Top 5 Line Ups and Rotations in Baseball

[Bobbob1313]

Maybe.

[Swifty]

I don't think I understand the Rockies mentions. Can Swift or MH explain their thought processes to me?

They finished 11th as a team in the NL in Park-Adjusted OPS+.

Offense is down tremendously in the last two seasons, Colorado has consistently put up top-8 team OPS and OBP in that same stretch. At some point, that has to count for something even if the star power may be lacking.

[CrimsonCane]

Can you explain that further?

Park factors often don't take into account that schedules are unbalanced.

Also, they are highly variable which shouldn't happen when the stadiums aren't changing year to year.

Lastly, they tend to exaggerate the teams at the extremes. Imagine 2 teams that are identical in all respects. They will score the same number of runs. Suppose in a neutral park, they would both score 4 runs each. In Team A's park (hitters park), they score 8 runs each. In Team B's park, they score 2 runs each. Park A should have a factor of 2 and Park B should have a factor of 1/2. But, if they only play in those 2 parks. The park factor will be 4 and 1/4 respectively.

[Bobbob1313]

Lastly, they tend to exaggerate the teams at the extremes. Imagine 2 teams that are identical in all respects. They will score the same number of runs. Suppose in a neutral park, they would both score 4 runs each. In Team A's park (hitters park), they score 8 runs each. In Team B's park, they score 2 runs each. Park A should have a factor of 2 and Park B should have a factor of 1/2. But, if they only play in those 2 parks. The park factor will be 4 and 1/4 respectively.

Would you say they exaggerate teams on one side of the extreme more than the other?

Also, they are highly variable which shouldn't happen when the stadiums aren't changing year to year.

I think ESPN uses 3-year averages and Baseball-reference uses 5-year averages, but I could be wrong. That would tend to dampen the volatility of the numbers, right?
--------------------

Offense is down tremendously in the last two seasons, Colorado has consistently put up top-8 team OPS and OBP in that same stretch. At some point, that has to count for something even if the star power may be lacking.

I think they do have star power, but they're not deep.

My problem with looking at their lineup and ranking them against the rest of the NL is this:

2011 Home: .796 OPS
2011 Road: .683 OPS
2010 Home: .866 OPS
2010 Road: .654 OPS
2009 Home: .850 OPS
2009 Road: .718 OPS
2008 Home: .804 OPS
2008 Road: .699 OPS

The average gap from '08-'11 between home and road production has been .140 points of OPS. Over that same stretch, the average gap between home and road production in the NL as a whole has been just .035.

I think Coors still props their offensive numbers up. Not to the extent that it did in the 90's, but it's still a significant gap.

[Erick]

I haven't made a list, but I don't see the big deal about Colorado in the top-5. At least in a National League list. Overall, no way. The NL doesn't seem to have too many productive offensive teams, though.

[MiamiHomer]

Yeah, outside of the Dbacks, Cards and Reds I had trouble with the last two in the NL.