Baseball’s 2022 season will come to a conclusion in slightly more than two weeks, setting the stage for 12 clubs to proceed to the playoffs and 18 to get an early jump on 2023.
The end will also offer analysts a chance to assess the performances of all 30 franchises — assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and trying to guess their future courses.
Why don’t we get a head start?
I’ve graded each team in 10 categories, based on the major-league statistics as of September 15. And I’ve used those 10 marks to generate each club’s grade-point average (GPA), using the four-point academic scale so familiar to students everywhere.
Five categories reflect offensive (i.e., batting) output — run production, base production, extra-base production, contact hitting, and batting eye. The other five deal with defensive (i.e., pitching) performance — run prevention, base prevention, extra-base prevention, power pitching, and control pitching.
Grades are based on a curve that encompasses all 30 big-league clubs.
Five stats do double duty, generating both offensive scores (highest is best) and defensive scores (lowest is best).
These stats, as you’ll see below, are runs per plate appearance (a simple ratio), bases per out (bases attained by hits, walks, hit batsmen, stolen bases, and sacrifices, divided by outs made), isolated-power average (extra bases attained by doubles, triples, and homers, divided by at-bats), contact rate (share of at-bats that did not end in strikeouts), and batting-eye rate (unintentional walks per plate appearance).
Click here to learn more about how the stats are calculated.
The New York Yankees, no surprise to anyone, emerge as the overall leader in the American League East, which is the focus of today’s installment. Here is a quick summary for each team.
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1. New York Yankees (3.77 GPA) — The Yanks are strong on both sides of the ball, though the report card gives an edge to pitching (3.87 GPA for its five categories) over hitting (3.67 for its five). The Yankees receive A’s in eight of the 10 categories, doing poorly (in a relative sense) only when it comes to contact hitting.
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2. Toronto Blue Jays (2.80 GPA) — The Jays, as we know, are an offensive juggernaut, as reflected in their 3.20 GPA for that half of the equation. It’s pitching that brings them down, drawing two C’s and a D in the five related categories.
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3. Tampa Bay Rays (2.53 GPA) — Pitching (3.33 GPA for that side) is carrying this club. The Rays earn two A’s and two B’s when it comes to shutting down their opponents, but they’re saddled with two C’s and two D’s when it comes to offensive production.
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4. Baltimore Orioles (1.90 GPA) — The Orioles emerged as a surprise playoff contender this year, though their report card isn’t as impressive as you might have expected. Their overall score is pulled down by six C’s and two D’s.
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5. Boston Red Sox (1.64 GPA) — The Red Sox have been slightly above the norm in run and base production, but no better than average (and often worse than average) in every other category.
Full statistical summaries for all five AL East clubs can be found below. Keep in mind that all stats are through September 15. (Yes, I know that things might change by the end of the season, but you can rest assured that they won’t change by much.)
We’ll move on to the AL Central on Friday, and we’ll hand out grades to all six divisions before the playoffs start.
A new installment will arrive in your email each Tuesday and Friday morning
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Overall GPA: 3.77 points.
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GPA splits: Offense GPA of 3.67 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 3.87 points.
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Run production: .130 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: A.)
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Base production: .724 bases per out. (Grade: A.)
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Extra-base production: .184 isolated-power average. (Grade: A.)
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Contact hitting: .748 contact rate. (Grade: C.)
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Batting eye: .094 batting-eye rate. (Grade: A+.)
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Run prevention: .095 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: A.)
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Base prevention: .570 bases allowed per out. (Grade: A.)
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Extra-base prevention: .135 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: A.)
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Power pitching: .732 contact rate allowed. (Grade: B+.)
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Control pitching: .069 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: A.)
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Overall GPA: 2.80 points.
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GPA splits: Offense GPA of 3.20 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 2.40 points.
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Run production: .123 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: B+.)
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Base production: .704 bases per out. (Grade: B+.)
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Extra-base production: .166 isolated-power average. (Grade: B.)
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Contact hitting: .778 contact rate. (Grade: A.)
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Batting eye: .079 batting-eye rate. (Grade: C+.)
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Run prevention: .112 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: B-.)
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Base prevention: .659 bases allowed per out. (Grade: C.)
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Extra-base prevention: .157 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: D+.)
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Power pitching: .746 contact rate allowed. (Grade: C.)
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Control pitching: .066 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: A.)
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Overall GPA: 2.53 points.
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GPA splits: Offense GPA of 1.73 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 3.33 points.
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Run production: .113 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: C-.)
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Base production: .642 bases per out. (Grade: D+.)
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Extra-base production: .139 isolated-power average. (Grade: D.)
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Contact hitting: .744 contact rate. (Grade: C.)
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Batting eye: .080 batting-eye rate. (Grade: B-.)
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Run prevention: .103 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: B+.)
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Base prevention: .607 bases allowed per out. (Grade: A-.)
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Extra-base prevention: .146 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: B.)
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Power pitching: .742 contact rate allowed. (Grade: C+.)
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Control pitching: .063 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: A+.)
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Overall GPA: 1.90 points.
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GPA splits: Offense GPA of 1.67 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 2.13 points.
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Run production: .112 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: D+.)
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Base production: .652 bases per out. (Grade: C-.)
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Extra-base production: .154 isolated-power average. (Grade: C.)
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Contact hitting: .743 contact rate. (Grade: C-.)
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Batting eye: .075 batting-eye rate. (Grade: C-.)
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Run prevention: .110 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: B-.)
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Base prevention: .661 bases allowed per out. (Grade: C.)
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Extra-base prevention: .152 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: C.)
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Power pitching: .780 contact rate allowed. (Grade: D-.)
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Control pitching: .071 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: B+.)
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Overall GPA: 1.64 points.
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GPA splits: Offense GPA of 2.00 points. Pitching/defense GPA of 1.27 points.
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Run production: .119 runs scored per plate appearance. (Grade: B-.)
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Base production: .676 bases per out. (Grade: B-.)
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Extra-base production: .152 isolated-power average. (Grade: C.)
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Contact hitting: .752 contact rate. (Grade: C.)
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Batting eye: .072 batting-eye rate. (Grade: D-.)
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Run prevention: .126 runs allowed per plate appearance. (Grade: D-.)
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Base prevention: .694 bases allowed per out. (Grade: D.)
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Extra-base prevention: .156 isolated-power average allowed. (Grade: C-.)
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Power pitching: .755 contact rate allowed. (Grade: D+.)
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Control pitching: .082 batting-eye rate allowed. (Grade: C-.)
