Those Harvard kids sure do know their sports. Well, at least some of them do. Specifically, we refer to the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, a “student organization dedicated to quantitative analysis of sports strategy and management.” They produce some of the smartest sports analysis this side of Bill James.
On Monday, graduate advisor and former HSAC president Daniel Granoff published a post discussing the rash of errors in the first round of baseball. It’s not our favorite post – preferring others such as the always popular subject of giving up touchdowns and an explanation of the men’s tennis ranking system – but it’s packed with solid stats.
Errors of every sort came pouring in; no play was routine. The Giants, Braves, Phillies and Reds combined to produce a total of 37 runs in their series. Of those, 12 were unearned from a total of 15 errors. That means 32.4% of the runs scored in the two National League Division Series were the results of errors. Compare this to the regular season, where only 8% of the total runs were unearned.
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The takeaway: If you want to get smarter, read this site.