Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
By Gregor Gross
Since Mike showed us which team stats really count when it comes to winning, I thought it was about time to see who really belongs at the top of the Power Rankings. We learned, I thought, how different statistics correlate to winning percentages, so why not rank the teams after the stats they have accumulated in 2004 so far and see who'll come out on top?
So I took four popular stats for pitching and batting and ranked all teams. Then I multiplied their ranking in that statistic with its correlation, did that for all stats and added those figures together. In the end, the lowest figure should show the best team.
I took these stats and their correlations for pitching and batting:
| Pitching | |
| ERA-AL | 0,764 |
| Whip-AL | 0,769 |
| K/BB-AL | 0,606 |
| K/9IP-AL | 0,443 |
| Batting | |
| BA | 0,548 |
| OBP | 0,697 |
| Slug | 0,576 |
| OPS | 0,642 |
Since I am a young German, and the new generation over here is famous for its laziness, I said let's do this only for the American League today. For the National League, I said, tomorrow would be fine. But before we go for the pitching rankings, I just want to say to you that this will make no more sense than anything Buster Olney over there at ESPN has to say:
| Team | ERA-Rank | Correl. * Rank | WHIP-Rank | Correl. * Rank |
| NY Yankees | 5 | 7,64 | 2 | 9,997 |
| Boston Red Sox | 3 | 9,168 | 3 | 9,228 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 7 | 6,112 | 11 | 3,076 |
| TB Devil Rays | 9 | 4,584 | 10 | 3,845 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 13 | 1,528 | 14 | 0,769 |
| Minnesota Twins | 2 | 9,932 | 1 | 10,766 |
| Chicago White Sox | 8 | 5,348 | 6 | 6,921 |
| Cleveland Indians | 11 | 3,056 | 12 | 2,307 |
| Detroit Tigers | 12 | 2,292 | 8 | 5,383 |
| KC Royals | 14 | 0,764 | 13 | 1,538 |
| Oakland As | 1 | 10,696 | 5 | 7,69 |
| Anaheim Angels | 4 | 8,404 | 4 | 8,459 |
| Texas Rangers | 6 | 6,876 | 7 | 6,152 |
| Seattle Mariners | 10 | 3,82 | 9 | 4,614 |
| Team | K/BB-Rank | Correl. * Rank | K/9IP-Rank | Correl. * Rank |
| NY Yankees | 2 | 7,878 | 8 | 3,101 |
| Boston Red Sox | 3 | 7,272 | 1 | 6,202 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 11 | 2,424 | 10 | 2,215 |
| TB Devil Rays | 14 | 0,606 | 13 | 0,886 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 13 | 1,212 | 5 | 4,43 |
| Minnesota Twins | 1 | 8,484 | 4 | 4,873 |
| Chicago White Sox | 5 | 6,06 | 12 | 1,329 |
| Cleveland Indians | 8 | 4,242 | 3 | 5,316 |
| Detroit Tigers | 9 | 3,636 | 9 | 2,658 |
| KC Royals | 12 | 1,818 | 14 | 0,443 |
| Oakland As | 6 | 5,454 | 6 | 3,987 |
| Anaheim Angels | 4 | 6,666 | 2 | 5,759 |
| Texas Rangers | 7 | 4,848 | 11 | 1,772 |
| Seattle Mariners | 10 | 3,03 | 7 | 3,544 |
| Team | Sum Pitching | Super Rank Pitching |
| NY Yankees | 28,616 | 4 |
| Boston Red Sox | 31,87 | 2 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 13,827 | 11 |
| TB Devil Rays | 9,921 | 12 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 7,939 | 13 |
| Minnesota Twins | 34,055 | 1 |
| Chicago White Sox | 19,658 | 6 |
| Cleveland Indians | 14,921 | 9 |
| Detroit Tigers | 13,969 | 10 |
| KC Royals | 4,563 | 14 |
| Oakland As | 27,827 | 5 |
| Anaheim Angels | 29,288 | 3 |
| Texas Rangers | 19,648 | 7 |
| Seattle Mariners | 15,008 | 8 |
And batting?
| Team | BA-Rank | Correl. * Rank | OBP-Rank | Correl. * Rank |
| NY Yankees | 10 | 2,74 | 3 | 8,364 |
| Boston Red Sox | 3 | 6,576 | 1 | 9,758 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 9 | 3,288 | 10 | 3,485 |
| TB Devil Rays | 13 | 1,096 | 13 | 1,394 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 5 | 5,48 | 6 | 6,273 |
| Minnesota Twins | 11 | 2,192 | 11 | 2,788 |
| Chicago White Sox | 8 | 3,836 | 7 | 5,576 |
| Cleveland Indians | 4 | 6,028 | 2 | 9,061 |
| Detroit Tigers | 2 | 7,124 | 4 | 7,667 |
| KC Royals | 14 | 0,548 | 14 | 0,697 |
| Oakland As | 6 | 4,932 | 5 | 6,97 |
| Anaheim Angels | 1 | 7,672 | 8 | 4,879 |
| Texas Rangers | 7 | 4,384 | 9 | 4,182 |
| Seattle Mariners | 12 | 1,644 | 12 | 2,091 |
| Team | SLG-Rank | Correl. * Rank | OPS-Rank | Correl. * Rank |
| NY Yankees | 4 | 6,336 | 2 | 8,346 |
| Boston Red Sox | 2 | 7,488 | 1 | 8,988 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 12 | 1,728 | 11 | 2,568 |
| TB Devil Rays | 11 | 2,304 | 12 | 1,926 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 9 | 3,456 | 9 | 3,852 |
| Minnesota Twins | 10 | 2,88 | 10 | 3,21 |
| Chicago White Sox | 3 | 6,912 | 3 | 7,704 |
| Cleveland Indians | 6 | 5,184 | 6 | 5,778 |
| Detroit Tigers | 5 | 5,76 | 5 | 6,42 |
| KC Royals | 13 | 1,152 | 14 | 0,642 |
| Oakland As | 7 | 4,608 | 7 | 5,136 |
| Anaheim Angels | 8 | 4,032 | 8 | 4,494 |
| Texas Rangers | 1 | 8,064 | 4 | 7,062 |
| Seattle Mariners | 14 | 0,576 | 13 | 1,284 |
| Team | Sum Batting | Super Rank Batting |
| NY Yankees | 25,786 | 4 |
| Boston Red Sox | 32,81 | 1 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 11,069 | 11 |
| TB Devil Rays | 6,72 | 12 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 19,061 | 9 |
| Minnesota Twins | 11,07 | 10 |
| Chicago White Sox | 24,028 | 5 |
| Cleveland Indians | 26,051 | 3 |
| Detroit Tigers | 26,971 | 2 |
| KC Royals | 3,039 | 14 |
| Oakland As | 21,646 | 7 |
| Anaheim Angels | 21,077 | 8 |
| Texas Rangers | 23,692 | 6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 5,595 | 13 |
So what do we learn from this? We see why the Twins outperform their Exp. W%. They pitch so well. We see that the Red Sox can hit while the Royals can't. We also see that when BP told us that Johan Santana in 2004 might win a Cy Young because he faces the Tigers and Indians so often, they quite underestimated how tough it is to pitch against those offenses. We also see, by the way, how good it is to be a Tribe fan after all. But I'm straying a bit here.
So on to the overall rankings, which basically is pitching and batting together:
| Team | Super Duper Sum | Super Duper Rank |
| NY Yankees | 27,201 | 2 |
| Boston Red Sox | 32,34 | 1 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 12,448 | 11 |
| TB Devil Rays | 8,3205 | 13 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 13,5 | 10 |
| Minnesota Twins | 22,5625 | 5 |
| Chicago White Sox | 21,843 | 6 |
| Cleveland Indians | 20,486 | 8 |
| Detroit Tigers | 20,47 | 9 |
| KC Royals | 3,801 | 14 |
| Oakland As | 24,7365 | 4 |
| Anaheim Angels | 25,1825 | 3 |
| Texas Rangers | 21,67 | 7 |
| Seattle Mariners | 10,3015 | 12 |
Isn't this a terrifying scientific work? Before you hit the streets telling everyone the Indians are the eighth best team in the American League because some German fellow told you so on a Phillies fan's website that you read daily, please note, however, that all these rankings are for today only. It could look a bit different tomorrow. As with Buster Olneys b(aseballb)urps, it comes with a big grain of salt. Who tells me what it is gets lots of smooches!
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