When betting on baseball, it’s important to keep an eye on the scoring statistics for the year. Let’s see how things have been shaping up in 2010.
American League
Hitting and scoring are still at multi-years lows in most offensive categories. Teams are averaging 4.54 runs per game in 2010, the lowest since the 1992 season. Scoring is down 0.28 runs per game from 2009. The stats for Batting Average, Home Runs, and Slugging Percentage are also at multi-year lows.
Of interest, (but not necessarily significant) is the average age of the American League Batter. At 29.4 this is the oldest average age since 1944, and only the mostly war years of 1944-46 had older batters since 1900. Scoring was down during 1944-46 as well. I will leave the reader to decide if there is a correlation between youth and scoring!
It was 1973 when the League adopted the Designated Hitter allowing older seasoned batters to play regularly (in theory). Actually the average age of the American League Batter was lower during the immediate years after this rule adoption. In 1973 the average did rise to 28.0, then an 11 year high, but in years 1974-1979 the average age was below 28.0. The trend has been higher ever since.
The Designated Hitter also brought higher scores as anticipated. In 1972 Teams averaged only 3.47 runs per game. With the new rule in place scoring immediately rose and has not been below 4.00 runs per game since.
National League
While scoring is also at levels not seen since 1992, the drop off has not been that significant. At 4.42 runs per game scoring is off by only .01 runs per game. As with the A.L the stats for Batting Average, Home Runs, and Slugging Percentage are also at multi-year lows.
As you know the National League does not have the Designated Hitter. The average age of a National league batter is 29.0, about the average for the last 7 seasons.
Over/Unders
No scoring analysis is useful unless we correlate it to the Over/Under records to see how well the Public and Oddsmakers are adapting to this trend. For the season the record is 391/412 (Over/Under) or 51.31% towards Unders. For the last 30 days there has been 187/203 or 52.05% Unders. As with last year we look for the Under dominance to continue and expand.
If you would like to have access to more of our analyses, as well as free picks and tips to win betting baseball, become a member!
0 comments
Post a Comment