Just
how do you explain or quantify what a good game pitched is? Is a complete game
(CG) with zero earned runs and 3 K a better performance than a CG with 14 K and
two runs given up? Baseball fans have
spent years trying to answer just this question, and while there is still no
clear cut answer to the question, Bill James, among others, has presented a way
that he believes we can quantify a pitchers performance. The metric which
attempts to do just that, to quantify performances based on one continuum, is
the focus of this article.
GAME SCORE DEFINED
Here
is the formula for Game Score (GSC).
Start
with 50 points.
Add
1 point for each out recorded, (3 points per inning).
Add
2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
Add
1 point for each strikeout.
Subtract
2 points for each hit allowed.
Subtract
4 points for each earned run allowed.
Subtract
2 points for each unearned run allowed.
Subtract
1 point for each walk.
Well
that's pretty straightforward isn't it?For those of you are mathematically inclined here is GSC expressed as an equation:
50 + Outs +
2(IP after the 4th) + K – 2(hits) – 4(ER) – 2 (UER) – BB
*UER
= Unearned Runs
So
GSC, through this simple process,
quantifies what it means to pitch a great game by taking out the subjective
conjecture and replacing it with a tangible formulaic equation…I like
that.How about you?
GAME SCORES FROM 2006
According
to GSC here are the top 10 pitching
performances in the America League last year
|
AL Pitcher
|
Date
|
IP
|
H
|
R
|
ER
|
BB
|
SO
|
#PIT
|
GSC
|
|
John Lackey
|
7/7
|
9
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
109
|
95
|
|
Scott Kazmir
|
7/3
|
9
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
10
|
120
|
91
|
|
Erik Bedard
|
6/21
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
105
|
90
|
|
Johan Santana
|
9/5
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
12
|
95
|
89
|
|
C.C. Sabathia
|
7/7
|
9
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
118
|
88
|
|
Shaun Marcum
|
9/25
|
8
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
10
|
113
|
87
|
|
Francisco Liriano
|
7/2
|
8
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
12
|
103
|
87
|
|
Daniel Cabrera
|
9/28
|
9
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
5
|
106
|
86
|
|
Esteban Loaiza
|
8/23
|
9
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
103
|
86
|
|
M. Hendrickson
|
4/6
|
9
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
106
|
85
|
