[OrangeP47]

Originally Posted by StLee

It's definitely not enough of a tell to give the full story on performance. Sunshine Tidings is currently on a five-game losing streak which is the biggest tell of why they are in last place in a close league. Run differential also cannot tell much. For example, in a four-game stretch where they went 1-3, the Chemists won 7-0, and then lost 3-2, 2-1, and 11-9. In that case, their run differential was +3 (19-16) in that four-game stretch but obviously they only had one game that was in their favor. Still, it gives my universe some simplistic calculations to focus on.

A better breakdown may be how their runs allowed stat is deceiving. Overall, they have only the 6th-best ERA and hits allowed. They walk fewer batters than all but Nordhagen Beach (who is also struggling tremendously on offense), but that is the only other stat that gives some information on why they are 2nd in the NCA in runs allowed. Their team is basically better than many of the other teams in not allowing unearned runs (only four unearned runs allowed, fewest in the CBO), bringing down that runs allowed streak. Should their defense begin to struggle, the rest of the IL would distance themselves from the Chemists. So, on paper, they are much better than Abernathy, but their performance has not matched the talent difference. For reference, PAM predicted Abernathy to win only 39 games all season (39-81), whereas PAM had Sunshine Tidings to be just above .500 (61-59), which seems about right. They are OK but still have huge holes compared to the likes of Fort Hagen, Concord, and Starlight in the IL.

I generally like it because it validates me quite often that when my team is having a losing year, it's just a result of how a particular set of events that led to our reality happening are, rather than the team actually being structurally deficient. It's like the sayings go, you have to actually play the games. It's each individual result that matters. But it's also as Captain Picard says. Sometimes you can make no mistakes and still lose, that is not failure, that is life.