2026 Data Breakdown

[Riverbrian]

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that the Win and Loss Data that I am sharing has major holes in any conclusions because it does not contain extremely important data such as pitching performance. We all know that you can win a 2-1 game and lose an 8-7 game. Baseball is baseball. Another thing this information doesn't contain is talent. I realize this however... the accumulation and development of talent is probably my overall point. 

With the disclaimer fully in place to avoid unnecessary confusion.

I'll restate the purpose of this data: Major league managers are setting lineups based on weather the starting pitcher is right handed and left handed. I don't believe that this can be argued. There are degrees to how much each team allows the throwing hand of the opposing starting pitcher to influence the daily lineup and almost all teams platoon to some degree. In the case of the Twins... I believe they platoon more than almost all teams and I believe that the hand of the starting pitcher is by far the primary influencer in the daily lineup. 

I believe that the starting lineup does the majority of the work in any given game. Because the starting lineup does the majority of the work apart from pitching. Anything that influences those decisions as heavily as the throwing hand of the opposing starter has to be looked at. The starting lineup handles the majority of AB's, defensive plays, baserunning and it determines who is available to pinch hit or pinch run if necessary. The reason managers play these rather marginal platoon advantages is to increase the chances of winning baseball games. The selection of the starting lineup plays a big role in wins and losses. If so... playing the platoon advantage as strongly as the Twins do. It should show up in wins and loss records when you are able to stack the opposite batters box with higher numbers of players. 

I feel this is important because in order to maintain this level of platooning... There are examples of choosing lesser players to maintain it. Instead of choosing talent so this is ultimately a talent discussion as much as it is a platoon discussion. 

Did the platoon help us win more games? I draw no conclusions from this data set alone. I will add to this data set (run production) later when I have time to compile it. Here is a breakdown of the data that I compiled over the year:

Record vs Right Handed Starters: 55-57 - Record vs Left Handed Starters: 22-28

112 Games vs Right Handed Starters - 50 games vs Left Handed Starters: 69% of games were against Right Handed Starters.  

Average number of players in our starting lineup hitting from the opposite batters box against Right Handed Pitchers: 5.46

Average number of players in our starting lineup hitting from the opposite batters box against left handed pitchers: 7.78

We averaged over two more batters in the opposite batters box against left handers and it produced a 44% winning percentage against left handed pitching compared to 49% winning percentage against right handers. Stuffing the opposite batters box didn't produce more wins... it produced more losses. 

Let's break it down further: 

Number of players in the starting lineup in the opposite batters box against Right Handed Starters and the win/loss record: 

3: 4-0

4: 4-5

5: 20-22

6: 21-27

7: 5-3

8: 1-0

We were 28-27 when we had lower amount 3-4-5 in the opposite batters box and 27-30 when we had higher amount 6-7-8 in the opposite batters box. Including 4-0 when we had the lowest amount of 3 batters in the left handed batters box. The 4 pitchers who started those games that we won were: Michael Wacha. Jose Cabrera, Ryan Feltner and Gavin Williams. The majority of games were in the middle with either 5 or 6 players in the left handed batters box and we were 41-49. This is not a surprise because a losing team is going to lose where the majority of games are located. 

Against Left Handed Starters:

6: 1-0

7: 6-8

8: 13-17

9: 2-3

They went 7-8 when we had lower amount 6 or 7 in the opposite batters box and they went 15-20 when we had higher amounts 8 or 9. It's a 50 game sample. 30 of those 50 times we had only one left handed hitter in the starting lineup. Typically Kody Clemens. 

Combining both hands together to create a collective won-loss record per batters in the opposite batters box:

3: 4-0

4: 4-5

5: 20-22

6: 22-27

7: 11-11

8: 14-17

9: 2-3

Not much to glean from this. It's basically the same numbers. 28-27 when the lowest amounts are applied 3-4-5 and 27-31 when the highest amount of players 7--8-9 in the opposite batters box are in the starting lineup. 

69% of the starters we faced were 

 

Again... I realize that pitching is not included and I realize that this can also simply be explained by the talent of the players who are suppose to be doing the damage from the batters box. But... Yes... absolutely Yes... I am making this talent argument and I am absolutely indeed asking the question. Does the platoon actually help us win games if it is causing the addition of lesser players to maintain it? Does it help us enough to today to justify the potential damage to our developing players tomorrow and I am absolutely asking the question: If 69% of the opposing team starters are right handed and if we believe in the platoon advantage. Shouldn't we be more focused on the 69%... which means more left handed hitters.