Box Score Tips and Tricks
There is more than meets the eye to box scores on Baseball Reference. Here is a walkthrough of some of the features available that you may not have known existed.
We will use this August 16, 2024 game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals as an example:
At the top of the box score you will find the basic information about the game: teams, score, venue, date, start time, day or night game, duration, and the line score. If the game was part of a doubleheader, that will be noted, and there may be additional notes if there was a special circumstance to the game (for example if it was suspended due to weather and was completed on a different day).
Below that are the batting and pitching statistics for each team. Clicking on the red figure in the AB column in the batting table will bring up a description of that player's plate appearances in the game. (For a detailed description of the codes in the Play Description and Pitch Seq columns, see Retrosheet's explainer: https://www.retrosheet.org/eventfile.htm.)
Similarly, clicking the figure in the IP column in the pitching tables will bring up a table showing a breakdown of each inning pitched for that pitcher, including runs allowed, strikeouts and pitches thrown.
Below those tables is the Other Info section, with umpire data, game weather conditions and more, and then the Starting Lineups.
The Win Probability Chart is next up. This gives a visual depiction of each team's probability of winning throughout the game. The bar rises as the away team's chances of winning go up, and falls as the home's teams win probability increases. Each segment represents a single play, and clicking on a segment gives further details on the play and its impact on each team's win expectancy.
For more details on Win Probability Added, visit the following link: https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/wpa.shtml
The Top 5 Plays of the game by Win Probability Added are then shown in a standalone table. Below that is the Play-by-Play table. In addition to the information shown in that table, the red text in the Pit(cnt) column can be clicked on to see the result of each pitch in the plate appearance.
Clicking the View Pitches text above the Play-By-Play table will show the pitch progression for each plate appearance. Clicking Hide Pitches will return the table to its original state. The Glossary link above the table explains the meaning of each letter and symbol (for example C represents a called strike, F is a foul ball and X is a ball in play.
Additionally, clicking the text in the RoB (Runners on Base) column will bring up a diagram of the runners on base and the defense on the field.
A full description of the data in the Play-By-Play table can be found directly underneath that table.
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