For Pittsburgh Pirates, Leaving Men on Base is Old Hat

The Pittsburgh Pirates tied a 1951 team record by leaving 18 men on base in their 8-4 loss against the Dodgers. For the Pirates, this is nothing new.

A 65 year old record was nearly broken yesterday as the Pittsburgh Pirates left 18 men on base. That figure tied the record set in 1951.

Runners left on base (hereafter referred to as LOB) is a tricky statistic. On the surface, one would think that it would be a universally accepted indicator of a team’s ability to score runs. However, that is imperfect thinking. More LOB could just as easily serve as a standard by which teams’ run production efforts are judged. More base runners does equal more runs, afterall.

Again, for the Pirates, leaving a ton of runners on base is nothing new.

Stranded For Years

Over the past three years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been at or near the top of MLB in many LOB and LOB-related statistics.

Statistics compiled entering Saturday’s game

This set of statistics can help us correlate just how the Pirates’ propensity for stragglers affects their performance.

LOB May Not Even Matter

The first thought that practically leaps from this table is that the Pirates have found themselves in the middle-third in MLB in runs per game over the past three years – perhaps the only metric that truly matters – despite leading MLB, or coming a close second, in team LOB in 2014-2015.

That fact alone can easily prove that correlation does not imply causation, but it is interesting nonetheless. The team’s ability to score runs remains largely unaffected by fluctuations in their ability to connect for base hits with runners in scoring position.

In 2014, the club was near the bottom third in batting average w/RISP, but did not see ill effects from the .249 clip. Perhaps that was a function of bringing the seventh-most batters to the plate with RISP, a figure that has increased year-over-year.

This year, the club has seen the most at-bats with runners in scoring position, and despite a middling average, finds themselves in the top half of MLB in runs per game.

LOB continues to be a tricky metric. From the data shown here, the Pittsburgh Pirates seem to be largely unaffected by the amount of runners left on base. As long as they continue to manufacture opportunities, they can stay at just about the same level as years previous.

What isn’t tricky, however, is to wonder what this offense – and thus the team’s standing – might look like if the club could connect on a few more opportunities.

Featured Photo Credit – Arturo Pardavailo – Flickr Creative Commons