Postseason Odds

Last update: Tue Oct 20 05:16:00 2009 PT



Playing the rest of the season a million times

by Clay Davenport

See the PECOTA-adjusted version of this report. As well as the ELO-adjusted version of this report.

Generated Mon Oct 5 10:45:02 EDT 2009


Average wins by position in AL East:  103.0 95.0 84.0 75.0 64.0
AL East           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Yankees          103   59   .616  103.0   59.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Red Sox           95   67   .555   95.0   67.0     .00000  100.00000  100.00000         .00000    .01103
Rays              84   78   .564   84.0   78.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Blue Jays         75   87   .519   75.0   87.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Orioles           64   98   .430   64.0   98.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in AL Central:  87.0 86.0 79.0 65.0 65.0 86.2
AL Central        W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Tigers            86   76   .483   86.4   76.6   43.33420     .00000   43.33420       -2.70900 -35.35089
Twins             86   76   .509   86.6   76.4   56.66580     .00000   56.66580        2.70900  35.35090
White Sox         79   83   .492   79.0   83.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Indians           65   97   .457   65.0   97.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Royals            65   97   .438   65.0   97.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in AL west:  97.0 87.0 85.0 75.0 97.0
AL West           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Angels            97   65   .534   97.0   65.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .35163
Rangers           87   75   .525   87.0   75.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -0.36267
Mariners          85   77   .512   85.0   77.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Athletics         75   87   .505   75.0   87.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by AL Wild Card:  95.0

Average wins by position in NL East:  93.0 87.0 86.0 70.0 59.0 92.1
NL East           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Phillies          93   69   .527   93.0   69.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .16372
Marlins           87   75   .510   87.0   75.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -0.04612
Braves            86   76   .537   86.0   76.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000 -17.45313
Mets              70   92   .470   70.0   92.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Nationals         59  103   .439   59.0  103.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in NL Central:  91.0 83.0 80.0 78.0 74.0 62.0 91.1
NL Central        W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Cardinals         91   71   .529   91.0   71.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Cubs              83   78   .508   83.0   78.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -0.00347
Brewers           80   82   .458   80.0   82.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Reds              78   84   .443   78.0   84.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Astros            74   88   .419   74.0   88.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Pirates           62   99   .396   62.0   99.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in NL West:  95.0 92.0 88.0 75.0 70.0 95.3
NL West           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Dodgers           95   67   .605   95.0   67.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Rockies           92   70   .551   92.0   70.0     .00000  100.00000  100.00000         .00000  17.39847
Giants            88   74   .512   88.0   74.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -0.05947
Padres            75   87   .460   75.0   87.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Diamondbacks      70   92   .494   70.0   92.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by NL Wild Card:  92.0

As the title says, the post-season odds report was compiled by running a Monte Carlo simulation of the rest of the season one million times. Current wins, losses and expected winning percentages are taken from the Adjusted Standings Report.

Expected winning percentages (EWP) for each team starts with their W3 and L3 from the Adjusted Standings. A regression is applied to derive the EWP for the rest of the season, which is going to be between the current winning percentage and .500. To allow for uncertainty in the EWP, a normal distribution centered on the EWP is randomly sampled, and that value is used for the remainder of the season in that iteration. To simulate the normal 4% home-field advantage, the home team gets a .020 point bonus, while the visitors take a 0.020 penalty. The likelihood of winning each game is determined by the log5 method. W and L are the team's wins and losses through yesterday's games.

Pct3 is the expected winning percentage, taken from W3 and L3, with the regression-to-mean component.

Avg W and Avg L are the average number of wins and losses each team finishes over the million season iterations.

Champions is how often, in percentage terms, this team won the championship of their division. Ties are not broken, but credited as 0.5 championships apiece (for a two-way tie), .333 apiece for a three-way tie, .25 for four-way, etc. This is why the final decimal place is not an error!

Wild Card is how often, in percentage terms, this team won the wild card. As with championships, ties are not broken, but apportioned among the tied teams.

Playoffs is how often, in percentage terms, the team either wins the division or the wild card.

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