Before I start with my next set of posts (a review of each team’s season), I will probably need to explain one of the main stats that I will be using, adjusted OPS. Some of you may be familiar with OPS, but for those who are not, it is just a players (or teams) on base percentage + their slugging percentage. So what is ‘adjusted OPS’? Pretty much it is a comparison of a players OPS against the league average. For the sake of simplicity I won’t go on too much about it, all you will need to know is that an adjusted OPS (OPS+) of 100 is exactly league average. Anything below 100 is below league average and anything above 100 is above league average.
Now along the same lines of OPS+ there is ERA+. Again, it is merely the players ERA compared to the league ERA, with 100 being exactly league average. For those out there who may be curious about what would be constitute a good OPS+, I’ll give an example. The league’s MVP last season, Michael Collins, had an OPS+ of 172, which is ridiculously good. Now for comparison sake, in the MLB, Albert Pujols has a career OPS+ of 171 (he is good at baseball).
Some of you may be asking, why use it? Well it enables you to compare player’s stats from season to season more easily. Say for instance this year Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Johan Santana all decide to play in the new ABL (unlikely but would be awesome). Obviously the league average OPS would drop as hitters are facing better pitchers. By using OPS+ we can compare season to season stats whilst still factoring in things that effect overall league performance. Along the same lines, we could also compare offensive performances from the old ABL with tin bats to the new one with wood bats. This season the league average OPS was .746 whereas in the old metal bat league days it might have been up around the .900 mark (I’m guessing, but you get the point).
This may have gone over some people’s heads, and I don’t really expect a bunch of people to jump on this bandwagon, but it is a new way to look at the game and compare how players are performing from season to season.
Now along the same lines of OPS+ there is ERA+. Again, it is merely the players ERA compared to the league ERA, with 100 being exactly league average. For those out there who may be curious about what would be constitute a good OPS+, I’ll give an example. The league’s MVP last season, Michael Collins, had an OPS+ of 172, which is ridiculously good. Now for comparison sake, in the MLB, Albert Pujols has a career OPS+ of 171 (he is good at baseball).
Some of you may be asking, why use it? Well it enables you to compare player’s stats from season to season more easily. Say for instance this year Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Johan Santana all decide to play in the new ABL (unlikely but would be awesome). Obviously the league average OPS would drop as hitters are facing better pitchers. By using OPS+ we can compare season to season stats whilst still factoring in things that effect overall league performance. Along the same lines, we could also compare offensive performances from the old ABL with tin bats to the new one with wood bats. This season the league average OPS was .746 whereas in the old metal bat league days it might have been up around the .900 mark (I’m guessing, but you get the point).
This may have gone over some people’s heads, and I don’t really expect a bunch of people to jump on this bandwagon, but it is a new way to look at the game and compare how players are performing from season to season.
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