Clogging the Bases

There just aren't any positive connotations to the verb "to clog" outside the baseball world. Its association with clogged arteries and your clogged up commode makes people naturally recoil when they hear the word. Fair enough.

If you find yourself nodding in agreement to Uncle Griff's mailbag every Wednesday, odds are you've got a bee in your bonnet about "clogging the bases" (amongst other things). Here's a recent example from today's Star:

Q: I love the column Richard. I cannot understand why the Jays always talk about batting Lyle Overbay second. He hits a lot of doubles and gets on base, but with his power and lack of speed, I feel he is much better in an RBI spot than clogging the bases up top. Furthermore, not that the Jays usually play small ball, but I think it is a waste to take a potential double or homer away from Overbay in order to move the runner over...

Jason MacDonald, Amherst

A: The days of Overbay batting second are over. Last year, it was an early season plan because they wanted a lefthanded bat near the top of the order and believed that when the other team’s first baseman was holding a runner on, Lyle could shoot groundballs through the hole on the right...

Frank Thomas... has clogged more arteries on the basepaths than a diet of buttered bacon and poutine...

And so on. There's something like this every week. Like clockwork.

I really don't have the energy to take Griffin's mailbag apart piece by piece, but I would like to address the "clogging the bases" issue with some numbers. I'd also like to bring it to your attention that USA Today has a really excellent stat site that I had a bit of fun mucking about with this afternoon.

You're probably asking, "So, get down to it! Which teams were the worst offenders in 2007 when it came to "clogging the bases" as measured by Left on Base totals?

In the AL:

TEAM	LOB	RS		RS Rank
BOS	1291	867		3rd
OAK	1258	741		11th
NYY	1249	968		1st
CLE	1215	811		6th
TB	1166	782		8th
BAL	1152	756		9th
DET	1148	887		2nd
SEA	1128	794		7th
MIN	1121	718		12th
TOR	1112	753		10th
LAA	1100	822		4th
TEX	1092	816		5th
KCR	1089	706		13th
CHI	1074	693		14th
Ave.	1157	794

There really aren't any black and white answers that immediately jump out. Aside from the the worst base-clogging team in the league going on to win the World Series that is. And the worst offense by leaps and bounds also happening to have left the fewest number of men on base...

Dividing the AL into halves, the top seven base cloggers accounted for the first, second, third, sixth, eighth, nineth and eleventh best offenses in the league. The bottom seven base cleaners accounted for the fourth, fifth, seventh, tenth, twelvth, thirteenth, and fourteenth best offenses in the league.

There are abberations in each group, Oakland and Baltimore in the former, Los Angeles and Texas in the latter, but as a whole, the base cloggers stack up better than the base cleaners.

In the NL:

TEAM	LOB	RS		RS Rank
PHI	1295	892		1st
COL	1251	860		2nd
ATL	1205	810		3rd
LAD	1200	735		10th
NYM	1196	804		4th
FLA	1192	790		6th
CHI	1190	752		8th
HOU	1181	723		13th
CIN	1170	783		7th
STL	1167	725		11th
WSH	1163	673		16th
SD	1152	741		9th
SF	1141	683		15th
PIT	1119	724		12th
MIL	1117	801		5th
ARI	1090	712		14th
Ave	1177	763

The numbers over in the Senior Circuit are considerably more clear cut. Again, the division between good and bad offenses isn't perfectly defined, but base clogging teams as a whole again tend to be better than base clearers.

The base clogger group has the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and thirteenth ranked offenses. The base clearer group has the fifth, seventh, nineth, eleventh, twelvth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth ranked offenses.

You get the picture...

Maybe Uncle Griff will considering enjoying a nice plate of buttered bacon and poutine with the crow he's eating for supper tonight.

-- Johnny Was