Insights on 1-Run Losses

Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Hazen is walking the Diamondbacks into contention.This season in games through 5 August, the Diamondbacks lost 22 games by one run.

“…that [losing 1-run games] is the area that we need to fixate on…the areas we are going to fix.” — Mike Hazen

Why did Mike Hazen talk about 1-run losses? If the Diamondbacks could change 1-run losses into mostly wins, it would positively impact the win-loss record. The first step is to understand the underlying causes. Let’s see what data says about several possibilities.

Is the root cause newly called up players? In 1-run losses, veterans (players with at least 2 prior seasons in the Majors) accounted for…