Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/7

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Thursday 5/7/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Chris Archer	TBD
2	A.J. Burnett	TBD
3	Tim Hudson	TBD
4	John Lackey	TBD
5	Nathan Eovaldi	TBD
6	Corey Kluber	TBD
7	Jose Quintana	TBD
8	Hector Santiago	TBD
9	Collin McHugh	TBD
10	Dan Haren	TBD
11	Edinson Volquez	TBD
12	Mike Fiers	TBD
13	Jake Arrieta	TBD
14	Drew Pomeranz	TBD
15	Ricky Nolasco	TBD
15	Carlos Frias	TBD
17	Anthony DeSlafani	TBD
18	Rubby De La Rosa	TBD
19	Nick Martinez	TBD
20	Odrisamer Despaigne	TBD
21	Kyle Lobstein	TBD
22	Chris Tillman	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/6

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Wednesday 5/6/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Max Scherzer	WIN, 7ip, 10h, 5er, 10k, 0bb
2	Gerrit Cole	TBD
3	Chris Sale	TBD
4	Lance Lynn	TBD
5	Chris Heston	Loss, 5ip, 11h, 5er, 4k, 3bb
6	Danny Duffy	TBD
7	Jake deGrom	TBD
8	Michael Foltynewicz	TBD
8	C.J. Wilson	TBD
10	Ubaldo Jimenez	TBD
11	Scott Kazmir	TBD
12	Jon Lester	TBD
13	Justin Masterson	TBD
14	Ian Kennedy	Win, 7ip, 6h, 1er, 5k, 0bb
15	Joe Wieland	TBD
16	Samuel Deduno	TBD
17	Mike Leake	TBD
18	Carlos Carrasco	TBD
19	Jerome Williams	TBD
20	Kyle Gibson	TBD
21	C.C. Sabathia	TBD
22	Mark Buehrle	TBD
23	Roenis Elias	TBD
24	Alex Colome	TBD
25	Wily Peralta	TBD
26	Alfredo Simon	TBD
27	Tom Koehler	Loss, 6ip, 7h, 5er, 5k ,1bb
28	Tyler Matzek	Loss, 2ip, 3h, 4er, 2k, 6bb
29	Colby Lewis	TBD
30	Josh Collmenter	Win, 7ip, 10h, 5er, 5k, 0bb

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Note: I did not include 2nd game of Rockies/DBacks doubleheader, but both pitchers would be ranked at or near the bottom of the table.
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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/5

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Tuesday 5/5/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Stephen Strasburg	TBD
2	Shelby Miller	TBD
3	Zack Greinke	TBD
4	Garrett Richards	TBD
5	Andrew Cashner	TBD
6	Bartolo Colon	TBD
7	Jeff Locke	TBD
8	Scott Feldman	TBD
9	Rick Porcello	TBD
10	Jason Vargas	TBD
11	Tyler Lyons	TBD
11	Michael Pineda	TBD
13	Jeff Samardzija	TBD
14	Ryan Vogelsong	TBD
15	Danny Salazar	TBD
16	Bud Norris	TBD
17	Jesse Chavez	TBD
18	Tyler Matzek	TBD
19	Trevor May	TBD
20	Chad Billingsley	TBD
21	Kyle Hendricks	TBD
22	James Paxton	TBD
23	Shane Greene	TBD
24	Michael Lorenzen	TBD
25	Marco Estrada	TBD
26	Matt Garza	TBD
27	Drew Smyly	TBD
28	Mat Latos	TBD
29	Wandy Rodriguez	TBD
30	Josh Collmenter	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/4

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Monday 5/4/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Clayton Kershaw	TBD
2	Dallas Keuchel	TBD
3	Madison Bumgarner	TBD
4	Jordan Zimmerman	TBD
5	Carlos Martinez	TBD
6	Alex Wood	TBD
7	Felix Hernandez	TBD
8	Tyson Ross	TBD
9	Phil Hughes	TBD
10	Clay Buchholz	TBD
11	Matt Shoemaker	TBD
12	Jesse Hahn	TBD
13	Aaron Harang	TBD
14	R.A. Dickey	TBD
15	Travis Wood	TBD
16	Taylor Matzek	TBD
17	Kyle Lohse	TBD
18	David Phelps	TBD
19	Jake Odorizzi	TBD
20	Chase Whitley	TBD
21	Ross Detwiler	TBD
22	Josh Collmenter	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/3

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Sunday 5/3/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Player	Result
1	James Shields	Win
2	Johnny Cueto	Loss
3	Jarred Cosart	Loss
4	Michael Wacha	ND
5	Brett Anderson	ND
5	Sonny Gray	Win
7	Dillon Gee	Loss
8	Trevor Bauer	ND
9	Doug Fister	Win
10	Tim Lincecum	Win
11	Julio Teheran	Win
12	Mike Pelfrey	ND
13	Jered Weaver	Loss
14	Wei-Yin Chen	ND
15	Nathan Karns	ND
16	Joe Kelly	TBD
17	Jason Hammel	ND
18	Anibal Sanchez	Win
19	Jason Vargas	ND
20	J.A. Happ	ND
21	Drew Hutchison	ND
22	Roberto Hernandez	ND
23	Vance Worley	ND
24	Kyle Kendrick	Loss
25	Yovani Gallardo	Loss
26	Chase Anderson	ND
27	John Danks	Loss
28	Adam Warren	TBD
29	Severino Gonzalez	Win
30	Jimmy Nelson	ND

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/2

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Saturday 5/2/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Jake Arrieta	TBD
2	Chris Archer	TBD
3	Brandon Morrow	TBD
4	Corey Kluber	TBD
5	Gio Gonzalez	TBD
6	Collin McHugh	TBD
6	Scott Baker	TBD
8	Dan Haren	TBD
9	John Lackey	TBD
10	David Price	TBD
11	Drew Pomeranz	TBD
12	Cole Hamels	TBD
13	Tim Hudson	TBD
13	Eric Stults	TBD
15	Francisco Liriano	TBD
16	Hector Santiago	TBD
16	Jason Marquis	TBD
18	Jonathon Niese	TBD
19	Edinson Volquez	TBD
20	Ricky Nolasco	TBD
21	Nathan Eovaldi	TBD
22	Miguel Gonzalez	TBD
23	Jorge de la Rosa	TBD
24	Jeremy Hellickson	TBD
24	Taijuan Walker	TBD
26	John Danks	TBD
27	Nick Martinez	TBD
28	Mike Fiers	TBD
29	Aaron Sanchez	TBD
30	Wade Miley	TBD

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Early Season Look At Park Factors

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The chart below takes a look at the early park factor results from the first month of games. Listed in the chart are the actual park factors and the park factors that Vegas is using in its Over/Under numbers. I am able to reverse engineer the park factors that Vegas is using and compare them to the actual. There is a ton of noise on the actual park factors but it is fun to compare nonetheless.  The chart is sorted by the largest difference between the actual and Vegas park factors.

Team	Actual PF	Vegas PF	Delta
Indians	1.514	0.926	0.588
Astros	0.550	1.101	0.551
Braves	1.355	0.944	0.411
Nationals	0.611	0.934	0.323
Orioles	1.136	0.841	0.295
White Sox	0.805	1.084	0.279
Athletics	1.205	0.945	0.260
Dodgers	1.191	0.981	0.210
Royals	0.930	1.124	0.194
Phillies	0.865	1.057	0.192
Twins	1.201	1.011	0.190
Cubs	0.750	0.923	0.173
Giants	0.849	1.008	0.159
Marlins	0.882	1.032	0.150
Yankees	1.078	0.944	0.134
Rockies	1.014	1.144	0.130
Mets	1.092	0.965	0.127
Cardinals	1.214	1.087	0.127
Angels	1.116	1.008	0.108
Rangers	0.992	1.094	0.102
Red Sox	0.977	1.069	0.092
Reds	1.011	0.919	0.092
Padres	0.912	0.821	0.091
Brewers	1.154	1.069	0.085
Pirates	1.031	0.950	0.081
Blue Jays	0.997	1.072	0.075
Dbacks	1.125	1.181	0.056
Mariners	0.876	0.925	0.049
Tigers	0.994	1.031	0.037
Rays	0.971	0.948	0.023

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 5/1

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Friday 5/1/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Jon Lester	TBD
2	Ian Kennedy	TBD
3	Ton Koehler	TBD
4	Matt Harvey	TBD
5	Chris Heston	TBD
6	Carlos Frias	TBD
7	Max Scherzer	TBD
8	Lance Lynn	TBD
9	Scott Kazmir	TBD
10	Anthony DeSclafani	TBD
11	Carlos Carrasco	TBD
12	C.J. Wilson	TBD
13	Alex Colome	TBD
14	Kyle Gibson	TBD
15	Mike Foltynewicz	TBD
16	Justin Masterson	TBD
17	Chris Tillman	TBD
18	Jose Quintana	TBD
19	Samuel Deduno	TBD
20	Chris Young	TBD
21	A.J. Burnett	TBD
22	Eddie Butler	TBD
23	Mark Buehrle	TBD
24	Roenis Elias	TBD
25	Kyle Lobstein	TBD
26	C.C. Sabathia	TBD
27	Wily Peralta	TBD
28	Jerome Williams	TBD
29	Rubby De la Rosa	TBD
30	Colby Lewis	TBD

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Winning Streaks

A quick look at which team(s) have had the longest winning streak heading into each day of the MLB season so far.

Date	Streak	Team(s)
4/6/2015	1	STL
4/7/2015	1	SEA-LAD-TOR-DET-COL-BOS-BAL-NYM-KC-CIN-ATL-HOU-OAK-SF-STL
4/8/2015	2	ATL-BAL-COL
4/9/2015	3	ATL-COL
4/10/2015	3	ATL-COL-KC-DET
4/11/2015	4	ATL-COL-KC-DET
4/12/2015	5	ATL-KC-DET
4/13/2015	6	KC-DET
4/14/2015	7	KC
4/15/2015	7	KC
4/16/2015	4	NYM-LAD
4/17/2015	5	NYM
4/18/2015	6	NYM
4/19/2015	7	NYM
4/20/2015	8	NYM
4/21/2015	8	NYM
4/22/2015	9	NYM
4/23/2015	10	NYM
4/24/2015	11	NYM
4/25/2015	4	NYY
4/26/2015	4	TB-MIA-STL
4/27/2015	5	TB-MIA-PIT
4/28/2015	4	HOU
4/29/2015	5	HOU
4/30/2015	6	HOU
5/1/2015	7	HOU

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 4/30

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Thursday 4/30/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

For those of you who like to stream starting pitchers in fantasy baseball, here is a list of the best starts of the day.

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Chris Sale	TBD
2	Tim Cooney	TBD
3	Jacob deGrom	TBD
4	Stephen Strasburg	TBD
5	Shelby Miller	TBD
6	Mike Leake	TBD
7	Daniel Norris	TBD
8	Jesse Chavez	TBD
9	Scott Feldman	TBD
10	Garret Richards	TBD
11	Danny Duffy	TBD
12	Alfredo Simon	TBD
13	T.J. House	TBD
14	James Paxton	TBD
15	Trevor May	TBD
16	Daniel Buchanan	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 4/29

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Wednesday 4/29/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

Streaming fantasy baseball pitchers

Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Zack Greinke	TBD
2	Carlos Martinez	TBD
3	Andrew Cashner	TBD
4	Felix Hernandez	TBD
5	Jordan Zimmerman	TBD
6	Danny Salazar	TBD
7	Michael Pineda	TBD
8	Gerrit Cole	TBD
9	Michael Lorenzen	TBD
10	Jesse Hahn	TBD
11	Mat Latos	TBD
12	Rick Porcello	TBD
13	Dallas Keuchel	TBD
14	Ubaldo Jimenez	TBD
15	Bartolo Colon	TBD
16	Matt Shoemaker	TBD
17	Alex Wood	TBD
18	Matt Garza	TBD
19	Jeff Samardzija	TBD
20	Kyle Hendricks	TBD
21	Yordano Ventura	TBD
22	Shane Greene	TBD
23	Josh Collmenter	TBD
24	Drew Smyly	TBD
25	Phil Hughes	TBD
26	Jordan Lyles	TBD
27	Aaron Harang	TBD
27	Ryan Vogelsong	TBD
29	R.A. Dickey	TBD
30	Wandy Rodriguez	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts 4/28

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Tuesday 4/28/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Clayton Kershaw	TBD
2	Michael Wacha	TBD
3	Johnny Cueto	TBD
4	Tyson Ross	TBD
5	Sonny Gray	TBD
6	Trevor Bauer	TBD
7	Anibal Sanchez	TBD
8	Travis Wood	TBD
9	Julio Teheran	TBD
10	David Phelps	TBD
11	Archie Bradley	TBD
12	Clay Buchholz	TBD
13	J.A. Happ	TBD
14	A.J. Cole	TBD
15	Chase Whitley	TBD
16	Jeff Locke	TBD
17	Madison Bumgarner	TBD
18	Jake Odorizzi	TBD
19	Rafael Montero	TBD
20	Jeremy Guthrie	TBD
21	Roberto Hernandez	TBD
22	Jered Weaver	TBD
23	Drew Hutchison	TBD
24	Kyle Kendrick	TBD
25	Ross Detwiler	TBD
26	Kyle Lohse	TBD
27	Mike Pelfrey	TBD
28	Severino Gonzalez	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts

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Monday 4/27/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Corey Kluber	TBD
2	John Lackey	TBD
3	David Price	TBD
4	James Shields	TBD
4	Brett Anderson	TBD
4	Doug Fister	TBD
7	Ubaldo Jimenez	TBD
8	Jason Hammel	TBD
9	Jarred Cosart	TBD
10	Joe Kelly	TBD
11	Adam Warren	TBD
12	Jason Marquis	TBD
13	Collin McHugh	TBD
14	Chase Anderson	TBD
15	Yovani Gallardo	TBD
16	Jimmy Nelson	TBD
17	Vance Worley	TBD
17	Dillon Gee	TBD
19	Eric Stults	TBD
20	Taijuan Walker	TBD
21	Cole Hamels	TBD
22	Tyler Matzek	TBD
23	Tim Lincecum	TBD
24	Nathan Karns	TBD
25	Jason Vargas	TBD
26	Hector Noesi	TBD
27	Aaron Sanchez	TBD
28	Tommy Milone	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts

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Sunday 4/26/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Chris Archer	TBD
2	Drew Pomeranz	TBD
3	Lance Lynn	TBD
4	Hector Santiago	TBD
4	Roenis Elias	TBD
4	Francisco Liriano	TBD
7	Nathan Eovaldi	TBD
8	Edinson Volquez	TBD
9	Jake Arrieta	TBD
10	Brandon Morrow	TBD
11	Carlos Carrasco	TBD
12	Jerome Williams	TBD
13	Dan Haren	TBD
14	Wade Miley	TBD
15	Gio Gonzalez	TBD
16	Anthony DeSclafani	TBD
17	Scott Baker	TBD
18	Taylor Matzek	TBD
19	Trevor Cahill	TBD
20	Kyle Lobstein	TBD
21	Bud Norris	TBD
22	John Danks	TBD
23	Jonathon Niese	TBD
24	Kyle Gibson	TBD
25	Mark Buehrle	TBD
26	Jeremy Hellickson	TBD
27	Tim Lincecum	TBD
28	Nick Martinez	TBD
29	Mike Fiers	TBD
29	Alex Wojciehowski	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts

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Friday 4/25/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Adam Wainwright	TBD
1	James Paxton	TBD
3	C.J. Wilson	TBD
4	Stephen Strasburg	TBD
5	Brandon McCarthy	TBD
6	Shelby Miller	TBD
7	Kendall Graveman	TBD
8	Jake Arrieta	TBD
9	Edinson Volquez	TBD
10	C.C. Sabathia	TBD
11	Alfredo Simon	TBD
12	A.J. Burnett	TBD
13	Matt Harvey	TBD
14	Ian Kennedy	TBD
15	Wei-Yin Chen	TBD
16	Erasmo Ramirez	TBD
17	Alex DeSclafani	TBD
18	Daniel Norris	TBD
19	David Buchanan	TBD
20	John Danks	TBD
21	Justin Masterson	TBD
22	Toby Koehler	TBD
23	Jorge de la Rosa	TBD
24	Trevor Bauer	TBD
25	Scott Feldman	TBD
26	Rubby de la Rosa	TBD
27	Tim Hudson	TBD
28	Wily Peralta	TBD
29	Trevor May	TBD
30	Colby Lewis	TBD

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Best Daily Fantasy Pitcher Starts

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Thursday 4/24/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	F.Hernandez (SEA, vs MIN)	TBD
2	G.Richards (LAA, vs TEX)	TBD
3	Z.Greinke (LAN, @ SD)	TBD
4	G.Cole (PIT, @ ARI)	TBD
5	S.Kazmir (OAK, vs HOU)	TBD
6	M.Pineda (NYA, vs NYN)	TBD
7	S.Greene (DET, vs CLE)	TBD
8	C.Martinez (STL, @ MIL)	TBD
9	J.Zimmerman (WAS, @ MIA)	TBD
10	A.Wood (ATL, @ PHI)	TBD
11	J.Lester (CHN, @ CIN)	TBD
12	R.Dickey (TOR, @ TB)	TBD
13	A.Cashner (SD, vs LAN)	TBD
14	M.Gonzalez (BAL, vs BOS)	TBD
15	A.Harang (PHI, vs ATL)	TBD
16	D.Duffy (KC, @ CHA)	TBD
17	D.Smyly (TB, vs TOR)	TBD
18	M.Leake (CIN, vs CHN)	TBD
19	J.Quintana (CHA, vs KC)	TBD
20	M.Latos (MIA, vs WAS)	TBD
21	D.Keuchel (HOU, @ OAK)	TBD
22	J.deGrom (NYN, @ NYA)	TBD
23	E.Butler (COL, vs SF)	TBD
24	R.Porcello (BOS, @ BAL)	TBD
25	M.Garza (MIL, vs STL)	TBD
26	C.Heston (SF, @ COL)	TBD
27	D.Salazar (CLE, @ DET)	TBD
28	J.Collmenter (ARI, vs PIT)	TBD
29	P.Hughes (MIN, @ SEA)	TBD
30	W.Rodriguez (TEX, @ LAA)	TBD

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Today's Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts

This is iteration (or version) one of an algorithm I am developing to list the best pitchers to start on a given day in a standard fantasy baseball league. This algorithm will progressively get better and list more important information. What you are looking at is the first iteration of this process. The list currently takes into consideration the chances for the team to win and how many runs the pitcher is likely to give up. Not perfect, but a good start.
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Thursday 4/23/2015 Best Fantasy Pitcher Starts
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Rank	Pitcher	Result
1	Max Scherzer	LOSS, 7ip, 2er, 6h, 4k, 0bb
2	Chris Sale	ND, 7ip, 2er, 9h, 2k, 1bb
3	Bartolo Colon	WIN, 6ip, 3er, 7h, 5k, 0bb
4	Drew Hutchison	WIN, 8ip, 2er, 4h, 7k, 0bb
5	David Phelps	WIN, 7ip, 0er, 3h, 5k, 2bb
6	Homer Bailey	ND, 5.2ip, 2er, 7h, 3k, 1bb
7	Jake Odorizzi	ND, 6.2ip, 1er, 3h, 3k, 3bb
7	Jeff Locke	ND, 5ip, 4er, 7h, 7k, 3bb
9	Ryan Vogelsong	ND, 6ip, 2er, 3h, 5k, 1bb
9	Mike Bolsinger	ND, 5.2ip, 1er, 5h, 5k, 2bb
11	Anibal Sanchez	ND, 6.1ip, 1er, 1h, 8k, 4bb
12	Jesse Sanchez	LOSS, 6ip, 1er, 1h, 4k, 3bb
13	Michael Wacha	WIN, 7ip, 1er, 5h, 6k, 2bb
14	Clay Buchholz	ND, 6ip, 1er, 2h, 10k, 3bb
14	Masahiro Tanaka	ND, 6.1ip, 1er, 3h, 6k, 2bb
16	Julio Teheran	LOSS, 4.1ip, 4er, 3h, 5k, 5bb
17	Nick Tropeano	WIN, 6ip, 0er, 5h, 5k, 1bb
18	Dustin McGowan	LOSS, 3.1ip, 4er, 3h, 4k, 4bb
18	Kyle Hendricks	ND, 5.1ip, 3er, 5h, 2k, 0bb
20	Yordano Ventura	ND, 7ip, 2er, 5h, 8k, 1bb
21	Tyson Ross	LOSS, 5ip, 2er, 6h, 7k, 4bb
22	Kyle Lohse	WIN, 7ip, 2er, 3h, 4k, 1bb
23	Jordan Lyles	WIN, 6.2ip, 1er, 6h, 4k, 2bb
24	Chris Tillman	LOSS, 4.1ip, 7er, 5h, 3k, 5bb

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Early Season Look At Offense

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A quick look reveals that offense is down once again this season. Though it is still early and we are in April and we could be seeing an effect from cold early spring temperatures. Either way this is what the data looks like so far. I will check back on this a little later in the season to see what the trend looks like.

Season	PA	HR	R	BB%	K%	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA
2000	183867	5659	24638	9.80%	15.90%	0.302	0.275	0.35	0.445	0.346
2001	180826	5431	22863	8.60%	16.80%	0.298	0.268	0.337	0.435	0.332
2002	180559	5032	22103	8.90%	16.30%	0.294	0.265	0.336	0.424	0.331
2003	181293	5173	22659	8.70%	15.90%	0.296	0.268	0.337	0.43	0.333
2004	182392	5425	23082	8.80%	16.30%	0.299	0.270	0.340	0.436	0.335
2005	180167	4996	22036	8.30%	16.00%	0.297	0.268	0.335	0.427	0.331
2006	182023	5354	23293	8.60%	16.30%	0.304	0.274	0.342	0.44	0.337
2007	182671	4930	22997	8.70%	16.60%	0.305	0.272	0.34	0.43	0.336
2008	181655	4859	22301	8.90%	17.00%	0.302	0.268	0.338	0.424	0.333
2009	181051	5015	22123	9.10%	17.50%	0.301	0.266	0.338	0.425	0.334
2010	179495	4597	21022	8.70%	18.00%	0.299	0.261	0.330	0.410	0.326
2011	179285	4524	20536	8.30%	18.10%	0.297	0.259	0.325	0.406	0.321
2012	178266	4910	20743	8.10%	19.20%	0.299	0.259	0.324	0.413	0.320
2013	179361	4640	20018	8.10%	19.30%	0.299	0.257	0.322	0.403	0.318
2014	178409	4171	19520	7.80%	19.90%	0.301	0.255	0.318	0.393	0.315
2015	12393	320	1374	8.10%	19.90%	0.288	0.247	0.315	0.394	0.310

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Exportable 2015 MLB Schedule

Something that is difficult to find on the internet is an excel download file of the 2015 MLB Schedule.  I have taken the time to write a script that takes the 2015 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

1,2015,4,5,8:05 PM,Cardinals,Cubs
2,2015,4,6,1:05 PM,Blue Jays,Yankees
3,2015,4,6,1:08 PM,Twins,Tigers
4,2015,4,6,2:10 PM,Rockies,Brewers
5,2015,4,6,3:05 PM,Red Sox,Phillies
6,2015,4,6,3:10 PM,Orioles,Rays
7,2015,4,6,4:05 PM,Mets,Nationals
8,2015,4,6,4:10 PM,Braves,Marlins
9,2015,4,6,4:10 PM,White Sox,Royals
10,2015,4,6,4:10 PM,Angels,Mariners
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2426,2015,10,4,3:10 PM,Athletics,Mariners
2427,2015,10,4,3:10 PM,Padres,Dodgers
2428,2015,10,4,3:10 PM,Blue Jays,Rays
2429,2015,10,4,3:10 PM,Nationals,Mets
2430,2015,10,4,4:10 PM,Astros,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.

Oakland Athletics - 2015 Most Optimal Lineups

There are many ways people attempt to determine the best batting order.  Some people try to arrange high on base percentage people at the top of the lineup followed by sluggers and then the rest of the crew and slap on a pitcher batting 9th (NL Team) and you are good to go.  Others try calculators where you enter in player stats and out pops the best lineups.  These are all fun and probably get you part of the way there but they are in NO WAY scientific enough to make much of a claim to what the top lineups might be.

The best way (in my opinion) to determine which lineup is the best is to actually trot out every single lineup and see which one wins the most games.  Of course you would have to hold the opponent constant, using the same starters, lineup and starting pitcher.  How hard could that be to do?  Let's see, with nine batters in a lineup you would only have 362,880 lineups to go through.  How long could that take to play over 350,000 baseball games.  You could probably filter those permutations down to 25,000 or so by limiting left handed batters from hitting back to back, limiting the pitcher (NL) to batting either 8th or 9th, plus a few other obvious things.  Even if you could narrow things down to just two lineups, you would still need to play more than one game to determine which one was better.  So how many samples/games would you need?  10? 20? or maybe an entire season (162) of games?  No.  You would need a lot more than that.  Try tens of thousands just to separate the bad lineups from the good and then try a million or two to compare the best lineups.

Well, I think it is pretty impossible to play thousands of games one time or a couple of games a million times.  Hypothetically, if one were able to play games with thousands of different lineups, thousands or millions of times against the exact same opponent then you would get a very good idea as to which lineups were the best.  This is where simulation comes in handy.  A simulator that could play actual baseball games, by actual baseball rules, taking into consideration the important facets of a real baseball game like speed, defense, pitchers getting tired the more pitches they throw, splits, hitter vs pitcher matchups and outcomes and throw in some good player projections like the ones available for free at Fangraphs and then maybe through the power of the computer you could plow through tens of thousands of likely lineups to determine the best ones.

Now, you would be able to test the synergy of batting certain groups of players next to each other.  You would be able to experiment with various types of hitters hitting in different spots.  In fact, you could just let the computer run through each lineup and let you know what the top ones were, even tabulating how many times each player showed up at each spot in the top lineups.  Now you would have a good list of top lineups and be able to measure how many wins a manager might be leaving on the table by using the lineup(s) that he used.  Wouldn't it be very worthwhile for a team to know what its best lineups might be?  Of course it would, especially considering that on the free agent market one win (or WAR) is typically worth around $7M.  For managers that might not want to hit certain batters in certain lineup spots for whatever reason, he could use the filtering option to only measure lineups that fit his parameters.

Well, now on to what my game simulator using Steamer hitting projections lists as the top fifty lineups for the 2015 Oakland Athletics.  I only looked at lineups against a right handed starting pitcher and took the nine most likely starters from the list at the Roster Resource website and I have of course used their most common lineup as one of the many (10,000+) lineups that I am looking at.  Along with the top fifty lineups, there is a table showing how many times each player shows up in each lineup spot and what the most common back to back slottings are as well as back to back to back slottings (think synergy here).

Summary:
The batting order frequency table tells a lot here.  If you were to piece together a lineup from only the frequency table you would likely come up with what is the second ranked optimal lineup.  The lineup listed from the Roster Resource website came in listed 34th.  I've ran a few of these now for various teams and the Athletics seem to have a very balanced lineup with no one player way better than the others not causing much of a spread between the top lineups.  I also purposely added a bad lineup to the bottom of the top 50 list just to see what the maximum spread for the team looks like.  According to the simulator, there are not a lot of wins for the Athletics manager to leave on the table vs RHP compared to some of the other teams.

                                          Top 50 Lineups (vs RHP)

Rank	Lineup	Wins/162 Games Behind
1	Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Semien-Vogt-Butler-Fuld	0
2	Crisp-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Butler-Fuld	0.001
3	Reddick-Crisp-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.016
4	Crisp-Vogt-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Semien-Butler-Fuld	0.042
5	Zobrist-Fuld-Lawrie-Reddick-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Butler-Davis	0.067
6	Crisp-Vogt-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Semien-Fuld-Butler-Reddick	0.093
7	Fuld-Crisp-Butler-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien	0.094
8	Davis-Zobrist-Lawrie-Reddick-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.103
9	Reddick-Semien-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Fuld-Zobrist-Vogt-Butler	0.107
10	Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Crisp-Vogt-Butler-Fuld	0.108
11	Lawrie-Crisp-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Semien-Vogt-Butler-Fuld	0.108
12	Semien-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Crisp-Fuld-Zobrist-Vogt-Butler	0.109
13	Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Fuld-Butler-Vogt-Semien	0.117
14	Crisp-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Zobrist-Fuld-Butler-Vogt	0.123
15	Zobrist-Crisp-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Fuld-Butler-Vogt	0.14
16	Semien-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Zobrist-Crisp-Vogt-Butler-Fuld	0.141
17	Semien-Fuld-Butler-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Crisp-Vogt	0.146
18	Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.146
19	Reddick-Crisp-Davis-Zobrist-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.152
20	Fuld-Crisp-Butler-Davis-Semien-Reddick-Lawrie-Vogt-Zobrist	0.156
21	Zobrist-Fuld-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Butler-Reddick	0.156
22	Reddick-Zobrist-Davis-Lawrie-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.159
23	Crisp-Butler-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Vogt-Zobrist-Fuld	0.175
24	Reddick-Crisp-Davis-Lawrie-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.181
25	Fuld-Crisp-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Semien-Vogt-Butler	0.191
26	Reddick-Zobrist-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Fuld-Crisp-Vogt-Butler	0.192
27	Crisp-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Fuld-Butler-Vogt	0.192
28	Crisp-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Butler-Fuld	0.195
29	Crisp-Fuld-Lawrie-Reddick-Zobrist-Semien-Vogt-Butler-Davis	0.204
30	Crisp-Semien-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Zobrist-Fuld-Butler-Vogt	0.209
31	Crisp-Fuld-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Butler-Semien-Vogt	0.210
32	Crisp-Zobrist-Davis-Lawrie-Fuld-Semien-Vogt-Butler-Reddick	0.213
33	Semien-Fuld-Lawrie-Reddick-Zobrist-Crisp-Vogt-Butler-Davis	0.214
34	Reddick-Crisp-Davis-Zobrist-Vogt-Lawrie-Semien-Fuld-Butler	0.218
35	Crisp-Zobrist-Reddick-Butler-Davis-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien-Fuld	0.221
36	Reddick-Zobrist-Davis-Lawrie-Fuld-Semien-Crisp-Vogt-Butler	0.222
37	Crisp-Davis-Butler-Reddick-Zobrist-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien-Fuld	0.236
38	Semien-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Crisp-Vogt-Lawrie-Fuld-Butler	0.238
39	Crisp-Vogt-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Butler-Reddick-Zobrist-Fuld	0.242
40	Crisp-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien-Fuld-Butler-Davis	0.244
41	Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Fuld-Butler-Semien-Vogt	0.248
42	Crisp-Butler-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Fuld	0.257
43	Lawrie-Fuld-Butler-Davis-Crisp-Zobrist-Vogt-Semien-Reddick	0.258
44	Crisp-Reddick-Lawrie-Davis-Semien-Fuld-Butler-Zobrist-Vogt	0.260
45	Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie-Fuld-Crisp-Vogt-Semien-Butler	0.263
46	Crisp-Fuld-Butler-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Semien-Vogt-Zobrist	0.267
47	Crisp-Reddick-Butler-Davis-Semien-Zobrist-Fuld-Lawrie-Vogt	0.283
48	Fuld-Semien-Lawrie-Davis-Crisp-Reddick-Zobrist-Vogt-Butler	0.284
49	Crisp-Vogt-Zobrist-Davis-Lawrie-Reddick-Semien-Butler-Fuld	0.294
50	Crisp-Reddick-Butler-Davis-Zobrist-Lawrie-Vogt-Semien-Fuld	0.294
BAD	Vogt-Butler-Fuld-Crisp-Semien-Davis-Zobrist-Reddick-Lawrie	1.419

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             Batting Order Frequency Table

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
Crisp	21	9	0	0	13	4	2	1	0
Reddick	8	10	7	9	2	9	1	0	4
Lawrie	2	0	25	11	3	4	4	1	0
Davis	2	5	8	26	5	0	0	0	4
Zobrist	8	9	2	3	15	5	3	3	2
Vogt	0	4	0	0	2	11	14	10	9
Semien	5	3	0	0	7	10	15	8	2
Butler	0	2	8	1	0	1	4	19	15
Fuld	4	8	0	0	3	6	7	8	14

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                    Synergy

   Back to Back Frequency Leaders

Rank	Occurrences	Player 1	Player 2
1	22	Lawrie	Davis
2	20	Vogt	Semien
3	20	Semien	Fuld
4	20	Fuld	Butler
5	18	Reddick	Lawrie
6	17	Crisp	Vogt
7	17	Davis	Zobrist
8	16	Zobrist	Reddick
9	15	Butler	Reddick
10	15	Fuld	Crisp
11	14	Butler	Davis
12	13	Vogt	Butler
13	12	Reddick	Zobrist
14	11	Davis	Lawrie
15	11	Davis	Semien
16	11	Zobrist	Vogt
17	10	Reddick	Crisp
18	10	Lawrie	Reddick
19	10	Davis	Crisp
20	10	Butler	Fuld

     Back To Back to Back Frequency Leaders

Rank	Occurrences	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3
1	13	Vogt	Semien	Fuld
2	13	Semien	Fuld	Butler
3	12	Reddick	Lawrie	Davis
4	10	Zobrist	Reddick	Lawrie
5	8	Lawrie	Davis	Semien
6	8	Davis	Zobrist	Reddick
7	7	Crisp	Vogt	Semien
8	7	Lawrie	Davis	Crisp
9	7	Lawrie	Davis	Zobrist
10	6	Lawrie	Vogt	Semien
11	6	Davis	Lawrie	Reddick
12	6	Zobrist	Vogt	Semien
13	6	Vogt	Butler	Fuld
14	6	Semien	Fuld	Crisp
15	6	Butler	Reddick	Crisp
16	6	Butler	Reddick	Zobrist
17	6	Butler	Davis	Zobrist
18	6	Fuld	Butler	Reddick
19	5	Crisp	Vogt	Butler
20	5	Lawrie	Reddick	Zobrist

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