If you outhit and outpitch the other team, you ought to win, right? In baseball’s modern world, you can measure that by expected weighted on-base average (xwOBA). Lineups today will try to knock the snot out of the ball at an optimal launch angle. If you try to hit for an expected outcome, results should follow. For the most part, that works out. But this season for a quarter of the time, (25.09% to be absolutely precise) the team that doesn’t have the higher combined batting xwOBA for the game wins the game. Giving up hits at the right time, poor batted ball luck, guys scoring runs without touching the plate, or Will Smith can undo any good will that your hitting and pitching can produce.
What the xwOBA Standings tell us about the NL East
