Baseball's Most Important Plays

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

This is a fun article that looks at the biggest regular season moment for every team as measured by "Championship Win Probability Added" -- or plays that have had the biggest positive effect on each team's chances of winning the World Series.



I'll spoil it for you and reveal Bobby Thompson and Bucky Dent are near the top of course but before you click over, can you guess the Mets' biggest play ever?



The time and place didn't surprise me but the hero did.



http://www.highheatstats.com/2021/02/theres-a-long-drive-the-biggest-regular-season-play-for-every-franchise/http://www.highheatstats.com/2021/02/theres-a-long-drive-the-biggest-regular-season-play-for-every-franchise/

[batmagadanleadoff]

So before I peek, did the player's team have to actually win the WS to qualify? Or did the play in question have to favor a team that actually won the WS?

Edited February 24, 2021 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

By "biggest play ever," I'm guessing you mean in the positive sense.



I'm going to go with, um, Mitchell scoring on the wild pitch.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: By "biggest play ever," I'm guessing you mean in the positive sense. I'm going to go with, um, Mitchell scoring on the wild pitch.

I was thinking something like that. It'd have to be a play that happened while the Mets were behind, I figure, thus ruling out something like Swoboda's catch.

[Edgy MD]

Oh, regular season ... uh ... the Ball off the Wall?

[batmagadanleadoff]

How about the ball off the wall play?

[Edgy MD]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56821 time=1614183309 user_id=68]
How about the ball off the wall play?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

No they didn't have to win the world series, just the one play in the regular season that resulted in the largest percentage increase that they could win the world series.



I also suspected the Ball on the wall play but wasn't precise enough.



Look at the video-- and I'm shocked what a terrible center fielder Willie Stargell was. Geez Louise

[Benjamin Grimm]

How about a dark horse? Maybe Brad Clontz's wild pitch?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: No they didn't have to win the world series, just the one play in the regular season that resulted in the largest percentage increase that they could win the world series. I also suspected the Ball on the wall play but wasn't precise enough. Look at the video-- and I'm shocked what a terrible center fielder Willie Stargell was. Geez Louise

I didn't know Stargell played center. Or that he'd even be on the field for the ball off the wall play.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I noticed that route toward Dyer's hit too. I don't know that Stargell ought to have caught that, but he was playing deep. Omar Moreno would have gotten there with time to camp under it 19 times out of 20.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Dyer and the ball off the wall? Whaddayouse talkin' about?

[Edgy MD]

If you check the link, the biggest championship-improving play was in the same game as the BotW play, but it was Duffy Dyer's game-tying double in the ninth.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Both on Dyer's hit where he takes a bad route and seems to slow up, and on Hodges hit where he starts tip-toeing and almost lets the ball by him.



Stargell was the left fielder after all, now that I check, but the guy who didn't make either play

[smg58]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: No they didn't have to win the world series, just the one play in the regular season that resulted in the largest percentage increase that they could win the world series. I also suspected the Ball on the wall play but wasn't precise enough. Look at the video-- and I'm shocked what a terrible center fielder Willie Stargell was. Geez Louise

I'm not old enough to remember Stargell as an outfielder. Given how slow he clearly was, I'm amazed he played out there at all. But I think he was playing left and they were pretty heavily shifted on that play. You have to figure 90% of outfielders at least get under that routinely.

[Edgy MD]

Al Oliver, who would also transition to be primarily a firstbaseman in his thirties, started in center, but by the time the ninth had rolled around, Dave Augustine had entered the game as a pinch runner for firstbaseman Bob Robertson, with Oliver moving to his future home of first base.



I can't speak to whether Augustine was any good, as he only appeared in 29 games over two seasons, but he did show off his cop-on-the-edge facial hair standing in whatever the Bradenton version of The Sadecki Spot is on the Topps '74 Rookie Outfielders card.



https://vintagecardprices.com/pics/1869/1_150893.jpg>

[MFS62]

Why did the author think he had to use both cities on the #2 and #1 plays?

The team resided in New York when Thompson hit the homer, not San Francisco.

Same with #2, they were in LA in 1962, not Brooklyn.



It made the article less professional to me, pedantic, not scholarly.

Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

That's your takeaway?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: That's your takeaway?

Yeah, really. It's the highest cWPA for each team/franchise. That's supposed to detract from the article? If the author ranked them by city, there'd be no Mets entry. Or Yankees entry. Or Angels entry. And just one Chicago entry. You think that'd make the article better?

[MFS62]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: That's your takeaway?

Yes it was.

Bobby Thompson played for a team named the New York Giants when he hit that home run. Period. San Francisco wasn't even a gleam in Horace Stoneham's eye yet.



It somehow lessened the work he did to research and write the article. This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up.

What should have been a "that was interesting" moment was turned into a WTF moment.

And, obviously, I felt strongly about it or else I wouldn't have mentioned it.

Later

[seawolf17]

They're talking franchise history, which is why they say things like Montreal/Washington, too. You're really overthinking this, 62.

[batmagadanleadoff]

So how would you have liked for the events to have been organized? Because I'm not sure I understand you.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=MFS62 post_id=56851 time=1614197334 user_id=60]This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up

[MFS62]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56854 time=1614198053 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56851 time=1614197334 user_id=60]This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up

[batmagadanleadoff]

=MFS62 post_id=56855 time=1614198554 user_id=60]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56854 time=1614198053 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56851 time=1614197334 user_id=60]This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up

[MFS62]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56856 time=1614198947 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56855 time=1614198554 user_id=60]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56854 time=1614198053 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56851 time=1614197334 user_id=60]This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up

[batmagadanleadoff]

=MFS62 post_id=56858 time=1614199571 user_id=60]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56856 time=1614198947 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56855 time=1614198554 user_id=60]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=56854 time=1614198053 user_id=68]
=MFS62 post_id=56851 time=1614197334 user_id=60]This isn't the teams listing in baseball-reference.com where they list all the cities where a franchise has played. This was about specific dates and events.

His editor should have picked that up

[G-Fafif]

That is a fun article. Every one of those writeups gave me a little late-season every-pitch-matters rush.



God, baseball can be great.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Condescending? You could have avoided all of this snark had you simply answered this post:

So how would you have liked for the events to have been organized? Because I'm not sure I understand you.

But instead, you told me that "RIF" (reading is fundamental). And I'm condescending?



Typical day for me at the CPF.

[kcmets]

I have no pony in this thread, but I'm brought up. I'm touched!