Two Words
by Ken Arneson
2005-04-22 15:11

Rich Harden.

I don’t really need to say anything else about last night’s game, so I won’t.

Instead, I’ll talk about a useless stat Jayson Stark made up called “runs not scored”. Runs Not Scored is Runs Scored subtracted from Times On Base. Stark notes that Ichiro didn’t score many runs for a guy who was on base so much, and wonders who else in history has had such problems.

Ordinarily I’d ignore such a stat, because “RNS” is misleading: it sounds like you’re measuring a bad thing, but it’s actually a good thing. Teams that have a lot of RNS usually have a lot of runs scored too, because they have a lot of baserunners overall.

But I was certain that last year’s A’s team must have had a ton of Runs Not Scored, so I was curious to see just how much.

We Bay Area baseball fans saw an awful lot of runners left on base last year. The 2004 A’s had 1,415 RNS, which was second only to Barry Bonds the Giants, who had 1,427. The Giants’ total was 16th all time, while the A’s total was tied for 35th all time.

That’s not quite as many as New York fans saw in 1999, though. The ’99 Mets had 1,465 (2nd all time), while the Yankees had 1,441 (12th all time).

This year’s A’s team does not actually have this “problem”; the 2005 A’s are actually tied for 16th in RNS with 124. (The Yankees are first with 150.) The problem with this year’s A’s, despite Eric Chavez being 0-for-15 with RISP, is not so much driving in runners; it’s getting enough of them on base in the first place.

The all-time record for team RNS is held by the 1989 Boston Red Sox, who had 1,476. Below, I’ll put a list of the top 50 all-time teams for RNS. You’ll notice that most of these teams were good teams. Only 12 of the top 50 teams were below .500.

team year r tob rns w l
BOS 1989 774 2250 1476 83 79
NYN 1999 853 2318 1465 97 66
SLA 1941 765 2228 1463 70 84
CLE 1982 683 2144 1461 78 84
NYA 1997 891 2349 1458 96 66
BOS 1949 896 2352 1456 96 58
CIN 1976 857 2308 1451 102 60
DET 1993 899 2346 1447 85 77
DET 1921 887 2333 1446 71 82
BOS 1956 780 2225 1445 84 70
MIN 1978 666 2109 1443 73 89
NYA 1999 900 2341 1441 98 64
CLE 1980 738 2171 1433 79 81
BOS 1990 699 2128 1429 88 74
CLE 1996 952 2379 1427 99 62
SFN 2004 850 2277 1427 91 71
CLE 2000 950 2375 1425 90 72
DET 1949 751 2176 1425 87 67
BOS 1988 813 2237 1424 89 73
CHA 1996 898 2321 1423 85 77
DET 1947 714 2137 1423 85 69
MIN 1974 673 2096 1423 82 80
NYA 1996 871 2294 1423 92 70
DET 1950 837 2259 1422 95 59
MIL 1999 815 2237 1422 74 87
HOU 1999 823 2243 1420 97 65
NYA 1993 821 2240 1419 88 74
CLE 1999 1009 2427 1418 97 65
BOS 1948 907 2324 1417 96 59
FLO 1997 740 2157 1417 92 70
SFN 1998 845 2262 1417 89 74
BAL 1992 705 2121 1416 89 73
MON 1973 668 2084 1416 79 83
WS1 1937 757 2173 1416 73 80
BRO 1947 774 2189 1415 94 60
MIN 1973 738 2153 1415 81 81
OAK 2004 793 2208 1415 91 71
SEA 1990 640 2055 1415 77 85
DET 1924 847 2261 1414 86 68
SFN 1970 831 2245 1414 86 76
BOS 1954 700 2113 1413 69 85
PHA 1949 726 2139 1413 81 73
BOS 1996 928 2340 1412 85 77
PHI 1975 735 2147 1412 86 76
BAL 1973 754 2165 1411 97 65
PHI 2002 710 2121 1411 80 81
PHI 1979 683 2092 1409 84 78
BOS 1985 800 2207 1407 81 81
CHA 1949 648 2055 1407 63 91
BOS 1997 851 2257 1406 78 84
Comments: 3
1.   Adam B
2005-04-22 23:12

1.  While interesting, the stat seems rather pointless, doesn't it?

2.   Ken Arneson
2005-04-23 00:11

2.  Not pointless, Adam. Useless.

3.   Joe
2005-04-23 01:13

3.  From this point on, I'm only referring to him as "Filthy" Rich Harden.

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