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Win Probability Added
Win probability added (WPA) is a sport statistic which attempts to measure a player's contribution to a win by figuring the factor by which each specific play made by that player has altered the outcome of a game. It is used for baseball and American football. Explanation Some form of win probability has been around for about 40 years; however, until computer use became widespread, win probability added was often difficult to derive, or imprecise. With the aid of Retrosheet, however, win probability added has become substantially easier to calculate. The win probability for a specific situation in baseball (including the inning, number of outs, men on base, and score) is obtained by first finding all the teams that have encountered this situation. Then the winning percentage of these teams in these situations is found. This probability figure is then adjusted for home-field advantage. Thus win probability added is the difference between the win probability when the player came to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called " runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). The principal objective of the batting team is to hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major league game played since the 1871 season (the inception of organized professional baseball), as well as all All-Star Games and postseason games, including the World Series. History Retrosheet informally began in 1989, through the efforts of Dr. David Smith, a biology professor at the University of Delaware, and fellow baseball enthusiasts. Building on momentum begun by writer Bill James' Project Scoresheet in 1984, Smith brought together a host of like-minded individuals to compile an accessible database of statistical information previously unavailable to the general public. Smith originally contacted teams and sportswriters in order to gain access to their scorebooks, while other contributors researched old newspapers for play-by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home-field Advantage
In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to gain over the visiting team. This benefit has been attributed to psychological effects supporting fans have on the competitors or referees; to psychological or physiological advantages of playing near home in familiar situations; to the disadvantages away teams suffer from changing time zones or climates, or from the rigors of travel; and in some sports, to specific rules that favor the home team directly or indirectly. In baseball and cricket in particular, the difference may also be the result of the home team having been assembled to take advantage of the idiosyncrasies of the home ballpark/ ground, such as the distances to the outfield walls/ boundaries; most other sports are played in standardized venues. The term is also widely us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2011 World Series
The 2011 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2011 season. The 107th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Texas Rangers and the National League (NL) champion St. Louis Cardinals; the Cardinals defeated the Rangers in seven games to win their 11th World Series championship and their second in six seasons. The Series was noted for its back-and-forth Game 6, in which the Cardinals erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th inning, then did it again in the 10th. In both innings, the Rangers were one strike away from their first World Series championship. The Cardinals won the game in the 11th inning on a walk-off home run by David Freese, who was named World Series MVP. The Series was also known for the blowout Game 3, in which Cardinals player Albert Pujols hit three home runs, a World Series feat previously accomplished only by Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Freese
David Richard Freese (born April 28, 1983) is an American former professional baseball Infielder, infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). He began his MLB career with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he was a key player during the 2011 Major League Baseball postseason, postseason, batting average (baseball), batting .545 with 12 hit (baseball), hits in the 2011 National League Championship Series, 2011 National League Championship Series (NLCS). He also set an MLB postseason record of 21 run batted in, runs batted in (RBIs), earning the League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award, NLCS MVP Award and World Series Most Valuable Player Award, World Series MVP Award. In addition, Freese won the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the 2011 MLB postseason. He also played for the Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers. A star high school player, Freese declined a college baseball scholarship from the University of Missouri. Needing a break from bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson (born May 28, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He is currently a color commentator for the Detroit Tigers on Bally Sports Detroit and a special assistant for the Tigers. As a player, Gibson was an outfielder who batted and threw left-handed. He spent most of his career with the Detroit Tigers, and also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates. While with the Dodgers, Gibson was named the National League MVP in . During his career, he hit two dramatic home runs in the World Series, each one coming against an eventual Hall of Fame relief pitcher. With the Tigers in 1984, he clinched the title in Game Five with a three-run homer off Goose Gossage, who had refused to walk him with a base open. With the Dodgers in 1988, Gibson faced closer Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of the first game and hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run—often described as one of the most exciting moments in World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1988 World Series
The 1988 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1988 season. The 85th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers, with the Dodgers upsetting the heavily favored Athletics to win the Series in five games. The series is best known for the Game 1 pinch-hit walk-off home run by star Dodgers outfielder Kirk Gibson, who did not start and could barely walk due to a leg injury yet hit the winning homer against Athletics closer Dennis Eckersley. Although Gibson's homer has become an iconic World Series moment, it was World Series MVP Orel Hershiser who capped a dominant 1988 season in which he set the all time scoreless inning streak at 59 innings, recorded five straight shutouts, led the league with 23 wins and 267 innings, and won the Cy Young and Gold Glove awards. Hershiser was the NL Championship Series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Garvey
Steven Patrick Garvey (born December 22, 1948) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1987. Garvey was the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player in 1974 and National League Championship Series MVP in 1978 and 1984. He was an NL All-Star for 10 seasons and holds the NL record for consecutive games played (1,207). The Padres retired Garvey's No. 6 in 1988. Early life Garvey was born in Tampa, Florida, to parents who had recently relocated from Long Island, New York. From 1956 to 1961, Garvey was a bat boy for the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers during spring training. Michigan State University After graduating from Chamberlain High School, Garvey played football and baseball at Michigan State University. He was committed to play football and baseball in college despite being drafted in the 3rd round by the Minnesota Twins in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1984 National League Championship Series
The 1984 National League Championship Series was played between the San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs from October 2 to 7. San Diego won the series three games to two to advance to the World Series. It was the first postseason series ever for the Padres since the franchise's beginning in 1969, and the first appearance by the Cubs in postseason play since the 1945 World Series. Chicago took a 2–0 lead in the series, but San Diego prevailed after rebounding to win three straight, which contributed to the popular mythology of the " Curse of the Billy Goat" on the Cubs. The series was the 16th NLCS in all -- in 1985 the League Championship Series changed to a best-of-seven format -- and one of only four League Championship Series (and the first of two NLCSs) in which the home team won every game. Due to a strike by major league umpires, the first four games of the NLCS were played with replacement umpires. The umpires originally scheduled to work the series were John Kibler, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lance Berkman
William Lance Berkman (born February 10, 1976), nicknamed "Fat Elvis" and "Big Puma", is an American baseball coach and former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman, who is the current head baseball coach of the Houston Christian Huskies. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. Berkman is a six-time MLB All-Star and won a World Series championship and the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award with the Cardinals in 2011. He stands , and weighs . Berkman spent various seasons of his career as a regular at all three outfield positions. A standout baseball player at Canyon High School, Berkman attended Rice University, where he played college baseball for the Owls. The Astros selected Berkman in the first round of that year's amateur draft, and he debuted in the major leagues in 1999. He joined the Astros' vaunted " Killer B's" lineup that included Jeff Bagwell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
