Game Score

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Game Score is a metric devised by Bill James to determine the strength of a pitcher in any particular baseball game. To determine a starting pitcher's game score:

  1. Start with 50 points.
  2. Add 1 point for each out recorded, so 3 points for every complete inning pitched.
  3. Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
  4. Add 1 point for each strikeout.
  5. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
  6. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
  7. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
  8. Subtract 1 point for each walk.

The highest game score for a nine inning game in the history of baseball was Kerry Wood's one-hit, no walk, 20-strikeout shutout performance for the Chicago Cubs against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998. His game score was 105 (50 + 27 + 10 + 20 - 2).

Higher scores have been accomplished in extra-inning games. Harvey Haddix scored a 107 for the game in which he took a perfect game into the 13th inning. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn scored 112 and 97, respectively, during a complete game 16-inning match up. In their famous 26-inning duel from 1920, Joe Oeschger scored 149 and Leon Cadore scored 141.

The lowest game score in baseball history was Allan Travers' 26-hit, 24-run start for the Detroit Tigers on May 18, 1912. His game score was a negative: -52. This performance only came about because the regular Tiger players staged a strike in protest of Ty Cobb's suspension. To avoid a forfeit, local college players (including Travers) were enlisted as impromptu fill-ins. The lowest game score since 1957 was Oakland pitcher Mike Oquist's, who allowed 16 hits and 14 earned runs in 5 innings on August 3, 1998, for a negative -21.

The game score concept expands on Major League Baseball's official definition of a quality start. MLB defines a quality start as 6 or more innings pitched while allowing 3 or fewer earned runs. The game score system defines a quality start as a game score above 50.

The advantage that the system has over the official definition is that it allows a statistician a better view of the degree of quality in a pitchers performance. Game scores can be quantified, and a pitcher's performance tracked over time. It is also possible to compare different pitchers. If one averages a 60 and another averages 55, presumably the first pitcher has had a better season.

It is also possible to have a quality start under the game score system that would not qualify officially.

It must be noted that in terms of high scores, the system favors current pitchers. It is difficult to achieve a very high score in a game without amassing a substantial amount of strikeouts. In earlier eras, even for the very best pitchers, strikeouts were less plentiful. For instance, Cy Young's two no-hitters earned scores of just 90 and 88 due to their low strikeout totals (3 and 2, respectively).

[edit] Career totals for some pitchers

The total number of game scores listed for each pitcher are starts in which he reached 90 points or higher. The parenthetical totals represent the highest score in the pitcher's career, and the number of game scores equal to or greater than 100 (if any). This is not a complete list.

(Randy Johnson also had a negative -5 score in 1994. David Wells had two negative scores: -14 in 1992, and -5 in 1997. Kevin Brown had a negative -4 in 1994. Curt Schilling had a negative -1 in 1993.)[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ From 1957 to 2007, (requiring game_score<=0), sorted by smallest game_score in a single game - Baseball-Reference PI