Glossary: Team Audit

Def Eff, or Defensive Efficiency, is the rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs by a team's defense. Def Eff can be approximated with (1 - BABIP), if all you have is BABIP, but a team's actual Def Eff is computed with

1 - ((H + ROE - HR) / (PA - BB - SO - HBP - HR))

the Team Audit Standings use the latter formula.

Difference between RS/G and RA/G. A positive number means a team is scoring more runs than they're allowing on average.

In player or team statistical context, batted balls that were classified as ground balls.

In team standings context, Games Back. How far this team is behind the team leading the division. The formula is

((Division Leader's Wins - This team's Wins) + (This team's Losses - Division Leader's Losses)) / 2

The Division Leader is the team with the highest team Wins minus team Losses. GB is traditionally expressed as a dash (-) for the division leader and a whole or half number for teams behind that team. For teams lagging the Division Leader, a win or a Division Leader Loss will reduce their GB by half a game.

GB is not recalculated for League or All MLB groupings; it always reflects a team's status relative to the leader of their division.

Used to determine a team's ranking in the Prospectus Hit List power rankings, the Hit List Factor is an average of a team's actual winning percentage and the three Pythagenpat winning percentages from our Adjusted Standings report. The first-order winning percentage is calculated via actual runs scored and runs allowed, the second-order winning percentage uses Equivalent Runs scored and allowed, which are calculated from run components (hits, walks, total bases, stolen bases, outs, etc.) and adjusted for park and league scoring levels, and the third-order winning percentage uses Adjusted Equivalent Runs scored and allowed, which adjust the Equivalent Runs totals for the quality of each team's opponents' pitching and defense. You can find more information on the process here.

The team's ranking in the latest Prospectus Hit List article. Unlike many power rankings, the Prospectus Hit List rankings are determined objectively via the Hit List Factor, an average of a team's actual winning percentage and the three Pythagenpat winning percentages from our Adjusted Standings report. The first-order winning percentage is calculated via actual runs scored and runs allowed, the second-order winning percentage uses Equivalent Runs scored and allowed, which are calculated from run components (hits, walks, total bases, stolen bases, outs, etc.) and adjusted for park and league scoring levels, and the third-order winning percentage uses Adjusted Equivalent Runs scored and allowed, which adjust the Equivalent Runs totals for the quality of each team's opponents' pitching and defense. You can find more information on the process here.

Refers to a pitcher's losses. In context of a team rather than an individual pitcher, refers to team losses. In VORP and PAP reports, refers to league.

Winning percentage of a team. Computed as team Wins divided by Games played, and traditionally expressed in three digit decimal form.

Pythagorean Over/Under. Compute the team's Pythagenport wins using the Smith/Patriot methodology as indicated in the Pythagenport glossary entry. Subtract this number from the team's actual wins.

A positive result indicates that a team is outplaying, or "over", its expected record; a negative result indicates a team is lagging, or "under", its expected record.

Pyth O/U is not a good indicator of team quality; a mediocre team can easily have a better Pyth O/U than a great team. Rather, in the abstract a team with a significantly negative Pyth O/U could warrant consideration as a slightly better future bet than their actual record would indicate, and the reverse is true for a team with a significantly positive O/U.

Runs Allowed per Game.

Runs Scored per Game.

In Team Audit context, the rank of a team in the grouping and sort currently active. For instance, the default view of Team Audit is sorted by GB ascending and grouped by division. In this view, the division leaders will all rank 1, second place teams will rank 2, etc. Any teams that have the same values on the sort column will have the same Rnk.

To quickly find a team's rank in any stat, sort by that stat and refer to this column. For example, if you wanted to determine where the Padres ranked in RS/G in all of MLB, sort by the RS/G header, set your grouping to MLB, and refer to this column.

Value Over Replacement Player. The number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP scores do not consider the quality of a player's defense.

See also RARP.

Refers to a pitcher's wins. In context of a team rather than an individual pitcher, refers to team wins.