Best players of all time

[krownroyal83]

I'm 40 years into a fictional league and I was looking to compile a list of the top 10 batters and the top 10 pitchers to ever play in my league. For the most part all I have to go by are the stats in front of me. What are the keys stats you guys would use to determine the best of the best? I pretty much have a top 5 list for each right now but once you get past that it starts to become a little harder.

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by krownroyal83

I'm 40 years into a fictional league and I was looking to compile a list of the top 10 batters and the top 10 pitchers to ever play in my league. For the most part all I have to go by are the stats in front of me. What are the keys stats you guys would use to determine the best of the best? I pretty much have a top 5 list for each right now but once you get past that it starts to become a little harder.

For a single stat, WAR (or a combo or WAR and rWAR for pitchers) is probably what I would look at.

[krownroyal83]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

For a single stat, WAR (or a combo or WAR and rWAR for pitchers) is probably what I would look at.

WAR is one of the stats I use however not all players have the same length of careers so just because one player has a higher WAR doesn't mean they are better.

[MathBandit]

For rate stats, I would definitely use wRC+ for hitters. For pitchers, we don't really have a great standalone rate stat unfortunately, though the closest think is probably K%-BB%?

[Syd Thrift]

WAR is good. If you are a bit handy with SQL you could set up a query that sorted players by the total of their top 7 seasons and that’s a good balance between longevity and peak IMO. For single season rate stats I like RC/27, which is kind of ancient but it hit me when I was growing up with baseball. For pitchers, I’m going so far as to use Cy Young Points to determine my leagues’ awards this year. It’s not in the game but again if you do some SQL you can come up with it.

Speaking of, I’d love to find an equivalent for batters, like RBI / 2 + H + HR (I’m just making stuff up). I found a 5 point system that helps narrow things down but I’d love something that didn’t literally make me figure out the HR, RBI, and BA leaders to figure it out…

[MathBandit]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

WAR is good. If you are a bit handy with SQL you could set up a query that sorted players by the total of their top 7 seasons and that’s a good balance between longevity and peak IMO. For single season rate stats I like RC/27, which is kind of ancient but it hit me when I was growing up with baseball. For pitchers, I’m going so far as to use Cy Young Points to determine my leagues’ awards this year. It’s not in the game but again if you do some SQL you can come up with it.

Speaking of, I’d love to find an equivalent for batters, like RBI / 2 + H + HR (I’m just making stuff up). I found a 5 point system that helps narrow things down but I’d love something that didn’t literally make me figure out the HR, RBI, and BA leaders to figure it out…

I'm curious as to what Cy Young points are since I don't think I've seen that term before and a quick google result seemed to focus on the Cy Young and not the points.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by MathBandit

I'm curious as to what Cy Young points are since I don't think I've seen that term before and a quick google result seemed to focus on the Cy Young and not the points.

It was originally in Neyer and James' guide to pitchers but the formula is explained on ESPN here:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/features/cyyoung

Cy Young Points (CYP) = ((5*IP/9)-ER) + (SO/12) + (SV*2.5) + Shutouts + ((W*6)-(L*2)) + VB (see below)

VB ("Victory Bonus") is "if this team won their division, give them 12 points". It's a predictive, not a descriptive statistic and perhaps not as applicable to 2022 baseball as historical ball.

[oomm]

QS%, though I like the direction CYP represents.

[smythejd]

I also have a long running league. To determine the best players in my history I referred to who won the most Cy Young or MVP awards in my history. I feel the best players are the ones who dominate their contemporaries. Just my 2 cents.