Enby Distribution, pt. 5: W% Estimate

While an earlier post contained the full explanation of the methodology used to estimate W%, it’s an important enough topic to repeat in full here. The methodology is not unique to Enby; it could be implemented with any estimate of the frequency of runs scored per game (and in fact I first implemented it with the Tango Distribution). As I discussed last time, the math may look complicated and require a computer to implement, but the model itself is arguably the simplest conceptually because it is based on the simple logic of how games are decided.

Let p(k) be the probability of scoring k runs in a game and q(m) be the probability of allowing m runs a game. If k is greater than m, then the team will win; if k is less than m, then the team will lose. If k and m are equal, then the game will go to extra innings. In setting it up this way, I am implicitly assuming that p(k) is the probability of scoring k runs in nine innings rather than in a game. This is not a horrible way to go about it since the average major league game has about 27 outs once the influences that cause shorter games (not batting in the ninth, rain) are balanced with the longer games created by extra innings. Still, it should be noted that the count of runs scored from a particular game does not necessarily arise from an equivalent opportunity context (as defined by innings or outs) of another game.

Given this notation, we can express the probability of winning a game in the standard nine innings as:

P(win 9) = p(1)*q(0) + p(2)*[q(0) +q(1)] +p(3)*[q(0) + q(1) + q(2)] + p(4)*[q(0) + q(1) + q(2) + q(3)] + ...

Extra innings will occur whenever k and m are equal:

P(X) = p(0)*q(0) + p(1)*q(1) + p(2)*q(2) + p(3)*q(3) + p(4)*q(4) + ...

When the game goes to extra innings, it becomes an inning by inning contest. Let n(k) be the probability of scoring k runs in an inning and r(m) be the probability of allowing m runs in an inning. If k is greater than m, the team wins; if k is less than m, the team loses; and if k is equal to m, then the process will repeat until a winner is determined.

To find the probability of each of the three possible outcomes of an extra inning, we can follow the same logic as used above for P(win 9). The probability of winning the inning is:

P(win inning) = n(1)*r(0) +n(2)*[r(0) +r(1)] +n(3)*[r(0) + r(1) + r(2)] + n(4)*[r(0) + r(1) + r(2) + r(3)] + ...

The probability of the game continuing (equivalent to tying the inning) is similar to P(extra innings above):

P(tie inning) = n(0)*r(0) + n(1)*r(1) +n(2)*r(2) + n(3)*r(3) + n(4)*r(4) + ...

The probability of winning in extra innings [P(win X)] is:

P(win X) = P(win inning) + P(tie inning)*P(win inning) + P(tie inning)^2*P(win inning) + P(tie inning)^3*P(win inning) + ...

This is a geometric series that simplifies to:

P(win X) = P(win inning)*[P(tie inning) + P(tie inning)^2 + P(tie inning)^3 + ...] = P(win inning)*1/[1 - P(tie inning)] = P(win inning)/[1 - P(tie inning)]

This could also be expressed in a very clever way using the Craps Principle if we had also computed P(lose inning); I did it that way last time, but it doesn’t really cut down on the amount of calculation necessary in this case.

Since I want these last few posts to serve as a comprehensive explanation of how to calculate the Enby run and win estimates, it is necessary to take a moment to review how to use the Tango Distribution to estimate the runs per inning distribution. c of course is the constant, set at .852 when looking with a head-to-head matchup. RI is runs/inning, which I’ve defined as RG/9:

a = c*RI^2
n(0) = RI/(RI + a)
d = 1 - c*f(0)
n(1) = (1 - n(0))*(1 - d)
n(k) = n(k - 1)*d for k >= 2

Once we have these three key probabilities [P(win 9), P(X), and P(win X)], the formula for W% is obvious:

W% = P(win 9) + P(X)*P(win X)

We will use the Enby Distribution to determine p(k) and q(m), and the Tango Distribution to determine n(k) and r(m). In both cases, we’ll use the Tango Distribution constant c = .852 since this works best when looking at a head-to-head matchup, which certainly is the applicable context when discussing W%.

I have put together a spreadsheet that will handle all of the calculations for you. The yellow cells are the ones that you can edit, with the most important being R (cell B1) and RA (cell L1), which naturally are where you enter the average R/G and RA/G for the team whose W% you’d like to estimate. The other yellow cell is for the c value of Tango Distribution. Please note that editing this cell will do nothing to change the Enby Distribution parameters--those are fixed based on using c = .852. Editing c in this cell (B8) will only change the estimates of the per inning scoring probabilities estimated by the Tango Distribution. I don’t advise changing this value, since .852 has been found to work best for head-to-head matchups and leaving it there keeps the Tango Distribution estimates consistent with the Enby Distribution estimates. The sheet also calculates Pythagenpat W% for a given exponent (which you can change in cell B15).

The calculator supports the same range of values as the one for single team run distribution introduced in part 9--RG at intervals of .25 between 0-3 and 7-15 runs, and at intervals of .05 between 3-7 runs. The vlookup function will round down to the next R/G value on the parameter sheet (for example, the two highest values supported are 14.75 and 15.00. You can enter 14.93 if you want, but the Enby calculation will be based on 14.75 (the Pythagenpat calculation will still be based on 14.93). Have some fun playing around with it, and next time we’ll look at how accurate the Enby estimate is compared to other W% models.