More on The Cubs’ Clutch Hitting

by
August 16, 2010

Earlier I detailed the Cubs’ clutch-hitting woes over the past decade-plus. I’m back with more stats on a league-wide level to support the insanity of the situation.

After taking each team’s Clutch batting score from 2000 until the 2010 season and averaging them on a per-team basis, I found that the mean is -7.26 wins and the standard deviation is 12.7. That means that the Cubs (-35.1) are more than two standard deviations away from the mean. The Diamondbacks (-26.2), Reds (-24.1), and Rockies (-22.6) are all a standard deviation away on the same side of the scale as the Cubs. Meanwhile the Angels (16), Twins (14.7), Mariners (11.7), Athletics (8.9), and Royals (8.5) are more than one standard deviation away from the mean on the other side.

No team, though, is as far away from that mean as the Cubs. The data presents a normal distribution, with 20 of the 30 teams falling within one standard deviation of the mean and every team but those Cubs falling within two standard deviations of the mean; making the Cubs a genuinely remarkable story. One that I have no explanation for other than, that is baseball.

I then ran a standard deviation on a team-by-team basis, to see if the Cubs were amongst the team with the most consistent Clutch scores. As it turns out, they are near the middle of the pack at eleventh. The most impressive team, from my perspective, is the Twins. Who have one of the highest cumulative Clutch batting scores and the second lowest deviations. The Angels are on the flip side, with a standard deviation of nearly four wins and the Reds, well, they’re a special story, with a standard deviation over eight thanks to some hot and cold seasons.

Below the jump is a complete list of teams and their cumulative Clutch hitting scores.

Team Total
Angels 16.04
Twins 14.66
Mariners 11.7
Athletics 11.17
Giants 8.87
Royals 8.49
Yankees 4.76
Cardinals -0.75
Padres -1.01
Red Sox -4.07
White Sox -5.19
Astros -5.3
Devil Rays -6.55
Marlins -7.34
Blue Jays -7.54
Phillies -7.71
Nationals -10.5
Braves -11.08
Mets -11.44
Dodgers -12.49
Brewers -13.39
Indians -14.12
Rangers -14.44
Orioles -16.8
Tigers -17.84
Pirates -18.05
Rockies -22.56
Reds -24.11
Diamondbacks -26.21
Cubs -35.13

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Jeremy
15 years ago

I believe that is what you call Cubbery.

3