I'm a bit late on this, since spring training starts soon -- or would start soon if not for the lockout. But I finally assembled my annual analysis of baseball's cumulative win totals, games over .500 and ranking (of win totals) for all of major league baseball. To remind, I do these by franchise, by location (as indicated in the team's name), by state or state-like entity, and by team nickname.
The job was more complicated this year because of the decision, made last year, to include some of the Negro Leagues as Major League. This meant the addition of 64 franchises that were never before listed as Major League. I am using baseballreference.com as my source of data and of truth. So I didn;t decide whether to include the Negro Leagues, or which leagues in what year to include. I don't know how baseballreference decided. Maybe the offices of MLB decided and br just accepted their decision. I don;t doubt that more Negro Leagues will be added in the years to come. Among those that were included were several teams that had two home locations at once, and some that had no location indicated in their names. For those with no location (e.g., the "Cuban Stars West"), I indicated "N/A") For those with two locations, I created new categories such as "Indianapolis/Detroit" which necessitated new listed states such as "Indiana/Michigan." It's not perfect, but that's what I did since the data don't neatly fit the structure that I had built.
Adding the new data presented new challenges as well, in that Excel is kind of choking on the volume of data. I hope that my next computer is better able to handle it. But because of the issues I ended up recreating my file from the ground up. The bright side? I figured out more-efficient ways of building the file. Things that go in the realm of "Duh, why didn't I think of that before?"
As always, I used baseballreference.com as my source for data. I ran into a few data issues:
- Adding up the records for all teams in 1890, there were 1580 wins, 1581 losses and 61 ties. This is mistaken on its face, but I have no better source to go with. So that's what I have.
- Similarly, in 1928 the records add up to 1614 wins, 1614 losses and 19 ties.
- Similarly, in 1933 the records add up to 1379 wins, 1379 losses and 27 ties.
- Similarly, in 1942 the records add up to 1499 wins, 1500 losses and 30 ties.
In creating the rankings by wins, I used games over .500 as the first tiebreaker and ties as the second tiebreaker. I still ran into a few ties which I did my best to resolve in a logical manner, such as which team preexisted the other.
I am not including the full file here -- actually, I don't know how to embed an Excel file in a blogpost (assuming it's even possible). But if anyone is reading this and wants the file, feel free to contact me and we'll figure something out.
Some of the graphs are at the bottom of this post. I freely admit that this is an exercise in bad data presentation, but I like the way the graphs look.
But before the graphs, some congratulations are in order.
The Miami Marlins went 67-95, pushing Miami (the location) to 653 wins, which was enough to move up two rankings to 33rd. It passes Indianapolis (638 wins, most recently 32 in 1948) and Homestead (629 wins, most recently 44 in 1948). Congratulations, Miami.
The Tampa Bay Rays went 100-62, pushing the name "Rays" to 1,181 wins, which was enough to move up one ranking to 37th, It passes "Monarchs" (1,120 wins, most recently 60 in 1948). Congratulations, "Rays."
The Houston Astros went 95-67, pushing the name "Astros" to 4,529 wins, which was enough to move up one ranking to 19th. It passes "Browns" (4,488 wins, most recently 54 in 1953). Congratulations, "Astros."
The New York Mets went 77-85, pushing the name "Mets" to 4,551 wins, which was enough to move up one ranking to 18th. It passes "Browns" (same as above -- yes, "Browns" moved down two rankings). Congratulations, "Mets".
The Kansas City Royals and The Milwaukee Brewers each passed the 4,000 win mark (for the franchises). The name "Athletics" passed the 10,000 win mark (for the name). The names "Brewers" and "Royals" passed the 4,000 win mark (for the names),
The Cleveland Indians name is being changed to Cleveland Guardians effective this year. Our cultural zeitgeist being what it is, I don't see another franchise calling itself "Indians" in the foreseeable future. So that name stops making progress at 8,532 wins. This year will be the first time there's a Major League team called "Guardians."
And now for some graphs:
Wins by franchise:
Wins by location:
Wins by state:
Wins by nickname:
Games over .500 by franchise:
Games over .500 by location:
Games over .500 by state:
Games over .500 by nickname:
You're welcome
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