July 22, 2013

Monday Morning Probabilities

It was a short but poor weak for Manny Machado, Chris Davis, and Miguel Cabrera as they pursue the single season double, home run, and RBI records respectively. Machado did not hit a double in his three games back after the All-Star break. The probability of him passing Earl Webb stands at 0.04 based on his career doubles rate, and 0.002 based on regressing his double rate to league average over 1500 PA. He seems to be going in that direction lately.

Chris Davis did not hit a home run, leaving him at 37. His probability of tying Roger Maris stands at 0.004 (about 1 in 250) and of passing Maris at 0.002 (1 in 500). So Machado and Davis right now have about the same probability of breaking a record.

Cabrera drove in just one run in his three games back, giving him 96 on the season. His probability of setting just the AL record, beating Lou Gehrig‘s 184, is worse than 1 in 10,000. Unless he goes on a big RBI run soon, he’s not going to come close. You can see a graph of his probabilities here. Davis trails Cabrera by two in the RBI race, and Miguel has an 88% chance of winning the RBI title this year. He’ll have to go on a home run tear to win another triple crown, however, unless Chris Davis get hurt.

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