BUYING SUCCESS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
BUYING SUCCESS IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Overview
November 2012
Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 3 BUYING SUCCESS ............................................................................................................ 4 WINS & LOSSES BY TEAM ............................................................................................... 7 SALARY INCREASES BY TEAM ...................................................................................... 9 TEAM PROFILE ................................................................................................................ 12 PERFORMANCE & SALARY DETAILS .......................................................................... 15 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 16
QlikView Technical Brief | 2
Introduction Evolving from other bat & ball games, baseball has grown over the years to become the American “national pastime.” As the sport grew into professional leagues arguments arose between players and team owners over money. Players wanted more money from the owners and less affluent teams complained that teams with deeper pockets could buy the best players. This same argument exists today.
This application takes 12 years worth of performance and salary data for each of the 30 teams. You can explore the data by selecting various time periods, compare the American and National leagues, and take a deeper dive into each team’s history to see if you really can buy success in baseball.
QlikView Technical Brief | 3
Buying Success To begin we should establish what we mean by “success.” While baseball is certainly a business, and one definition of success could be the measuring of a team’s financial return on investment (positive or negative), this application does not include data on teams’ profitability. A second way to look at success is by regular season wins. Which teams win the most games?
While both of these are suitable views of success, this application looks at success more like how the players see it: did you win the World Series? All of the regular season wins don’t matter much if you can’t secure a World Series victory.
QlikView Technical Brief | 4
To begin, try filtering the data by World Series Victories in the Postseason listbox in the bottom left. This filters the results to just the teams who have won the World Series between 2000 and 2011. We see that only 9 teams have won a WS title over 12 years. You can further filter by selecting just the three teams that have won more than one title: the Yankees, Cardinals, and Red Sox.
QlikView Technical Brief | 5
The result is a quick analysis the top three most successful teams and what they have spent to win the World Series twice over 12 years. The Yankees, notorious for their spending, spent over $294 million to win two titles while the Cardinals only spent $194 million. The Yankees spent almost $100 million more than the Cardinals for, essentially, the same result.
QlikView Technical Brief | 6
Wins & Losses by Team Wins and Losses by Team tracks the cumulative regular season performance of each team. A more manageable view is to select just one season and see how each team performed. Teams who were “above 500” (demarcated by the horizontal line at 0) are the teams who won more than 50% of the games they played. Similarly, the teams below 500 lost more than they won.
QlikView Technical Brief | 7
If we select just 2011 and then select just the teams who finished above 500 we can see that, of the teams who at one point were below 500, the Dodgers had dropped the farthest below 500 but still managed to have a winning record.
QlikView Technical Brief | 8
Salary Increases by Team Salary Increases by Team offers two visualizations of salary data. The default is Cumulative Spending. This visualizes year over year spending in dollars of a team’s payroll. Since no team can ever get back the money they spent, all 30 lines gradually increase as time goes by. Sharp increases in the growth of any particular team shows large increases in spending to invest in the team.
QlikView Technical Brief | 9
The second visualization is Annual Percentage Changes. This view looks to neutralize the vast differences in wealth amongst teams and instead looks to show changes in their spending habits over time. A team’s spending is visualized as percentages up or down in relation to the previous year with the values in relation to the year 2000.
QlikView Technical Brief | 10
If we pick just the Rockies for example, we see that they fluctuated between increasing and decreasing spending year to year but made a big investment in the team for 2007 only to slowly cut spending after that.
QlikView Technical Brief | 11
Team Profile Team Profiles lets you see a team’s overall performance and salary. Because this view focuses on one team at a time you are required to select just one team to get started.
QlikView Technical Brief | 12
If we choose the Phillies for example, we can see their regular season wins increase right along with their spending. They have shown a lot of progress from 2000 when they were the worst team in baseball. Unfortunately we can also see that since their 2008 World Series victory they have reached one less stage each year in the postseason. You can also select the Historical Details tab in the bottom right corner for additional information.
QlikView Technical Brief | 13
By contrast if we select the Yankees we see a very different story. While their spending is notoriously high it actually hasn’t seen many dramatic changes since the ramp up to 2005. They are also regulars in the post season having only missed one appearance in twelve years. The Yankees have also won two World Series titles over the last 12 years. As spending and performance go they tend to consistently perform .
QlikView Technical Brief | 14
Performance & Salary Details The final tab shows additional information regarding each team and year. The top visualization is a bubble chart of salary and performance by team laid out along a single axis. The larger the bubble size, the higher the team spending. The further to the right on the x-axis, the more regular season wins. By default we can see that the Yankees have spent the most but also won the most regular season games. By contrast, on the far left, the Pirates have spent very little but also have not won many games.
QlikView Technical Brief | 15
Summary While 12 years of data is probably not statistically significant enough to definitively determine if a team can buy success, you can certainly begin to find patterns and see correlations between financial investments and performance. In general the teams that spend more do win more but a World Series victory is never guaranteed. Of the top 10 highest spending teams 7 are in the top 10 for most wins but only 5 have won a World Series.
© 2012 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. QlikTech, QlikView, Qlik, Q, Simplifying Analysis for Everyone, Power of Simplicity, New Rules, The Uncontrollable Smile and other QlikTech products and services as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of QlikTech International AB. All other company names, products and services used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The information published herein is subject to change without notice. This publication is for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and QlikTech shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to this publication. The only warranties for QlikTech products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting any additional warranty.
QlikView Technical Brief | 16
November 2012
Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 3 BUYING SUCCESS ............................................................................................................ 4 WINS & LOSSES BY TEAM ............................................................................................... 7 SALARY INCREASES BY TEAM ...................................................................................... 9 TEAM PROFILE ................................................................................................................ 12 PERFORMANCE & SALARY DETAILS .......................................................................... 15 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 16
QlikView Technical Brief | 2
Introduction Evolving from other bat & ball games, baseball has grown over the years to become the American “national pastime.” As the sport grew into professional leagues arguments arose between players and team owners over money. Players wanted more money from the owners and less affluent teams complained that teams with deeper pockets could buy the best players. This same argument exists today.
This application takes 12 years worth of performance and salary data for each of the 30 teams. You can explore the data by selecting various time periods, compare the American and National leagues, and take a deeper dive into each team’s history to see if you really can buy success in baseball.
QlikView Technical Brief | 3
Buying Success To begin we should establish what we mean by “success.” While baseball is certainly a business, and one definition of success could be the measuring of a team’s financial return on investment (positive or negative), this application does not include data on teams’ profitability. A second way to look at success is by regular season wins. Which teams win the most games?
While both of these are suitable views of success, this application looks at success more like how the players see it: did you win the World Series? All of the regular season wins don’t matter much if you can’t secure a World Series victory.
QlikView Technical Brief | 4
To begin, try filtering the data by World Series Victories in the Postseason listbox in the bottom left. This filters the results to just the teams who have won the World Series between 2000 and 2011. We see that only 9 teams have won a WS title over 12 years. You can further filter by selecting just the three teams that have won more than one title: the Yankees, Cardinals, and Red Sox.
QlikView Technical Brief | 5
The result is a quick analysis the top three most successful teams and what they have spent to win the World Series twice over 12 years. The Yankees, notorious for their spending, spent over $294 million to win two titles while the Cardinals only spent $194 million. The Yankees spent almost $100 million more than the Cardinals for, essentially, the same result.
QlikView Technical Brief | 6
Wins & Losses by Team Wins and Losses by Team tracks the cumulative regular season performance of each team. A more manageable view is to select just one season and see how each team performed. Teams who were “above 500” (demarcated by the horizontal line at 0) are the teams who won more than 50% of the games they played. Similarly, the teams below 500 lost more than they won.
QlikView Technical Brief | 7
If we select just 2011 and then select just the teams who finished above 500 we can see that, of the teams who at one point were below 500, the Dodgers had dropped the farthest below 500 but still managed to have a winning record.
QlikView Technical Brief | 8
Salary Increases by Team Salary Increases by Team offers two visualizations of salary data. The default is Cumulative Spending. This visualizes year over year spending in dollars of a team’s payroll. Since no team can ever get back the money they spent, all 30 lines gradually increase as time goes by. Sharp increases in the growth of any particular team shows large increases in spending to invest in the team.
QlikView Technical Brief | 9
The second visualization is Annual Percentage Changes. This view looks to neutralize the vast differences in wealth amongst teams and instead looks to show changes in their spending habits over time. A team’s spending is visualized as percentages up or down in relation to the previous year with the values in relation to the year 2000.
QlikView Technical Brief | 10
If we pick just the Rockies for example, we see that they fluctuated between increasing and decreasing spending year to year but made a big investment in the team for 2007 only to slowly cut spending after that.
QlikView Technical Brief | 11
Team Profile Team Profiles lets you see a team’s overall performance and salary. Because this view focuses on one team at a time you are required to select just one team to get started.
QlikView Technical Brief | 12
If we choose the Phillies for example, we can see their regular season wins increase right along with their spending. They have shown a lot of progress from 2000 when they were the worst team in baseball. Unfortunately we can also see that since their 2008 World Series victory they have reached one less stage each year in the postseason. You can also select the Historical Details tab in the bottom right corner for additional information.
QlikView Technical Brief | 13
By contrast if we select the Yankees we see a very different story. While their spending is notoriously high it actually hasn’t seen many dramatic changes since the ramp up to 2005. They are also regulars in the post season having only missed one appearance in twelve years. The Yankees have also won two World Series titles over the last 12 years. As spending and performance go they tend to consistently perform .
QlikView Technical Brief | 14
Performance & Salary Details The final tab shows additional information regarding each team and year. The top visualization is a bubble chart of salary and performance by team laid out along a single axis. The larger the bubble size, the higher the team spending. The further to the right on the x-axis, the more regular season wins. By default we can see that the Yankees have spent the most but also won the most regular season games. By contrast, on the far left, the Pirates have spent very little but also have not won many games.
QlikView Technical Brief | 15
Summary While 12 years of data is probably not statistically significant enough to definitively determine if a team can buy success, you can certainly begin to find patterns and see correlations between financial investments and performance. In general the teams that spend more do win more but a World Series victory is never guaranteed. Of the top 10 highest spending teams 7 are in the top 10 for most wins but only 5 have won a World Series.
© 2012 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. QlikTech, QlikView, Qlik, Q, Simplifying Analysis for Everyone, Power of Simplicity, New Rules, The Uncontrollable Smile and other QlikTech products and services as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of QlikTech International AB. All other company names, products and services used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The information published herein is subject to change without notice. This publication is for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and QlikTech shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to this publication. The only warranties for QlikTech products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting any additional warranty.
QlikView Technical Brief | 16
