The Oakland A’s score 21 against the Angels

The Oakland A’s score 21 against the Angels

The A’s are the most underrated team in the game. People extol the virtues of the AL’s superteams: Boston, Houston, Cleveland and the Yankees, but the road stats show that Oakland has the best offense in the American League. Have you heard even one person mention that?

Houston is close, by the way, by virtue of the league’s highest OBP (Oakland has the highest slugging average). The Red Sox are good, but far behind those two.

The Yankees are nowhere near. They appear to be stronger than they are because the New Yankee Stadium is a hitter’s paradise. The Yankees and their opponents have scored 756 runs at home, only 629 on the road. That’s a difference of 127 runs. To put that in perspective, the Rockies and their opponents have scored 770 at home and 653 on the road, a difference of 117 runs. In other words, New Yankee Stadium is the American League Coors!

On the other hand, road stats also show that the Yankees have the second-best pitching staff. They are behind the Astros.

I guess you can determine from that set of facts that the Astros, not the Red Sox, are the best team in the league. That is confirmed by their run ratio. They have outscored their opponents by 242 runs, compared to 211 for the Red Sox. I hope they both make it through to the ALCS. It’ll one of baseball’s strongest match-ups in history.

One thought on “The Oakland A’s score 21 against the Angels

  1. I’m curious how Billy Beane pulled this off — having the AL’s best offense with one of the league’s lowest payrolls.

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