currently. Thanks.

[Jeff (Haze)]

That too is a good point

[New York Nexus]

Jan 25, 2016 23:02:53 GMT -5 Jon (Huskies) said:

One other point I feel very strongly about is obp not being included. There is no bb category and yes I know obp is included in ops, but why do we need ops if we already have home runs to represent power? I propose we add fielding % and obp in place of ops and maybe even eliminate avg because it really is not a true indicator of a players contribution to their team. Obp>avg. In baseball, your ability to get on base and field your position well are crucial. I do not think there is enough of an emphasis on this currently. Thanks.

I think I'd go with this.

Adding OBP and Fielding, removing OPS and BA would add a lot more I think. BA/OPS are already covered for the most parts with OBP/HRs, plus walks and defense are made relevant, it also keeps the categories even.