This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.
You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95
using your PayPal account or major credit card. This is the best time
to become a Newsletter subscriber -- playoff coverage has been where it
shines for 15 years!
--
Leverage Index is a stat that measures the importance of a given situation to winning a game. It’s pretty intuitive; two on, two out, down one in the ninth is very important, while two outs in the bottom of the fifth of a 7-1 game isn’t. The average leverage of all PAs is 1, and the higher the number, the bigger the spot. Well, Yankees came to the plate last night seven times in spots with a Leverage Index of at least 1.5 -- 50% more important than usual. In all seven, the Blue Jays retired the batter. Twice, they got Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Austin Wells out with the game hanging in the balance.
The Jays had every reason to believe they would put up runs, and to have real uncertainty about their pen. On a night that Cam Schlittler held them down into the seventh, though, it was the bullpen that won the game for them.
The Jays had every reason to believe they would put up runs, and to have real uncertainty about their pen. On a night that Cam Schlittler held them down into the seventh, though, it was the bullpen that won the game for them.
