The Truth Behind Runners Left On Base

Novelist John Updike once said, “A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted; while within the narrative, we have apparent choices of exit, but when the author leads us to one particular door, we know it is the right one because it opens.” In the early stages of the 2016 season, there have been countless of false narratives created and used to try and demonstrate a point. The latest being how the Pirates lead all of baseball in runners left on base, which is a true and factual statement. But it does not really tell the story of what the Pirates have done with runners on base, and using the statement “Pirates lead the league in runners left on base” takes one down a path that causes outcry, even though the Pirates are better than the raw number leads one to believe. The team also leads the league in times on base (including errors), so naturally the Pirates would rank at the top, if not near, in runners left on base. It just makes sense using logic. The best way to see how many runners the Pirates are truly leaving on base, percentages of runners left on to runners reached is the best way to judge and to compare.

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