There was discussion in the Bronx Therapy thread about the correlation between the Yankees reliably high total of walks and their reliably high total of runs scored.
The entrails of two more teams (Detroit and Tampa Bay) were chosen, more or less at random, for additional examination. I'm going to add the Blue Jays. And I'm also going to add two more offensive categories (HR and HITS - best to stick to counting stats here) and tie them all together in a nice, easy-to-read data table. We should make the obligatory obvious caveat that using team ranking in the league is extremely crude. Sometimes the difference between the third place team and the eight place team is enormous, and sometimes it's vanishingly small. But anyway....
NEW YORKThere are chicken and egg issues here, which are extremely difficult to untangle. You will find a correlation between walks and runs scored. After all, you generally find a correlation between HRs and runs scored, and you will normally find a correlation between walks and home runs. The same guys who draw lots of walks are usually the same guys who hit lots of home runs.But there it is.
Year RS BB HR HITS
2012 3 4 1 6
2011 2 1 1 5
2010 1 2 3 6
2009 1 1 1 2
2008 7 8 4 5
2007 1 3 1 1
2006 1 3 2 2
2005 2 2 2 2
2004 2 1 2 10
2003 3 1 3 5
DETROIT
Year RS BB HR HITS
2012 6 5 9 5
2011 4 5 7 4
2010 8 5 8 4
2009 10 8 7 9
2008 4 5 2 4
2007 2 12 6 2
2006 5 13 3 8
2005 11 14 7 5
2004 8 6 5 7
2003 14 12 10 14
TBR
Year RS BB HR HITS
2012 10 1 10 13
2011 7 3 7 13
2010 3 1 6 13
2009 5 3 5 11
2008 9 2 5 13
2007 8 5 3 8
2006 14 12 7 14
2005 8 8 8 7
2004 14 12 12 14
2003 12 12 14 9
TORONTO
Year RS BB HR HITS
2012 7 9 3 10
2011 5 4 5 9
2010 6 9 1 10
2009 6 6 4 4
2008 11 11 10 12
2007 10 6 9 12
2006 7 5 4 3
2005 5 6 11 9
2004 12 8 12 12
2003 2 4 5 2
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20120830005803992