Let’s continue on reviewing the 2023 projection showdown series, pitting THE BAT X projections against the Steamer forecast in various statistical categories. Today, we’ll move on to batting average. Batting average projections are tough as they rely heavily on BABIP, which is driven a great deal by the whims of lady luck. So over a small sample of players, the system that proved closer here isn’t necessarily better at projecting batting average. So that’s the caveat. With that out of the way, let’s get to the players that THE BAT X was projecting for a significantly higher batting average than Steamer and find out which system ended up closer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I reviewed the five hitters THE BAT X was most bullish on for stolen bases compared to Steamer projections. Now let’s flip over to Steamer’s favorites. As a reminder, this exercise isn’t as enlightening as the exercises in the various other categories I hosted a showdown for. That’s because leaguewide stolen bases were up 41% compared to the 2022 season, so the typical stolen base forecast is going to be lower than the actual total. Let’s see if that means that Steamer forecasts proved closer here more often, just as THE BAT X took four of five wins yesterday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s continue reviewing the results of the 2023 projection showdown, pitting THE BAT X projections against Steamer forecasts. Today we move on to stolen bases. The various rule changes implemented for this season helped increase leaguewide stolen bases by a whopping 41%. So, whichever system was more bullish on any particular player’s stolen bases is far more likely to have been proven closer as a result. Let’s see if that’s the case here. We start with THE BAT X’s stolen base favorites. Did their projections for these players prove closer in a clean sweep and will Steamer show the same results tomorrow? Let’s find out!

Read the rest of this entry »

My 11th season as an AL Tout Wars participant has concluded and it was once again an extremely frustrating season. I knew that my auction resulted in a high risk/high reward roster, but not only did my high risk guys not work out, many others failed to as well. For those of you who want to refresh your memories with some background information on my auction, check out my initial recap. Let’s start with the final standings.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, I began reviewing my 2023 Projection Showdown series, which pitted THE BAT X against Steamer in various hitting categories. I started by reviewing home run forecasts that THE BAT X was most bullish on compared to Steamer. Let’s now review the hitters that Steamer was most bullish on compared to THE BAT X in home runs over a 600 at-bat constant projection.

Read the rest of this entry »

Now that the regular season has ended, it’s recap time! Over the next couple of weeks (months?), I’ll be reviewing all my preseason articles. I want to always be held accountable for the advice I provide, but also it’s fun to find out what actually happened and if I was right. We’ll start with the first in my new series this year, the 2023 Projection Showdown, which pitted THE BAT X against Steamer in various hitting categories. We begin with the first category of home runs. In part 1, I identified the hitters who THE BAT X projected for a higher 600 at-bat home run pace than Steamer. Let’s find out which projection system proved closer.

Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to my starting pitcher poll comparing 1st and 2nd half SIERA marks, I also polled you fine readers during the all-star break about hitters. The hitter poll pitted the 10 greatest xwOBA overperformers against the 10 most significant underperformers. I asked you which group would post a higher second half wOBA and which range each group’s wOBA would fall into.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the all-star break, I once again polled you on which group of 10 starting pitchers would post a lower ERA during the second half, and which ERA range each group’s aggregate would fall into. Let’s now review the results.

Read the rest of this entry »

Are you in a daily transaction league and in need of a couple extra stolen bases over the last four days of the season? You’re in luck! Let’s review a handful of lightly owned hitters that have run often over the last two weeks. I calculated stolen base attempts per game over the last 14 days and then handpicked these names that were all over 0.40 SBA/G.

Read the rest of this entry »

No, I don’t mean you should find a set of twins, choose your favorite, and pick one up! Rather, it’s time to take advantage of the Rockies last trio of home games to finish out the season by rostering some Twins hitters! The Twins end their season with a three game set at Coors Field, which means that daily leaguers should look to take advantage. Unlike the Dodgers, the Twins have numerous hitters that are owned in less than 50% of CBS leagues. Let’s discuss the names that might actually be worthy of a pickup.

Read the rest of this entry »