Question 1

What does Earned Runs Average (ERA) mean?

Accepted Answer

Earned Runs Average is a statistic in baseball that measures how many runs on average a pitcher is giving up every 9 innings. It serves as an indicator of how good or bad a pitcher is. A pitcher with a low ERA is good, while a pitcher with a high ERA is not as good.

Question 2

What is a "run" in baseball?

Accepted Answer

Scoring in baseball is measured in "runs" as opposed to other sports like football and basketball where the scores are viewed as "points." A baseball team scores a run when a batter successfully reaches home plate without being tagged out.

The main objective in a game of baseball is for one team to outscore the other. Therefore, to win a game, a baseball team needs to score more runs than the other. It's as simple as that.

Question 3

What is a home run in baseball?

Accepted Answer

In baseball, a home run refers to when a batter gets a hit that allows them to successfully advances around all of the bases and reach home plate all in one play. For the most part, home runs occur when the batter hits the ball hard enough that the ball flies over the outfield wall and into the stands. Home runs are a defining part of baseball and one of the most entertaining aspects of the game.

Question 4

Where was the data collected from?

Accepted Answer

All data collected came from player stats pages on MLB.com. (MLB.com.)

To find data on player stats for each game in 2021 in addition to weather observations, I scrolled through the game logs for each player in 2021 and clicked on each date in the log(ie. April 6). When I clicked on each game date, I was redirected to MLB Gameday where I could see the player stats recorded during the games and the weather for each including the wind speed and temperature.

Question 5

Where did you store the data?

Accepted Answer

I manually inputted all the data I found onto Google spreadsheets.

Question 6

How did you make the data visualizations?

Accepted Answer

All of the data visualizations I made were created on Tableau Public. To make them, I simply uploaded my google spreadsheets into the platform. From there I could automatically generate interactive graphics.

Link to my profile on Tableau Public: 
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/matthew.adelman#!/ (https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/matthew.adelman#!/)

Question 7

Why is the website's name WeatherBall?

Accepted Answer

The name "WeatherBall" is a play on words from the name of the 2011 film "Moneyball" which stars Brad Pitt. In the film, Pitt plays Billy Beane, a former General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. The film addressed how certain ways of evaluating players like sabermetrics revolutionized the game of baseball.

For my website, I'm also evaluating players in a different way by correlating their stats with weather observations. For this reason, I chose to combine the words "Weather" and "Ball" in order to indicate that my website was focused on trying to connect baseball and weather together.

Question 8

Where did the images on your website come from?

Accepted Answer

All interactive data visualizations were created by myself on Tableau Public.

All other images such as the background image and blog post images are from Pixabay. They are free for commercial use and no attribution is required.

Question 9

Where can I leave feedback about this website?

Accepted Answer

Click the "Let's Chat" button in the bottom right corner of the page. Leave your name and email address. Then add comments.

Question 10

What is this information useful for?

Accepted Answer

One potentially major area of use for the information is for sports betting. Individuals can use the information from the data visualizations provided on this website in attempt to predict how a player might perform in order to influence their betting decisions.

This information is also useful for anyone who is a fan of a baseball team and wants to know how their players perform or anyone who is interested in baseball statistics in general.

Individuals involved in fantasy baseball can also utilize this information to make choices about who they want on their team.