The 2020, 2021, and 2022 MLB pennant race charts using Retrosheet data have been updated on the Exploratory Server: https://exploratory.io/dashboard/kc2519/Pennant-Races-1901-current-aUu5vDT1EW. All seasons from 1901-2022 are now available using the simple parameter selection (just make sure it’s set to the interactive mode).
Here’s a screenshot:
Meanwhile, I’m struggling with some JSON output for my traditional version, so no updates there yet.
I’ve been creating MLB pennant race charts for years now, covering every season from 1901 through 2019, with 2020, 2021, and 2022 to come soon. These charts have been available on the site in single charts for each season at a league (American or National) and division level (since 1969). This has always worked reasonably well, but I have always yearned for something a bit more interactive, where users could go to one place and enter the season and league they want to view. Finally, courtesy of the Exploratory Server, such a solution is now available.
Here’s a glimpse of what I’m talking about – first, the old way of doing things, which I’ll continue to maintain. The process starts with a visit to the pennant races page on this site:
Selecting a specific menu option will display a single pennant race, such as the 1901 American League race shown here:
These charts work well, and provide some interactivity, but it is strictly one chart per link, so not very efficient.
Now, here’s the alternative option using the Exploratory server. Here I can create very similar charts but with a parameter-driven menu enabling users to select a season and a league:
Here’s a case where we select the 1901 season and the American League filters, with the following result:
The real power in this approach comes with the seasons from 1969-2019, where each league had two and then three divisions. Selecting the 2019 season and the American League filter options will now deliver all three divisional charts on a single page!
You can try this out yourself; just make sure to set the Parameters interactive mode to “On” which will activate the filters; you can control the display as well to show one or more columns. I find that a single column works best for the pennant race charts.
https://exploratory.io/viz/kc2519/Pennant-Races-Games-Over-500-Qvx9ZEF0In
I’ll be working more on this as part of the visualization options going forward; there are other cases where I can use similar functionality. Thanks for reading, and see you soon!
The last of my big three annual updates is now complete, as all 2016 & 2017 pennant race charts have been created, and now reside in the Visual-Baseball Project portfolio. These charts are created using NVD3, which is built on top of the powerful d3.js framework developed by Mike Bostock. These tools help make the charts highly interactive, allowing you to see where each team stands at any given point in the season, and also providing the ability to zoom in using a smaller sub-chart beneath the primary display.
The structure of the charts is based on every team’s relationship to a .500 winning percentage – a situation where a team wins exactly as many games as it loses. This structure allows for easy interpretation of the results, as we can see which teams hover near the .500 mark (i.e.- consistent mediocrity), others that rise well above this level, and also those teams that descend far below the breakeven point. Allow me to illustrate these thoughts using the 2017 American League Central division, and my hometown Detroit Tigers, who suffered through their worst season since 2003.
As you can see, the darker orange line representing the Tigers takes a steep dive starting in early August, culminating in a final record 34 games below the .500 percentage. Meanwhile, the rival Cleveland Indians (light blue line) present a near mirror image of the Tigers failure, with a sensational month of September that ultimately lands then 42 games over the .500 break-even level.
Similar charts have been created for the other divisions for both the 2016 & 2017 seasons. In fact, you can now view any season, league, and divisional splits dating back to the 1901 campaigns, a total of 380 pennant races to explore! Find all the pennant race charts here. Have fun exploring, and as always, thanks again for reading!