OPS and OPS+

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kenhutchings

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OPS and OPS+

PostTue Oct 10, 2023 4:59 pm

Generally I believe that most participants in Mystery Games evaluate players based on their OPS; i.e. the highest OPS represents their best season, and the lowest OPS represents their worst season.

I just recently started a Mystery 70s season, and in my opening series (got swept, darn it), Jerry Remy gets injured, and the injury reveal indicates that it is his 1979 season, with the highest OPS of 0.696. Remy's "worst season" is his 1976 season, with an OPS of 0.616.

OPS+ is a measurement of how one's OPS compares against the league wide OPS (found on Baseball Reference). In 1976, the league OPS was 0.661, so Remy's OPS+ rating is [0.313/0.311 (Remy's OBP divided by league average) plus 0.303/0.350 (Remy's slugging percentage divided by the league average) - 1, then multiply by 100. 1.06 + 0.86 = 1.92 - 1 = 0.92 times 100 equals 92. Baseball Reference makes an adjustment due to the ballpark, but Remy's 87 OPS+ for the 1976 season is actually the highest of the five seasons represented in the Mystery Game.

In 1976, the average number of runs per game in the American League was 4.01; in 1979, the average number of runs per game in the AL was 4.67, so the overall hitting in 1979 was considerably better than three seasons earlier.

I competed in one Mystery 70s league where Mike Epstein clubbed a total of 48 homeruns, although he only hit 26 during the regular 1972 season. Epstein's OPS+ was 163 for that season. AL teams averaged 3.47 runs per game that season. It has generally been my experience that most players on their 1972 season will generally perform better than their real life stats, and that pitchers from that season will generally fare worse.
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coyote303

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Re: OPS and OPS+

PostWed Oct 11, 2023 1:48 am

I play exclusively 60s anymore, and you like to see hitters who have a good 68 season (year of the pitcher) card because it will be much better than the OPS will indicate. Likewise, generally you don't want your pitchers to have a 68 card because it will be much worse than expected. Of course, there are guys like Tiant whose 68 card is still very good.

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