Rating the divisions

[Beaneater]

I was checking the standings the other day, looking especially at run differential, not just by individual team, but by whole divisions. Presumably when two divisional rivals play, the total run differential is always 0. So a division's total run differential is really just a way of expressing its run differential against all the other divisions. As of this morning, here are the total divisional run differentials:

 

AL East: +207

AL Central: +25

AL West: -138

NL East: -160

NL Central: +185

NL West: -119

 

Not exactly rocket science, but still illustrative. The AL East doesn't have any horrible teams (trust the Yankees to be 8 games over .500 with a -15 diffie... must be that Yankee mystique or something). Neither does the NL Central. Well, the Brewers and Cubs have awful records but their diffies aren't totally embarrassing.

 

It does make me fear the A's a little bit less, seeing numbers that quantify how lame their division is. And it makes me wonder how much the Braves are for real.

 

Crunching the numbers again, by league:

 

AL: +94

NL: -94 (obviously)

 

Take that for what it's worth.

[Navafan29]

Idk if I trust run differential, but this is great.