Postseason Odds

Last update: Wed Oct 1 07:01:00 2008 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 Wed Oct 1 08:30:00 EDT 2008


Average wins by position in AL East:  97.0 95.0 89.0 86.0 68.0
AL East           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Rays              97   65   .593   97.0   65.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Red Sox           95   67   .623   95.0   67.0     .00000  100.00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Yankees           89   73   .560   89.0   73.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Blue Jays         86   76   .564   86.0   76.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Orioles           68   93   .460   68.0   93.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in AL Central:  89.0 88.0 81.0 75.0 74.0 87.4
AL Central        W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
White Sox         89   74   .539   89.0   74.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000       43.26420  23.34970
Twins             88   75   .508   88.0   75.0     .00000     .00000     .00000      -43.26420 -23.34970
Indians           81   81   .518   81.0   81.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Royals            75   87   .472   75.0   87.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Tigers            74   88   .491   74.0   88.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in AL west:  100.0 79.0 75.0 61.0 101.0
AL West           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Angels           100   62   .517  100.0   62.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Rangers           79   83   .487   79.0   83.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Athletics         75   86   .478   75.0   86.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Mariners          61  101   .408   61.0  101.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by AL Wild Card:  95.0

Average wins by position in NL East:  92.0 89.0 84.0 72.0 59.0 91.4
NL East           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Phillies          92   70   .534   92.0   70.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000   1.49208
Mets              89   73   .541   89.0   73.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000 -72.14558
Marlins           84   77   .504   84.0   77.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Braves            72   90   .489   72.0   90.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Nationals         59  102   .400   59.0  102.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in NL Central:  97.0 90.0 86.0 86.0 74.0 67.0 97.6
NL Central        W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Cubs              97   64   .582   97.0   64.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000    .00000
Brewers           90   72   .531   90.0   72.0     .00000  100.00000  100.00000         .00000  70.70407
Astros            86   75   .472   86.0   75.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -0.05057
Cardinals         86   76   .521   86.0   76.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Reds              74   88   .423   74.0   88.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Pirates           67   95   .388   67.0   95.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by position in NL West:  84.0 82.0 74.0 72.0 63.0 84.8
NL West           W    L    Pct3  Avg W  Avg L  Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs      1D Change 7D Change
Dodgers           84   78   .545   84.0   78.0  100.00000     .00000  100.00000         .00000   2.02225
Diamondbacks      82   80   .515   82.0   80.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000  -2.02225
Rockies           74   88   .477   74.0   88.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Giants            72   90   .436   72.0   90.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000
Padres            63   99   .424   63.0   99.0     .00000     .00000     .00000         .00000    .00000

Average wins by NL Wild Card:  90.0

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.

© 2008 Prospectus Entertainment Ventures