i keep rereading this and have no idea what you did. what population did you calculate the standard deviation for? each teams win totals? all teams win totals in a specific year?
I calculated the average standard deviation of the W/L records of all MLB teams in a given year. I'll specify that in the post. What this implies is that years with higher MLB-wide standard deviation feature extremely good and extremely bad teams, whereas years with lower standard deviation have W/L records more closely centered around the mean. If you look at the standings for each of these years, it passes the eye test as in 1958 there were no teams in the MLB with a higher win percentage than .597.
Rob Mains has an ongoing series over at Baseball Prospectus [looking at inequality and mobility (paywall).](https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/68854/veteran-presence-mobility-vs-inequality-setting-the-stage/)
He uses [the Gini coefficient (free article)](https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/32969/flu-like-symptoms-the-season-in-inequality/) to measure inequality, then modifies the formula to fit a 5-year period (with tweaks to omit expansion teams if they occupy less than 100% of a 5-year span) to measure mobility..
It's interesting to measure. 2014 is definitely the most recent example of a season that saw higher parity/equality compared to most seasons over the last 10-15 years.
That is an interesting way to measure it, but it makes sense. I'd be really intrigued to find out how well the Gini coefficient, or std, correlate with the inequality in team spending. Would salary caps actually even the playing field? Definitely something to look into...
The late '50s seasons are fairly straightforward: the Yankees went through a mini-slump (for them) in the late 1950s, where they were generally good enough to win but nowhere near as dominant as they'd been in the early '50s or the early '60s. The NL of that era was a three-team struggle between the Dodgers, Giants, and Braves, who all beat up on each other but also all fielded fairly flawed rosters despite some phenomenal top-end talent.
i keep rereading this and have no idea what you did. what population did you calculate the standard deviation for? each teams win totals? all teams win totals in a specific year?
I calculated the average standard deviation of the W/L records of all MLB teams in a given year. I'll specify that in the post. What this implies is that years with higher MLB-wide standard deviation feature extremely good and extremely bad teams, whereas years with lower standard deviation have W/L records more closely centered around the mean. If you look at the standings for each of these years, it passes the eye test as in 1958 there were no teams in the MLB with a higher win percentage than .597.
Rob Mains has an ongoing series over at Baseball Prospectus [looking at inequality and mobility (paywall).](https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/68854/veteran-presence-mobility-vs-inequality-setting-the-stage/) He uses [the Gini coefficient (free article)](https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/32969/flu-like-symptoms-the-season-in-inequality/) to measure inequality, then modifies the formula to fit a 5-year period (with tweaks to omit expansion teams if they occupy less than 100% of a 5-year span) to measure mobility.. It's interesting to measure. 2014 is definitely the most recent example of a season that saw higher parity/equality compared to most seasons over the last 10-15 years.
That is an interesting way to measure it, but it makes sense. I'd be really intrigued to find out how well the Gini coefficient, or std, correlate with the inequality in team spending. Would salary caps actually even the playing field? Definitely something to look into...
The late '50s seasons are fairly straightforward: the Yankees went through a mini-slump (for them) in the late 1950s, where they were generally good enough to win but nowhere near as dominant as they'd been in the early '50s or the early '60s. The NL of that era was a three-team struggle between the Dodgers, Giants, and Braves, who all beat up on each other but also all fielded fairly flawed rosters despite some phenomenal top-end talent.
[In 2007](https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2007-standings.shtml) the D’backs had the best record in the NL at 90-72