The Guards are on pace to win 118 games. Obviously, that is unsustainable.Advanced:
- Guardians are currently middle of the pack with HR's (22), tied with Texas and the Yankees
- 3rd in 2B
- 5th in SLG
- 5th in Hits
- 5th in Batted Balls
- 6th in BA
- 7th best in SO but 4th worst in BB
- 8th in WOBA
For the nerds out there, what does this data tell you?
- 2nd worst in Barrel %
- 3rd worst in Hard Hit %
- 6th worst in Exit Velo
There is a lot of unsustainability going on here, beginning with the pitching. The pen is on pace to throw 700 IP. It is on pace for 8.7 fWAR. That is unsustainable, and has never been done. But at the moment it is the main reason for the teams success.
The teams wRC+ is 25% higher than last year. While you can reasonably expect a natural progression for a young team full of youngsters with some upward trends, 25% is unreasonably high, and unsustainable over 162 games.
Out of 22 games, we have played 12 vs teams that can reasonably be considered contenders. We have won 7 of those games. (.583) Depending upon which teams you consider contenders at the moment, almost two thirds of our remaining games are vs contenders.
.583, or a 95 game win rate, vs contenders is unsustainable for just about any team, let alone this one.
Batting .327 w/RISP (#2) is unsustainable.
Holding opposition batters to a .171 BA with w/RISP (#1) is unsustainable.
Teams on hot streaks are not as good as their records. Teams in slumps are not as bad as their records.
The Pirates began last year at 20-8. 24 games later they were 26-26. They finished 76-86.
The Guards aren't as good as the record. Its gonna take a couple months to find out just how good they are.