RESEARCH: Team quality and saves

Introduction

In the June 21, 2103 edition of the BaseballHQ Radio podcast, the featured guest, Gene McCaffrey of Wise Guy baseball, discussed his research into teams’ current Pythagorean won-loss records to predict which teams might have more wins coming and therefore more save opportunities for their closers.

Besides being a great guy, McCaffrey has a long record of intriguing fantasy research. And his comments got us thinking about the underlying premise: Do better teams generate more save opportunities?

This question has a few angles to consider.

Better teams get more wins, and since wins are a necessary part of saves (you can’t get a save without a win), more wins would seem to means more save opportunities and saves by default.

But...

Almost!

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