A quick breakdown of Game Scores for Starting Pitchers

[molitor fan]

Here is a website that provides a nice overview for a variety of stats, as well as the Game Score stat, which does a pretty darn good job of evaluating starting pitching performance.

 

www.stathead.com/bbeng/wo...ossary.htm

 

 

Game Score (from the site is the below quote)

 

GS = 50 + 3*IP -2*(H+R+ER)-BB+SO + (+2/each full Inning completed starting with the 5th)

 

Bill James invented this pitcher's per-start metric as a response to the adoption of Quality Starts, which James felt were too coarse a measurement for evaluating the quality of a pitcher's outing. Game Score is a useful rule of thumb, since it is calculable from a box score, but it is not sabermetrically precise (e.g. strikeouts are weighted twice as much as other outs). It is commonly thought of a measure for how "dominant" a pitcher was in the game (sometimes colloquially known as "Ryanicity" since Nolan Ryan and his multiple no-hitters were among the best Game Scores measured).

 

Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout,1 hit shutout in early 1998 was the highest Game Score ever recorded for a 9 inning game coming in at 105. A variant of Game Score includes a -1 penalty for HBP and Balks, though this gets away from James's original intent, which was to have GS calculable from the items in a typical box score pitching line.

[1992casey]

Here's the data molitor fan compiled.

 

NL 2006 Game Scores

 

Brewer Pitchers

 

Ben Sheets	58 (17 starts)
Chris Capuano	53
Dave Bush	53
Jeff Suppan	48
Claudio Vargas	47
Carlos Villanueva	53 (6 starts)

NL Pitchers

 

Brandon Webb	63
Roger Clemens	60 (19 starts)
Anibal Sanchez	59 (17 starts)
Chris Carpenter	59
Carlos Zambrano	57
Roy Oswalt	57
Chris Young	57
John Smoltz	56
Bronson Arroyo	56
Jason Schmidt	55
Jake Peavy	55
Matt Cain	55
John Maine	55 (15 starts)
Josh Johnson	55
Brett Myers	54
Cole Hamels	54
Aaron Harang	54
Pedro Martinez	54
Clay Hensley	53
Chuck James	53 (18 starts)
Rich Hill	53 (16 starts)
Derek Lowe	52
Scott Olsen	52
Dontrelle Willis	52
Jason Jennings	52
Tom Glavine	51
Orlando Hernandez	51
Jeff Francis	50
Andy Pettitte	50
Chad Billingsly	50 (16 starts)
Greg Maddux	50
Woody Williams	50
Brad Penny	50
Ian Snell	49
Anthony Reyes	49
Noah Lowry	48
Mark Hendrickson	48
Chan Ho Park	48
Mike O'Connor	48
Matt Morris	48
Eric Milton	47
Livan Hernandez	47
Jon Lieber	47
Ricky Nolasco	47
Tim Hudson	47
Tomo Ohka	47 (18 starts)
Zach Duke	47
Aaron Cook	47
Tony Armas	46
Byung Hyun Kim	46
Paul Maholm	46
Miguel Batista	46
Jamey Wright	45
Steve Trachsel	45
Elizardo Ramirez	45 (19 starts)
Enrique Gonzalez	44 (18 starts)
Sean Marshall	44
Victor Santos	44 (19 starts)
Jeff Weaver	43
Josh Fogg	43
Ramon Ortiz	43
Jason Marquis	43
Oliver Perez	42
Wandy Rodriguez	41
Mark Mulder	38 (17 starts)
Brian Moehler	38

AL 2006 Game Scores

 

Francisco Liriano	65 (16 starts)
Johan Santana	62
Jared Weaver	60
Justin Verlander	57
CC Sabathia	57
Scott Kazmir	56
Roy Halladay	55
Mike Mussina	55
John Lackey	55
Curt Schilling	54
Kelvim Escobar	53
Jeremy Bonderman	53
Dan Haren	53
Jose Contreras	53
AJ Burnett	53
Ervin Santana	52
Barry Zito	52
Nate Robertson	52
Felix Hernandez	51
Kenny Rogers	51
Jake Westbrook	51
Jeremy Sowers	50 (14 starts)
Josh Beckett	50
Javier Vazquez	50
Daniel Cabrera	50
Kevin Millwood	50
Ted Lilly	50
Chien Ming Wang	50
Vincente Padilla	50
Freddy Garcia	50
Gil Meche	50
Erik Bedard	49
James Shields	49
Tim Wakefield	49
Jaime Moyer	49
Adam Loewen	48 (19 starts)
Cliff Lee	48
Tim Corcoran	48 (16 starts)
Jon Garland	48
Jaret Wright	47
Kris Benson	47
Brad Radke	47
Jarrod Washburn	46
Esteban Loaiza	46
Casey Fossum	46
Casey Janssen	46 (17 starts)
Gustavo Chacin	46 (17 starts)
Boof Bonser	45 (18 starts)
Joe Blanton	45
Scott Elarton	45
Mark Buehrle	45
Paul Byrd	44
Mark Redman	43
Rodrigo Lopez	43
John Karonka	43
Scott Baker	41 (16 starts)
Carlos Silva	40
Joel Pineiro	39
Runelvys Hernandez	39

AL & NL (combined) 2006 Game Scores

 

Francisco Liriano	65 (16 starts)
Brandon Webb	63
Johan Santana	62
Jared Weaver	60
Anibal Sanchez	59 (17 starts)
Chris Carpenter	59
Ben Sheets	58 (17 starts)
Carlos Zambrano	57
Roy Oswalt	57
Chris Young	57
Justin Verlander	57
CC Sabathia	57
John Smoltz	56
Bronson Arroyo	56
Scott Kazmir	56
Roy Halladay	55
Mike Mussina	55
John Lackey	55
Jason Schmidt	55
Jake Peavy	55
Matt Cain	55
John Maine	55 (15 starts)
Josh Johnson	55
Brett Myers	54
Cole Hamels	54
Aaron Harang	54
Pedro Martinez	54
Curt Schilling	54
Kelvim Escobar	53
Chris Capuano	53
Dave Bush	53
Jeremy Bonderman	53
Dan Haren	53
Jose Contreras	53
AJ Burnett	53
Clay Hensley	53
Chuck James	53 (18 starts)
Rich Hill	53 (16 starts)
Derek Lowe	52
Scott Olsen	52
Dontrelle Willis	52
Jason Jennings	52
Ervin Santana	52
Barry Zito	52
Nate Robertson	52
Felix Hernandez	51
Kenny Rogers	51
Jake Westbrook	51
Tom Glavine	51
Orlando Hernandez	51
Jeff Francis	50
Andy Pettitte	50
Chad Billingsly	50 (16 starts)
Greg Maddux	50
Woody Williams	50
Brad Penny	50
Jeremy Sowers	50 (14 starts)
Josh Beckett	50
Javier Vazquez	50
Daniel Cabrera	50
Kevin Millwood	50
Ted Lilly	50
Chien Ming Wang	50
Vincente Padilla	50
Freddy Garcia	50
Gil Meche	50
Erik Bedard	49
James Shields	49
Tim Wakefield	49
Jaime Moyer	49
Ian Snell	49
Anthony Reyes	49
Jeff Suppan	48
Noah Lowry	48
Mark Hendrickson	48
Chan Ho Park	48
Mike O'Connor	48
Matt Morris	48
Adam Loewen	48 (19 starts)
Cliff Lee	48
Tim Corcoran	48 (16 starts)
Jon Garland	48
Jaret Wright	47
Claudio Vargas	47
Kris Benson	47
Brad Radke	47
Eric Milton	47
Livan Hernandez	47
Jon Lieber	47
Ricky Nolasco	47
Tim Hudson	47
Tomo Ohka	47 (18 starts)
Zach Duke	47
Aaron Cook	47
Tony Armas	46
Byung Hyun Kim	46
Paul Maholm	46
Miguel Batista	46
Jarrod Washburn	46
Esteban Loaiza	46
Casey Fossum	46
Casey Janssen	46 (17 starts)
Gustavo Chacin	46 (17 starts)
Boof Bonser	45 (18 starts)
Joe Blanton	45
Scott Elarton	45
Mark Buehrle	45
Jamey Wright	45
Steve Trachsel	45
Elizardo Ramirez	45 (19 starts)
Enrique Gonzalez	44 (18 starts)
Sean Marshall	44
Victor Santos	44 (19 starts)
Paul Byrd	44
Mark Redman	43
Rodrigo Lopez	43
John Karonka	43
Jeff Weaver	43
Josh Fogg	43
Ramon Ortiz	43
Jason Marquis	43
Oliver Perez	42
Wandy Rodriguez	41
Scott Baker	41 (16 starts)
Carlos Silva	40
Joel Pineiro	39
Runelvys Hernandez	39
Mark Mulder	38 (17 starts)
Brian Moehler	38

------------------------

EDIT: Links seemed to break for IE users; replaced them with full text

[1992casey]

---

GS = 50 + 3*IP -2*(H+R+ER)-BB+SO + (+2/each full Inning completed starting with the 5th)

---

endaround eloquently put this equation into words in the Quality Starts thread. For the sake of those whose eyeballs pop when reading equations, I'll repost what he said:

Game Score: 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.

[sbrylski]

So how well does Game Score correlate to team wins?

[rluzinski]

Yeh, I'm wondering if James just messed around with the numbers until they made sense, or if each component is weighed what they are for a reason.

 

Casey, what kind of data link is that? All the info is in the link itself? I've never seen something like that.

[endaround]

I'm not sure how much James actually delved into it (remember it was the 1980s where simple regressions required access to a university mainframe). It was just set up as a way to see how dominant a pitcher in a given game in a way just runs allowed doesn't. Meaning a pitcher pitching 7 innings while striking out 8 and allowing 2 runs was more dominant than a pitcher who went 7 with 2 runs but had men on base all day.

[1992casey]

---

Casey, what kind of data link is that? All the info is in the link itself? I've never seen something like that.

---

I edited those links out because molitor fan said they weren't viewable in IE. We all know what happens when one does this, but I assumed that data URIs were something basic that all browsers handled.

 

Essentially, the entire content of a file is converted and placed within the href attribute of the anchor tag.

 

This is something that can be either really cool or really awful for message boards. I've often seen this technique used when people want to post big chunks of code for review. It saves the reader from having to sift through code (and possibly scrolling sideways) to get to the actual content of a post.

 

The potential for abuse is that someone could upload huge amounts of data to a message board that should be stored on another server. For smaller amounts of information that would otherwise be posted within the message anyway, it saves a bunch of scrolling. That was the case here.

 

Also, in this case, using the data URI actually saved a bit of HTML code and would have effected a slightly, but probably unnoticeably, faster page load.