How Historic Is the Dodgers' Run Differential? 2026's Extremes Against Four Seasons of Finishes
The Dodgers are at +1.75 runs a game — a pace only the 2022 Dodgers finished above in 120 team-seasons since 2021. The floor, meanwhile, is ordinary.
Statistics · Analytics · Data science
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The Phillies are 19-6 in one-run games and 35-37 in the rest. Across 2026, one-run win% tracks other-game win% at just r=0.16 — close games are mostly coin flips.
The Dodgers are at +1.75 runs a game — a pace only the 2022 Dodgers finished above in 120 team-seasons since 2021. The floor, meanwhile, is ordinary.
2026 is scoring 9.04 combined runs a game through July 6 — up from 8.89 in 2025 and the hottest rate since 2023. A four-year audit shows July snapshots hold.
Across 90 season pairs (2021-2024), runs allowed per game carried over at r=0.50 while runs scored carried at just r=0.28. Run prevention is the stickier skill.
Join 2024 team batting and pitching on team_id in plain Python, compute run differential and Pythagorean wins for all 30 teams, and find the luckiest club.
ERA quietly discards about one run in twelve. Across 2024's 30 teams, RA/9 ran 0.38 above ERA — and runs allowed predicted winning better (r=0.77 vs 0.74).
Isolated Power strips singles out of slugging to leave pure extra-base pop. Across 2024's 30 teams, ISO tracked homers at r=0.95 but scoring at just 0.86.