Friday, March 29, 2013

Home Runs 'Go To Eleven' In Mohawk Valley

By Matt Eddy

UTICA, N.Y.—Their plans to co-occupy Citi Field this summer rebuffed, the Mohawk Valley Crimson Lions did the next best thing: they reconfigured Van Slyke Field to play just like the Mets' ballpark.

That means that singles will be scarce—a two factor for both righties and lefties—but that home runs will be somewhat common with a Spinal Tap-ian factor of 11 for both sides. The change in dimensions won't affect longball output at Van Slyke Field too much because the old yard played at 12 for lefties and nine for righties.

The frequency of singles, however, will be reduced dramatically, seeing as the previous dimensions played as a nine for lefties and a six for righties. For point of reference, the real-life Mets and their opponents hit .241 at Citi Field last year, compared with .258 away. That will be a harsh new reality for Lions batters, though club pitchers don't seem to mind the change.

"I prefer to be on the receiving end of one decisive death blow rather than succumb to one thousand paper cuts," Lions righty Yu Darvish said through an interpreter.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

MMDA Unveils League Record Book

Spotty record keeping and lack of historical perspective are a thing of the past.

Following the unveiling of the playoff history archive last winter, the MMDA commissioner's office is pleased to announce the launch of a league record book that encompasses the past 11 seasons. There you can view top 10s for team categories such as runs scored and allowed, on-base average, ERA and home runs.

But wait—there's more.

Follow the link to the MMDA League Records Google doc and view top 10s for nearly 50 team categories, plus MMDA league averages and top 25s for those individual categories which are displayed on the statistics overview pages at mmdaoline.com.

Barry Bonds

The somewhat limited array of individual categories includes batting average, home runs, RBIs, wins, ERA and saves. This paints an incomplete picture, but at least now we know that the modern league leader for average is Albert Pujols (.409 in 2009). The leader for home runs and RBIs is Barry Bonds (82 and 180 in 2002).

Northwest's Craig Kimbrel set a modern league record for saves last season (56), but given MLB's downturn in run-scoring, might we see a pitcher challenge Roger Clemens' modern standard for ERA (1.91 in 2006)?

In the Google doc, users also will find headers for all teams batting and pitching. Feel free to paste the data into your own spreadsheet to conduct your own research.