Friday, October 7, 2011

AL Championship Series

The Detroit Tigers surprised the New York Yankees and will be facing the Texas Rangers (who defeated the Tampa Bay Rays) for the American League Championship.  Who do we think will win the 2011 AL Championship?






Let's take a look at some of the quant factors from our book, "Who Will Win the Big Game?"  (A Psychological and Mathematical Method).

  • Pitching Leadership: Favors Detroit.  Verlander had a huge season and it will be interesting to see how far he can carry the Tigers.
  • Focus, Defense & Fielding: Also favors Detroit.
  • Consistency: This factor -- based on "batting average rank" favors Texas.  This factor has one of the highest relationships to winning the World Series.
  • Big Game Experience: Favors Texas because Texas reached the World Series recently.
Overall, the factors are even (so this will not count as an "official" quant fact prediction).  However, Detroit has a bigger edge in pitching leadership and focus/fielding -- so the quant facts lean to Detroit slightly.


With the baseball playoffs in full force, there has been some interest in my new baseball book.  The book is meant to teach math to younger fans, but includes rankings of batters and greatest teams that some may like.  Please check it out: