ESPN’s Total QBR Added to Player Pages and Leaderboards
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have now added ESPN's Total Quarterback Rating (QBR) to our player pages and leaderboards.
In case you forgot what QBR is all about, here's a link describing the methodology behind the rating (they also noted several subsequent tweaks here). The scale is 0-100, with average being 50; the best performers tend to be around 75-80 for a full season (Aaron Rodgers set the record with 86.2 last year), while something like the 11.7 that JaMarcus Russell put up in 2009 would be considered the bottom of the barrel.
1 Comment | Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com
“More Stats” For Batters
Here's a reminder that if the stats you see on a player's main page aren't enough, you can click the "More Stats" link next to his primary batting table. This will bring up an advanced batting stats page, which contains not only the conventional batting & player value tables you see on the main page, but also:
- Ratio Batting - Generally, metrics that come as a percentage of plate appearances (or some other opportunity stat). Examples: HR%, BB%, SO%, GB/FB, Line Drive %
- Win Probability - Stats pertaining to Win Probability. Examples: Win Probability Added (WPA), Leverage Index
- Baserunning & Misc. Stats - Stats that deal w/ baserunning. Examples: Stolen base opportunities, extra bases taken, going from 1st to 3rd on a single, reaching on error
- Situational Hitting - Hitting stats in important situations. Examples: Pinch hitting, productive outs, advancing runners
- Pitch Summary Batting - Hitting stats from the pitch-by-pitch data. Examples: Pitches seen/PA, strikes taken, 1st pitches swung at, 2-0 counts seen
- Cumulative Batting - Career conventional stat totals through every season of a player's career.
- Neutralized Batting - Career stats transported to the year/league/park context of your choice (via this system)
Many people have never noticed the "More Stats" pages, so hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised to find even more free stats on a player's Baseball-Reference page.
1 Comment | Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Data, Features
Best Players PH For in the Postseason
+------------+--------------+------------------+-----------------+-----+---------------+-----+--------+----------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | date_game | game_id | ph_for | ph | WAR | WAR_prev_2_yr | age | inning | relative_score | runners_on_num | play_desc | +------------+--------------+------------------+-----------------+-----+---------------+-----+--------+----------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2012-10-10 | NYA201210100 | Alex Rodriguez | Raul Ibanez | 108 | 5 | 36 | 9 | -1 | 0 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF) | | 2000-10-03 | CHA200010030 | Rickey Henderson | Stan Javier | 99 | 4 | 41 | 7 | -1 | 3 | Strikeout Looking | | 1996-10-02 | NYA199610020 | Wade Boggs | Charlie Hayes | 75 | 6 | 38 | 7 | -2 | 2 | Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly; Girardi Scores; Jeter to 3B | | 2001-10-14 | ARI200110140 | Mark McGwire | Kerry Robinson | 62 | 4 | 37 | 9 | 0 | 1 | Bunt Groundout: 3B-2B/Sacrifice (Front of Home); Edmonds to 2B | | 2006-10-04 | NYN200610040 | Kenny Lofton | Ramon Martinez | 52 | 5 | 39 | 9 | -2 | 1 | Double to RF (Fly Ball); Betemit Scores | | 2006-10-12 | NYN200610120 | Jim Edmonds | Scott Spiezio | 50 | 5 | 36 | 9 | -2 | 1 | Popfly: 2B | | 2005-10-16 | HOU200510160 | Jim Edmonds | John Rodriguez | 49 | 11 | 35 | 8 | -1 | 1 | Flyball: CF (Deep CF) | | 1999-10-06 | CLE199910060 | Harold Baines | Wil Cordero | 38 | 3 | 40 | 9 | 0 | 1 | Single to RF; Ramirez to 2B | | 1958-10-01 | MLN195810010 | Andy Pafko | Bill Bruton | 34 | 0 | 37 | 9 | 0 | 0 | Strikeout | | 1997-10-09 | BAL199710090 | Harold Baines | Geronimo Berroa | 34 | 4 | 38 | 8 | -1 | 1 | Flyball: RF | | 1997-10-11 | CLE199710110 | Harold Baines | Geronimo Berroa | 34 | 4 | 38 | 8 | -1 | 0 | Flyball: RF | | 1997-10-12 | CLE199710120 | Harold Baines | Eric Davis | 34 | 4 | 38 | 7 | -1 | 1 | Flyball: LF | | 1997-10-15 | BAL199710150 | Harold Baines | Eric Davis | 34 | 4 | 38 | 10 | 0 | 0 | Strikeout Swinging | | 2010-10-10 | ATL201010100 | Troy Glaus | Eric Hinske | 34 | 1 | 33 | 8 | -1 | 1 | Home Run (Line Drive); Gonzalez Scores | | 1973-10-13 | OAK197310130 | Rusty Staub | Jim Beauchamp | 33 | 4 | 29 | 9 | -1 | 1 | Popfly: 2B (Short CF) | | 1981-10-09 | NYA198110090 | Bob Watson | Bobby Murcer | 32 | 2 | 35 | 8 | -2 | 1 | Groundout: 1B unassisted | | 2000-10-10 | NYA200010100 | Paul O'Neill | Glenallen Hill | 32 | 2 | 37 | 8 | -2 | 1 | Strikeout Looking | | 2000-10-15 | SEA200010150 | Paul O'Neill | Glenallen Hill | 32 | 2 | 37 | 7 | -4 | 3 | Strikeout Looking | | 2001-10-10 | ARI200110100 | Steve Finley | Danny Bautista | 32 | 4 | 36 | 8 | -3 | 2 | Groundout: 3B-1B; Counsell Scores | | 1981-10-07 | HOU198110070 | Davey Lopes | Mike Marshall | 31 | 2 | 36 | 11 | 0 | 2 | Strikeout | +------------+--------------+------------------+-----------------+-----+---------------+-----+--------+----------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+ 20 rows in set (0.01 sec)
These are the PAs seventh inning or later, batting team down and a batter home run could tie or put the batting team ahead, sorted by the most offensive WAR for the player pinch hit for. WAR_prev_2 is Offensive WAR in the year of and year before the PH AB occurred.
We aren't in the business of doing these types of one-off reports and stats notes, but last night's moves merit some special mention.
2 Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com
Everything You Wanted to Know About Wins Above Replacement (WAR)
With all of the controversy over the role of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in the A.L. MVP debate, now might be a good time to remind everyone about our WAR 2.1 guide:
- Baseball-Reference.com WAR Explained - This explains the basics of WAR, the philosophy behind the stat, and some of the changes we made to the formula this past spring.
- Weighted Runs Above Average (wRAA) Explained - This describes how wRAA, the core hitting stat of WAR, is computed.
- Position Player WAR Calculations and Details - This explains how we turn wRAA, Baserunning & Double-Play Runs, Fielding Runs, Positional Adjustment Runs, and Replacement level Runs into WAR for position-players.
- Pitcher WAR Calculations and Details - This explains how we take a pitcher's runs allowed & innings pitched, and turn it into WAR.
- Converting Runs to Wins - This further describes the process by which Runs Above Replacement (for both pitchers and position players) are converted into Wins Above Replacement.
- WAR Comparison Chart - This chart shows the differences between the WAR found here at Baseball-Reference and those from a variety of other sources, including FanGraphs & Baseball Prospectus.
- WAR Data Downloads - If you want to download the raw WAR data yourself and play around with it, you can also get the Batting and Pitching data from our site.
Many of the questions we typically get about WAR can be answered by reading the guide linked above.
14 Comments | Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Features, WAR
Updated Linker and Player News Archive – Baseball-Reference.com
Today we updated our linker software with a couple new options.
First you can now see the past news articles written for any player on Baseball-Reference.com. These come from uses of our Linker Tool, so if you are a blogger and want your articles to appear there, let us know.
News Archive: Mark Reynolds News Archive - Baseball-Reference.com.
We've got two years of history here, so even a player like Mark Reynolds has 800+ links. We also link to this archive from our player nav bars as well.
The linker software should also now recognize correctly written Spanish names. Unfortunately, it will overwrite them as anglicized names, but it's a step in the right direction.
Please let us know if you have any questions about the linker and how to add your site to our linker program.
8 Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com
Add Your Posts to Our Player Newsfeeds
Automatic Player Linker / Add your site to our newsfeeds
Just a reminder that you can request for your site to be added to our player newsfeeds. To get started, all you have to do is write a post as you normally would and use our linker tool, causing baseball-reference player links to be automatically added. Then let us know you want to be included by sending us the following information:
- The name of your site to appear in the feed (at most 25 characters)
- The url for your rss feed (must be a full feed)
- A contact e-mail address
- The url of an example page with our links in place
We'll review your request, and try to get your content added as soon as we can. It's a great way to get your content out there, and it gives your readers quick access to player stats and information.
No Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Linker
BBR: Numerous Additions and Tweaks
Over the last month or so I have made a number of additions and tweaks to Basketball-Reference.com:
- We now have partial box scores for both the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons.
- Related to the above, we now have partial player game logs and splits for both the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons. You may have also noticed that the player's biographical information now appears at the top of both the game logs and splits.
- On the main player pages, we have split the playoff statistics into four separate tables: totals, per game, per 36 minutes, and advanced.
- Also on the player pages, the game logs, splits, shooting, and finder links have been moved to the navigation menu that "sticks" to the top of the page as you scroll down. There is also a news link on the navigation menu that leads to an archive of player news. (Note: If you would like to see your blog posts here, please read about how you can add your blog content to our newsfeeds.)
- An improved navigation menu has been added to the leader pages. This will allow you to quickly switch between season, career, active, yearly, progressive, yearly, and top 10 pages for both the regular season and playoffs for a particular statistic. You can also easily switch statistics by hovering your mouse over the Leader & Records [+] tab and choosing a new statistic.
- In the playoffs section, partial composite box scores have been added for the 1983 and 1984 playoff series.
- The All-Star Game section has a new navigation bar on each page. This will allow you to quickly move from box scores to voting results to contest results. We have also added pages with single game and career leaders for the NBA All-Star Game.
- Although this was announced at the end of August, don't forget that we now have a referees section with referee data for the 1988-89 through 2011-12 seasons.
OK, I think that covers it. As always, please send us your feedback if you have any comments or questions about the site.
1 Comment | Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Features
Walk-Off Plays added to Event Finder
Previously, you could sort of get walk-off plays, but you would also get plays where the game-ended by the pitching team making an out. I've now added a check to make sure that the batting team has won the game. So our Event Finder now lists, go-ahead, game-ending and walkoff all separately.
Note that this will not include the odd baserunning play like a walk-off passed ball, wild pitch, SB, etc.
2 Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Features, Play Index
Playoff-Related Play Index Tools
With the playoffs starting today, here's a rundown of the Play Index tools you can use to run playoff-themed searches...
- Player Game Finders - The batting and pitching Game Finders have a postseason option that lets you find things like the most WPA in a playoff game or the most career 10+ strikeout games in the playoffs. You can even refine the searches by the round and/or game number of the series.
- Player & Team Streak Finders - Our batting and pitching streak finders also have a postseason option, so you can find the longest playoff hit streaks (among other searches). You can also use the Team Batting & Pitching Streak Finders to search for the longest postseason team streaks.
- Team Game Finders - Team batting and pitching game finders let you search for things like the fewest hits allowed by a team in a playoff game. Another cool trick is to use the "Find Teams with Most Matching Games in a Season" option to find, say, the teams that hit the most HR in a single World Series.
- Event Finders - We have special Postseason Batting & Pitching Event Finders let you pull specific event types out of our postseason play-by-play files, which cover the entire modern World Series era (1903-2012).
7 Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Features, Play Index
2012 Baseball-Reference End-of-Year Updates: Sim Scores, Salaries, Batting Titles
A few additions:
- We've added a page for Batting Titles and Pitching ERA Titles. These are the title holders as they were named at the time.
- These titles are marked on the pitching and batting tables with a golden glimmer. For instance, in 1910 Cobb was credited at the time with the batting title, but later research showed Lajoie ahead, so Cobb gets the gold background and Lajoie the black ink. For the purpose of the black ink test we'll give both of them credit.
- This gold styling is also applied to entries in the player stats that correspond to all-time career records, see Barry Bonds.
- For the 2012 Melky ruling, we've excluded Melky Cabrera from batting title consideration. I had some concerns about how the rule was implemented, but ultimately I've decided to go along with MLB's ruling in who we recognize as the highest BA. Previously, I had mistakenly thought that the rule waiver was applying to all players like Joey Votto and Giancarlo Stanton as well.
- 2012 Similarity Scores have been updated
- 2012 Salaries were finally updated. Salary leaderboards will update tomorrow.
- Added Wil Myers as BA minor leaguer of the year on Minors Section
6 Comments | Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com