Major League Baseball 2015, What a Difference a Year Makes

ABSTRACT

An econometric analysis of the 2015 Major League Baseball season is conducted with respect to regular season victories. Results obtained confirm some, but not all, results reported in prior research. The importance of solid team pitching and offense is underscored. Similar to 2014, team defence did not vary sufficiently to play a statistically significant role in team victory differences. Outcomes for total payrolls and salary disparities differ substantially from prior seasons. History may serve as a guide to what occurs on the field, but it does not always replicate the patterns of bygone years. Parameter heterogeneity is substantial and argues against pooling sample data from season to season. From a strict econometric perspective, the results obtained indicate that panel methods should not be utilized to analyse wins data for Major League Baseball. Ultimately, 2015 represents another departure from the standard baseball norm.

KEYWORDS:

• Major league baseball
• team performance

JEL CATEGORIES:

• M21
• Business Economics
• L20
• Firm Behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Partial funding support for this research was provided by El Paso Water Utilities, City of El Paso Office of Management & Budget, and the UTEP Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade and the UTEP Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness.