By The Numbers

I'm a dedicated stat guy. With the Twins not playing yesterday, I decided to look a little closer at the numbers the Twins are putting up this season, AS A TEAM.

The first number I look at is the date. Only ONE team that was leading their division last year on June 1st WON their division. The other five did not. Being in first place now is a pleasant surprise but it does not mean anything yet with well over a hundred more games to play.

I know the Twins are winning games, but the more I look at the stats, the more the numbers scare me. When you get statistical anomalies like this you start to see "luck" at play. And luck doesn't last an entire season.

For instance, the Twins are number four in the AL in runs scored, but they are near the bottom in on-base percentage at 11th. That's one of the anomalies that simply doesn't compute. Statistically it won't continue. They'll have to get better at getting on base for that scoring to continue. Even their slugging percentage, in all of baseball, is below average at number 18. It may APPEAR to us that the Twins are hitting more doubles and home runs this season simply because we hit so few the last several seasons that this seems good. Stats, however don't lie. We are less than average here.

And our pitching...

We simply are AWFUL at it. We're 16th in ERA with 3.92. We're 28th in WHIP at 1.33. We're 26th in quality starts. AND we're 29th in the entire league in Batting Average Against at .272.

And our strikeouts to walks ratio is horrible as well.

I AM enjoying the Twins NOW. But I fear that may all come tumbling down in the near future. IF the numbers don't improve dramatically, and soon, we'll all to get to watch  the fall of this year's team.

When numbers don't add up, something has to give. Equilibrium is at play. You don't mess with with equilibrium.