Behind the Numbers: Recipe for a Winning Streak

Happy Sunday Tribe Nation! It's my great pleasure to bring you this special Sunday edition of Behind the Numbers! As most of you know by now, the Indians are currently riding a five-game winning streak. With the Indians recent success I wanted to delve into the numbers, and see what all goes into a win streak. So sit back and enjoy as I introduce you all to the recipe for a winning streak. For starters, you can't have a winning streak without good starting pitching...and the Indians have had GREAT starting pitching during these last five games. Here are the lines and combined stats of the Indians rotation during this current win streak:

Monday, 4/17/17 SP: Danny Salazar, 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, QS

Tuesday: 4/18/17 SP: Josh Tomlin, 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, QS

Thursday: 4/20/17 SP: Trevor Bauer, 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, QS

Friday: 4/21/17 SP: Corey Kluber, CG, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, SO, QS

Saturday: 4/22/17 SP: Carlos Carrasco, 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, QS

Combined: 35.1 IP, 23 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 33 K, 5 QS, 1 SO

Advanced: 5-0, 1.53 ERA, 4.13 K/BB, 8.41 K/9, 0.877 WHIP, .184 BAA

As you can see, these numbers don't lie. The Indians' rotation has pitched extremely well and that is the primary reason (or ingredient) for this win streak. Next let's take a look at the bullpen. The Indians bullpen is what I believe will dictate how the Indians perform this season. Luckily, the Indians have one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. Let's see how they have performed:

Monday: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Tuesday: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

Thursday: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

Saturday: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Combined: 9.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 14 K

Advanced: 0.93 ERA, 2.80 K/BB, 13.03 K/9, 1.034 WHIP, .184 BAA

Now, clearly from the numbers above, it's easy to see that the bullpen has clearly done its job during this winning streak as well. Just look at that ERA! Even over a five-game stretch, an ERA less than one is quite impressive. Quite possibly the most impressive thing between the starting and relief pitchers is the batting average against. Both the starters and bullpen have kept batters below .200 over the last five games. This is extremely impressive and important. Keeping runners off the bases limits the opportunities to score runs and in turn gives your offense the chance to score runs against opposing pitchers. Speaking of offense, lets take a look at how the Tribe batters have performed:

Monday:  10/36, HR, 2 BB, 6 K, 1/5 RISP

Tuesday: 12/37, 2 HR, 2 BB, 6 K, 4/10 RISP

Thursday: 11/37, 7 BB, 7 K, 4/12 RISP

Friday: 6/29, 1 HR, 4 BB, 11 K, 0/4 RISP

Saturday: 9/36, 3 HR, 4 BB, 3 K, 3/10 RISP

Combined: 48/175, 7 HR, 19 BB, 33 K, 12/41 RISP

Advanced: .274/.338/.457 (.795 OPS), 17 XBH, 1.74 K/BB, 16.7 K%, .293 BA w/ RISP, .628 OPS-

Finally, the last ingredient: the offense. It's pretty clear to see that they've been able to come through in a big way. As a lineup, they've composed a pretty decent OPS and their strikeout percentage is quite low, only 16.7%. Their walk rate could afford to be a little higher (only 9.6%) but I won't complain considering the impressive power output. The one stat that may have you scratching your head is OPS-. This is a stat that I created and that I think could have important implications on the baseball world. It is simply OPS - K%. K%, or strikeout percentage is the amount of strikeouts a team or player has divided by their plate appearances. It's a stat that I will probably use in future Behind the Numbers blogs as well. I hope you all enjoyed this little sneak peek into the numbers that go into a winning streak, and hopefully the Indians continue their winning ways so I can expand upon these numbers! Go Tribe!