Agreed. Watching every batter try for one of the 3TOs makes the game much less fun to watch (and the strikeout rate makes me a little crazy — though some part of that seems to be due to pitchers having more pitch types in their arsenal these days).
Last fall, after the season ended, I posted three of my own charts comparing my Twins to the MLB averages for HR/g, K/g, and BB/g. FWIW:
It's interesting to note that the Twins had a huge surge in home runs in 1987, which I guess is because of the air conditioner effect? I'm actually not sure, since I don't understand why it wasn't also up in 1986 and 1988.
Anyway, the fascinating thing is that the Twins didn't strike out much more at the same time. Looks like they had their cake and ate it, too.
The 1987 Twins are one of those teams I'm fascinated with, by the way. Most people don't think they belong on the list of "greatest teams of all time." But, honestly, I'm starting to think that there is an argument to be made for them.
Could be due to the Metrodome, but that doesn't really explain the big spike in 1986 and 1987. There is a smaller corresponding spike for MLB in 1987, so maybe the balls were slightly livelier those years? No idea. I remember winning the WS in 1987, but didn't get really serious about baseball until 2010.
They were generally below MLB averages for Ks from 1974 to 1994 (except 1982 and 1986). Better batting coaching, maybe? Again, no idea, really. Batting doesn't seem to have changed all that much over the years of the franchise, though there is a bit of a spike in 1986-1987 in slugging:
I suppose that's why the Cardinals broadcasters kept bad-mouthing them as not belonging. But the joke was on them.
(These charts are from my personal website in case you're wondering. I got seriously into stats from 2010 to 2019. Wrote a Python suite to pull the XML stats files from MLB and turn them into stats reports and charts.)
Yeah - I was actually looking this morning to see if anybody has any proof that the ball was more lively in 1987. The stats certainly suggest that, but it's possible that something else was going on.
And, yeah, the 1987 Twins are famous for having the worst winning percentage out of any World Series winner. However, I do think there is something to be said for the ability to win the "big games." They also absolutely manhandled the Tigers, which has to count for something.
Those stat reports are impressive! That's a lot better than me fiddling around with CSV files downloaded from Baseball Reference, lol.
You've given me a new idea for a project: pulling stats from B-R about the 1987 and 1991 seasons and creating some nice outputs. All three of those 3TO charts and the two Twins charts started with B-R, as you say, CSV files (love that site). A big part of my career as a programmer in Corporate America involved creating charts, and I got way into it. Matplotlib is a chart-maker's dream.
The XML files from MLB allowed me to make stuff like this:
For all teams in the 2010-2019 period (with a lot of extra charts for the Twins). MLB no longer allows free access to that data, but I've been tempted to look into how much they'd charge for access. Be a huge project to revive that Python suite, but it could be fun. I loved having that data. I've always loved playing around with data.
Orioles @ Twins is about to begin, so I'm out. Until later...
And will do. There's a lot on my plate (somehow, I'm as busy in retirement as I ever was before it), but as a Twins fan, I've always been a little embarrassed about not knowing many details about 1987. And more so about 1991 because it was so soon after that, among those who weren't big fans of the game, there was a sense of "meh" about it.
It would be interesting to see the Cleveland, Chicago, and Sporting News articles on the game. And I will search for previous such games (that were not part of a double header).
Yeah - I'm sure I can find something. I've got access to at least one Cleveland and Chicago paper from 1924 - maybe even more. I'm also interested to see if The Sporting News even noticed that there were no walks, strikeouts, or home runs.
Agreed. Watching every batter try for one of the 3TOs makes the game much less fun to watch (and the strikeout rate makes me a little crazy — though some part of that seems to be due to pitchers having more pitch types in their arsenal these days).
Last fall, after the season ended, I posted three of my own charts comparing my Twins to the MLB averages for HR/g, K/g, and BB/g. FWIW:
https://substack.com/@wyrdsmythe/note/c-73030611
https://substack.com/@wyrdsmythe/note/c-73030688
https://substack.com/@wyrdsmythe/note/c-73030807
Yeah, this is right on.
It's interesting to note that the Twins had a huge surge in home runs in 1987, which I guess is because of the air conditioner effect? I'm actually not sure, since I don't understand why it wasn't also up in 1986 and 1988.
Anyway, the fascinating thing is that the Twins didn't strike out much more at the same time. Looks like they had their cake and ate it, too.
The 1987 Twins are one of those teams I'm fascinated with, by the way. Most people don't think they belong on the list of "greatest teams of all time." But, honestly, I'm starting to think that there is an argument to be made for them.
Could be due to the Metrodome, but that doesn't really explain the big spike in 1986 and 1987. There is a smaller corresponding spike for MLB in 1987, so maybe the balls were slightly livelier those years? No idea. I remember winning the WS in 1987, but didn't get really serious about baseball until 2010.
They were generally below MLB averages for Ks from 1974 to 1994 (except 1982 and 1986). Better batting coaching, maybe? Again, no idea, really. Batting doesn't seem to have changed all that much over the years of the franchise, though there is a bit of a spike in 1986-1987 in slugging:
https://sonnack.com/pub/bb/img/twins_years_avg.png
The irony is that 1987 wasn't one of their better years in terms of win percentage. Only .525 that year (.586 in 1991 when we won the WS again).
https://sonnack.com/pub/bb/img/twins_years_winpct.png
I suppose that's why the Cardinals broadcasters kept bad-mouthing them as not belonging. But the joke was on them.
(These charts are from my personal website in case you're wondering. I got seriously into stats from 2010 to 2019. Wrote a Python suite to pull the XML stats files from MLB and turn them into stats reports and charts.)
Yeah - I was actually looking this morning to see if anybody has any proof that the ball was more lively in 1987. The stats certainly suggest that, but it's possible that something else was going on.
And, yeah, the 1987 Twins are famous for having the worst winning percentage out of any World Series winner. However, I do think there is something to be said for the ability to win the "big games." They also absolutely manhandled the Tigers, which has to count for something.
Those stat reports are impressive! That's a lot better than me fiddling around with CSV files downloaded from Baseball Reference, lol.
You've given me a new idea for a project: pulling stats from B-R about the 1987 and 1991 seasons and creating some nice outputs. All three of those 3TO charts and the two Twins charts started with B-R, as you say, CSV files (love that site). A big part of my career as a programmer in Corporate America involved creating charts, and I got way into it. Matplotlib is a chart-maker's dream.
The XML files from MLB allowed me to make stuff like this:
https://sonnack.com/pub/bb/out/stats_twins_2016.html
https://sonnack.com/pub/bb/out/games_twins_2016.html
For all teams in the 2010-2019 period (with a lot of extra charts for the Twins). MLB no longer allows free access to that data, but I've been tempted to look into how much they'd charge for access. Be a huge project to revive that Python suite, but it could be fun. I loved having that data. I've always loved playing around with data.
Orioles @ Twins is about to begin, so I'm out. Until later...
Wow - those charts are impressive!
Yeah, let me know how the project goes - I'm really interested to see what you'd gather from all that.
Thanks! I had fun creating them.
And will do. There's a lot on my plate (somehow, I'm as busy in retirement as I ever was before it), but as a Twins fan, I've always been a little embarrassed about not knowing many details about 1987. And more so about 1991 because it was so soon after that, among those who weren't big fans of the game, there was a sense of "meh" about it.
Most recent NL/AL game with 0 Ks, 0.honers, and 0 walks: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE192408281.shtml
Amazing that they left Thurston in there even after he gave up 7 runs.
It was the first game of a doubleheader, however. I get the feeling that some managers just went on autopilot for games like that.
It would be interesting to see the Cleveland, Chicago, and Sporting News articles on the game. And I will search for previous such games (that were not part of a double header).
Yeah - I'm sure I can find something. I've got access to at least one Cleveland and Chicago paper from 1924 - maybe even more. I'm also interested to see if The Sporting News even noticed that there were no walks, strikeouts, or home runs.