MLB 2014 Odds To Win World Series

World Series Odds as of 3/1/2014

Rank	Team	Odds to 1
1	Dodgers	6.5
2	Tigers	9
3	Cardinals	10
4	Red Sox	12
5	Yankees	12
6	Rays	12
7	Nationals	12
8	Giants	16
9	Rangers	16
10	Athletics	18
11	Braves	20
12	Angels	20
13	Reds	22
14	Pirates	28
15	Mariners	28
16	Orioles	33
17	Royals	33
18	Phillies	33
19	Blue Jays	33
20	Indians	40
21	Diamondbacks	50
22	Cubs	50
23	White Sox	50
24	Brewers	50
25	Padres	50
26	Mets	66
27	Rockies	75
28	Marlins	100
29	Twins	100
30	Astros	200

Source: Bovada

Best Lineup - Boston Red Sox

Next up on my look at each teams most efficient lineup is the Boston Red Sox.  In this exercise the methodology is to use my simulator to find out which lineup wins the most games vs RH and LH pitchers.  I do this by making the team of interest the "away" team, playing against a "make believe" team whose stats don't change from one sim to the next. In fact no stats (or input projections) change for either team, the only difference from one simulation to the next is the lineup of the team of interest.  For player projections, I am using ZIPs projections which are available on Fangraphs. The lineup results will only be as good as the projections.  Keep in mind, the results are not intended to match what a certain teams manager is most likely to do during the season.  In fact, I know that many of the results will not happen due to manager philosophies and veteran favoritism but these are the most optimal lineups that the simulator spit out.  In some cases the top couple of lineups had very small differences in results. The starting nine players were taken from MLBDepthCharts website.

Previous teams:
AL: Angels | Rangers | Rays | Twins | Blue Jays | Indians | Athletics | Astros
NL: Mets | Cubs | Padres | Marlins | Reds | Giants | Brewers | Dodgers

                 Red Sox 2014 ZIPS Hitting Projections

	K%	BB%	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA
Shane Victorino	13.4%	6.6%	0.269	0.331	0.420	0.751	0.331
Dustin Pedroia	11.1%	9.3%	0.285	0.352	0.425	0.777	0.340
David Ortiz	15.5%	12.9%	0.296	0.386	0.552	0.938	0.377
Mike Napoli	30.5%	12.2%	0.241	0.342	0.466	0.808	0.350
Xander Bogaerts	23.6%	8.0%	0.267	0.331	0.429	0.760	0.333
Daniel Nava	20.8%	8.8%	0.257	0.344	0.384	0.728	0.322
Jonny Gomes	26.9%	11.4%	0.236	0.335	0.408	0.743	0.327
Jackie Bradley	23.3%	8.4%	0.245	0.322	0.375	0.697	0.308
Will Middlebrooks	26.0%	5.2%	0.249	0.291	0.425	0.716	0.312
A.J. Pierzynski	15.4%	2.9%	0.267	0.297	0.430	0.727	0.312

See the results after the jump

Best Lineup - Houston Astros

Next up on my look at each teams most efficient lineup is the Houston Astros.  In this exercise the methodology is to use my simulator to find out which lineup wins the most games vs RH and LH pitchers.  I do this by making the team of interest the "away" team, playing against a "make believe" team whose stats don't change from one sim to the next. In fact no stats (or input projections) change for either team, the only difference from one simulation to the next is the lineup of the team of interest.  For player projections, I am using ZIPs projections which are available on Fangraphs. The lineup results will only be as good as the projections.  Keep in mind, the results are not intended to match what a certain teams manager is most likely to do during the season.  In fact, I know that many of the results will not happen due to manager philosophies and veteran favoritism but these are the most optimal lineups that the simulator spit out.  In some cases the top couple of lineups had very small differences in results. The starting nine players were taken from MLBDepthCharts website.

Previous teams:
AL: Angels | Rangers | Rays | Twins | Blue Jays | Indians | Athletics
NL: Mets | Cubs | Padres | Marlins | Reds | Giants | Brewers | Dodgers

                 Astros 2014 ZIPS Hitting Projections

	K%	BB%	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA
Dexter Fowler	28.3%	13.7%	0.247	0.354	0.382	0.736	0.328
L.J. Hoes	16.7%	8.4%	0.271	0.337	0.366	0.703	0.313
Jason Castro	24.9%	10.8%	0.256	0.337	0.439	0.776	0.335
Chris Carter	33.8%	11.4%	0.228	0.319	0.461	0.780	0.340
Marc Krauss	30.1%	10.3%	0.213	0.298	0.369	0.667	0.296
Robbie Grossman	27.1%	11.2%	0.228	0.321	0.330	0.651	0.289
Jonathan Villar	27.8%	7.3%	0.235	0.295	0.356	0.651	0.287
Jose Altuve	12.5%	5.1%	0.285	0.323	0.384	0.707	0.308
Matt Dominguez	15.8%	5.3%	0.249	0.294	0.395	0.689	0.300
Jesus Guzman	22.8%	8.5%	0.249	0.318	0.416	0.734	0.320
George Springer	31.1%	9.9%	0.237	0.319	0.439	0.758	0.335

See the results after the jump

Best Lineup - Los Angeles Dodgers

Next up on my look at each teams most efficient lineup is the Los Angeles Dodgers.  In this exercise the methodology is to use my simulator to find out which lineup wins the most games vs RH and LH pitchers.  I do this by making the team of interest the "away" team, playing against a "make believe" team whose stats don't change from one sim to the next. In fact no stats (or input projections) change for either team, the only difference from one simulation to the next is the lineup of the team of interest.  For player projections, I am using ZIPs projections which are available on Fangraphs. The lineup results will only be as good as the projections.  Keep in mind, the results are not intended to match what a certain teams manager is most likely to do during the season.  In fact, I know that many of the results will not happen due to manager philosophies but these are the most optimal lineups that the simulator spit out.  In some cases the top couple of lineups had very small differences in results.  For NL teams it is always better to bat your pitcher eighth but I am not even going to go there in this exercise as I know there is a 0% chance of a MLB manager actually doing that.

Previous teams:
AL: Angels | Rangers | Rays | Twins | Blue Jays | Indians | Athletics
NL: Mets | Cubs | Padres | Marlins | Reds | Giants | Brewers

Dodgers 2014 Hitting ZIPS Projections:

	K%	BB%	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA
Matt Kemp	24.8%	8.6%	0.274	0.339	0.473	0.812	0.342
Yasiel Puig	19.7%	8.5%	0.284	0.354	0.485	0.839	0.359
Hanley Ramirez	17.3%	8.6%	0.276	0.342	0.486	0.828	0.357
Adrian Gonzalez	17.0%	8.0%	0.282	0.339	0.453	0.792	0.335
Carl Crawford	16.5%	5.2%	0.266	0.308	0.412	0.720	0.314
Alexander Guerrero	14.4%	7.5%	0.259	0.324	0.386	0.710	0.313
Juan Uribe	20.5%	6.1%	0.242	0.293	0.390	0.683	0.297
A.J. Ellis	18.3%	11.2%	0.244	0.337	0.367	0.704	0.306
Andre Ethier	19.5%	9.8%	0.261	0.340	0.405	0.745	0.319
Scott Van Slyke	25.1%	9.7%	0.249	0.325	0.420	0.745	0.325

See the results after the jump

Exportable 2014 MLB Schedule

Something that is difficult to find on the internet is an excel download file of the 2014 MLB Schedule.  I have taken the time to write a script that takes the 2014 MLB Schedule and converts it to an easy to use CSV file and uploaded it to google docs.  The file is free to download and can be found at the following link.

Here is the format that the file is in

Game ID,Year,Month,Day,Time,Away,Home

1,2014,3,22,4:00am,Dodgers,D-backs
2,2014,3,22,10:00pm,Dodgers,D-backs
3,2014,3,30,8:05pm,Dodgers,Padres
4,2014,3,31,1:05pm,Cubs,Pirates
5,2014,3,31,1:08pm,Royals,Tigers
6,2014,3,31,1:10pm,Nationals,Mets
7,2014,3,31,2:05pm,Phillies,Rangers
8,2014,3,31,2:10pm,Braves,Brewers
9,2014,3,31,3:05pm,Red Sox,Orioles
10,2014,3,31,4:10pm,Twins,White Sox
.
.
.
2428,2014,9,28,4:10pm,Angels,Mariners
2429,2014,9,28,4:10pm,Rockies,Dodgers
2430,2014,9,28,4:10pm,Cardinals,D-backs

Please keep in mind that game times and dates will be changing due to rain and I will not be maintaining these changes.

Best Lineup - Milwaukee Brewers

Next up on my look at each teams most efficient lineup is the Milwaukee Brewers.  In this exercise the methodology is to use my simulator to find out which lineup wins the most games vs RH and LH pitchers.  I do this by making the team of interest the "away" team, playing against a "make believe" team whose stats don't change from one sim to the next. In fact no stats (or input projections) change for either team, the only difference from one simulation to the next is the lineup of the team of interest.  For player projections, I am using ZIPs projections which are available on Fangraphs. The lineup results will only be as good as the projections.  I am not a subject matter expert on every teams personnel but I try to use MLBDepthcharts as a guidance as to which players are starters and I tend to avoid hitting too many LH back to back when reasonably possible.  Keep in mind, the results are not intended to match what a certain teams manager is most likely to do during the season.

Previous teams:
AL: Angels | Rangers | Rays | Twins | Blue Jays | Indians | Athletics
NL: Mets | Cubs | Padres | Marlins | Reds | Giants

See the results after the jump

Best Lineup - Oakland Athletics

Next up on my look at each teams most efficient lineup is the Oakland Athletics.  In this exercise the methodology is to use my simulator to find out which lineup wins the most games vs RH and LH pitchers.  I do this by making the team of interest the "away" team, playing against a "make believe" team whose stats don't change from one sim to the next. In fact no stats (or input projections) change for either team, the only difference from one simulation to the next is the lineup of the team of interest.  For player projections, I am using ZIPs projections which are available on Fangraphs. The lineup results will only be as good as the projections.  I am not a subject matter expert on every teams personnel but I try to use MLBDepthcharts as a guidance as to which players are starters and I tend to avoid hitting too many LH back to back when reasonably possible.  Keep in mind, the results are not intended to match what a certain teams manager is most likely to do during the season.

Previous teams:
AL: Angels | Rangers | Rays | Twins | Blue Jays | Indians
NL: Mets | Cubs | Padres | Marlins | Reds | Giants

See the results after the jump