Wednesday, September 26, 2007

September Upswing

The Mets' hitting has been sizzling in September this season, .823 OPS compared to an overall OPS for the season of .775. On the other hand, the hitting for Mets opponents has been hot too, .791 OPS against in September as opposed .739 OPS against for the season as a whole.

What's particularly intriguing is that September has been a big hitting season for the entire major leagues, which is unheard of at least in recent times. September is always a month for less hitting than during the season as a whole. I've gone looking back 20 previous years so far, 1987 to 2006, and in every single one of those twenty seasons, the major league OPS has been lower in September than in the season overall.

Yet in 2007 through yesterday's games, the overall OPS for the majors is up this September, and not just a little, but substantially: major league OPS for the season as a whole is .758, but in September thus far (only 5 games left for most teams) OPS in the majors is at .782. In fact, the total OPS in major league baseball has risen every month this season, from April through September. The big hitting and poor pitching the Mets are experiencing this month is to some considerable extent not happening to the Mets alone but also seems to be a weird league-wide phenomenon, unprecedented at least in recent years.

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