StrangeVol
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The good news is we have the only dog in the fight. Gotta love Smokey. Seriously, this will be a battle between two teams that desperately need to add wins to their totals. Good SEC tourney seeding and a trip to (or possibly hosting) a NCAA regional may well hang on this series.
I think we win the series but it won't be easy. Looking at the same three offensive stats that I did post mortem with Arkansas, BB, SLG% and OB%, the stats of both teams are pretty dang close. Take walks (BB) for instance, we've drawn 53 and they've drawn 50. The definition of a push. OB% favors them with two guys over .400 and us with only one, but still very close. SLG% is the only category where they have a substantial advantage with five guys better than .400 and us with just two. So as you can see nothing screams out that either team has a big advantage with the possible exception of SLG%.
So, out of frustration, I decided to look at pitching and fielding stats. Let's start with fielding, where we are clearly better in spite of our youth. We field at a .980 clip and they trail us at .970. Doesn't seem like much of a difference but in fielding, that gap is a pretty big difference. Advantage us.
It's really hard to get a handle on pitching when you don't know much of anything about Missouri. Looking at their stats it's hard to see who are their dominant pitchers are and it looks like their starting staff is a committee approach. They have half a dozen guys that have started multiple games this season, but nobody that just blows you away statistically. I'm going to say we have a small advantage here, but not because of our starters necessarily. I think our bullpen is better than theirs. So if we can get to their starters we might be able to put some runs on the board. Advantage us...sorta.
Finally. in a series this close I think the home field is a noteworthy advantage, so advantage us.
It's hard to see a great deal of difference statistically in the two teams. In fact, they are very similar in that they are both pretty good but not great.
Should be a fun series to watch.
I think we win the series but it won't be easy. Looking at the same three offensive stats that I did post mortem with Arkansas, BB, SLG% and OB%, the stats of both teams are pretty dang close. Take walks (BB) for instance, we've drawn 53 and they've drawn 50. The definition of a push. OB% favors them with two guys over .400 and us with only one, but still very close. SLG% is the only category where they have a substantial advantage with five guys better than .400 and us with just two. So as you can see nothing screams out that either team has a big advantage with the possible exception of SLG%.
So, out of frustration, I decided to look at pitching and fielding stats. Let's start with fielding, where we are clearly better in spite of our youth. We field at a .980 clip and they trail us at .970. Doesn't seem like much of a difference but in fielding, that gap is a pretty big difference. Advantage us.
It's really hard to get a handle on pitching when you don't know much of anything about Missouri. Looking at their stats it's hard to see who are their dominant pitchers are and it looks like their starting staff is a committee approach. They have half a dozen guys that have started multiple games this season, but nobody that just blows you away statistically. I'm going to say we have a small advantage here, but not because of our starters necessarily. I think our bullpen is better than theirs. So if we can get to their starters we might be able to put some runs on the board. Advantage us...sorta.
Finally. in a series this close I think the home field is a noteworthy advantage, so advantage us.
It's hard to see a great deal of difference statistically in the two teams. In fact, they are very similar in that they are both pretty good but not great.
Should be a fun series to watch.
