October 26, 2008
RBI Distribution
So far in the series, the two teams are even with ten runs scored each. They've also driven in nine runs each. The teams are scoring these runs without a lot of hits, however.
During the regular season, the great majority of RBI came on hits, walks or hit by pitches. The ratio of RBI when the batter earns his way on to not earning his way on is 7.77 to 1. In the first three games of the World Series, the two teams drove in 10 runs on hits, and eight runs when the batter didn't earn his way on. That's a ratio of 1.11 to one. The pitching is good enough to prevent extended rallies, but the batters seem to be putting the ball in play at the right time to push some runs across.
Wow. That is amazing, David. Both teams are equally adept at the same aspect of the game, scoring runs on outs. Considering how many runs they scored in the previous series on power, this is pointing to a different skill sets both teams have. Nice to see the analysis on this as this is rarely highlighted during the season.
Now that Howard has hit his HR, will he start mashing/hitting in the rest of the series?