Teams and Leagues on the Bases

This week on BP in my column I focused on team baserunning in 2006 where the Angels led the pack with 13.64 theoretical runs picked up on the bases aggregated from EqAAR, EqGAR, EqHAR, and EqSBR. On the opposite end of the spectrum the White Sox were at -21.77 runs and did especially poorly in advancing on hits where almost everybody (save Scott Podsednick and Pablo Ozuna) did terribly.

I also took a look at the differences between the leagues and it appears the NL is indeed the better baserunning league even after controlling for the poor baserunning of both designated hitters in the AL and pitchers in the NL. This result tends to negate the idea that the AL outfields are simply better at depressing runner advancement since NL runners also do better in advancing on the ground.