The Championship Sauce

Calculating the Player Championship Series (PCS) Metric

The player championship score consists of two parts- the first calculates a player’s total memberships on league first or second place teams or as a member of a World Series (standard MLB or Negro League) winning team. Varying points are awarded according to how succesful the team was that year. For the years from 1920 to 1968, the values are .1 for a second place league finish (there were no MLB league playoffs), .4 for a league championship or first place finish, and an additional .2 for a World Series win. For the expanded playoff and franchise era all the point values are increased by 50%, accounting for the decreased probability of winning league or World Series championships. The second component awards one point for the MVP winner(s) of a league championship or World Series. It was felt that this was the simplest way to account for individual excellence in a short series. Here is the Player Championship Scores spreadsheet.

One issue that immediately arises is that there were no voted MVPs prior to the 1955 World Series or prior to 1980 for the American League Championship Series and 1977 for the National League Championship Series. Even more concerning there were never any MVP votes for any of the Negro League League Championships or the ocassional World Series. In these cases cumulative series and individual game records were examined to find which players made the greatest contribution to their team’s success. In many cases it was very difficult to determine a single winner. In these instances the award was bestowed on multiple players. This happened particularly when there was both a great hitting and pitching performance. Here is a listing of Championship MVP's (including proposed MVP’s) for the live ball era.

Determining the Final Normed HOMA Championship (HOMA-C) Score

Once a PCS score is determined it is normed on a scale of 100 and in a weighted matter summed with the normed scores of the previously determined HOMAS components. The weightings for the components are: .45 for Peak and OPS+/ERA+ and .10 for the championship score. For relief pitchers the Peak WAR reference for norming is 1.2 points less than that for position players and starting pitchers.

HOMA-C_Score = .45 * Normed Peak Score + .45 * Normed OPS+/ERA+ Score + .1 * Normed Player Championship Score