The Coolest Thing You Didn’t Know About

Dave · April 2, 2007 at 1:27 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

If I told you there was a major league scoreboard that updated Win Probability in real time, would you get excited? If so, you’re as nerdy as I am, which makes me feel a little bit better.

Anyways, it’s true. Fangraphs has a live, updating scoreboard that calculates WPA on the fly. ESPN or MLB will tell you that Jose Contreras got bombed – only fangraphs will tell you that his wretched performance was worth -.482 WPA. Since each time starts with approximately a 50% chance to win the game, and Contreras reduces the White Sox chances by 48%, you can safely say that Contreras destroyed any chance the White Sox had of winning today. Sometimes, one guy really can win or lose a game.

On the other side of the ledger you can quantify just how much guys like Miguel Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Ben Sheets, and Adam Dunn have carried their teams.

I heart fangraphs. Of course, this automated version of WPA isn’t as accurate as one done manually, such as the ones Jeff Sullivan does at Lookout Landing every night. His commentary is also hilarious, so don’t let the awesomeness of live WPA distract you from the fact that you still need to read LL every morning.

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Comments

13 Responses to “The Coolest Thing You Didn’t Know About”

  1. msb on April 2nd, 2007 1:29 pm

    so what does it say about

    Name IP H R ER BB K ERA*
    G Meche 1 2 1 1 1 2 9.00

  2. Troy J on April 2nd, 2007 1:33 pm

    looks like it cost them 5%.

  3. Jeff Sullivan on April 2nd, 2007 1:33 pm

    Fangraphs : Me :: Carlos Mencia : other comics.

    >:(

  4. Dave on April 2nd, 2007 1:37 pm

    Disclaimer about the inferiorities of Fangraphs WPA to LL WPA has been added.

  5. Jeff Sullivan on April 2nd, 2007 1:40 pm

    You’re the man.

  6. Dave on April 2nd, 2007 1:45 pm

    And you look like Gil Meche.

  7. John L. Morgan on April 2nd, 2007 1:47 pm

    Awesome tip on the WPA scoreboard, that’s about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Thanks.

  8. Jeff Sullivan on April 2nd, 2007 1:48 pm

    I have all of Gil’s looks and none of the money. What am I supposed to do with that package?

  9. Mariner Fan in CO Exile on April 2nd, 2007 1:49 pm

    Shoot, I don’t even need to be drunk to say it: I heart USS Mariner AND LL, and not just because I can pull up your respective sites and see fresh and informative content like a million times a day now that the season has begun . . .well, that’s actually a good chunk of it, but hey, I’m pretty utilitarian that way. Go M’s!

  10. Dave on April 2nd, 2007 1:50 pm

    We all heart USSM and LL. Despite the fact that we’re 16% more popular with voters, Jeff obviously does great work, and every reader of either blog should be a reader of the other.

  11. Jeff Sullivan on April 2nd, 2007 1:54 pm

    16%. That was subtle.

  12. Brian Rust on April 2nd, 2007 2:28 pm

    Hey, I counted the days, and it looks like Felix and Meche will square off Sunday, April 29, at the Safe. The King vs. . . . well, I guess Gil IS a Royal, too.

  13. vitalogist on April 2nd, 2007 2:56 pm

    yeah well dont look now but…

    G Meche IP 5.0 H 4 R 1 ER 1 SO 6

    i’m sure manny or papi will be bombing something into the fountain soon…

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