Rays and Yankees AfterGlow
October 2, 2010 3 Comments
As promised, here’s the first of some daily doses of AfterGlow. Let’s start by previewing two of the AL’s playoff contenders, the Yankees and Rays. Both teams find themselves in a very similar place but have gotten there in very different ways. The Rays have had a dramatic rise to prominence, with sweeping improvements in both runs scored and runs allowed. Over the last 5 years their offense has improved steadily, as had their pitching & defense (with the exception of a 2009 setback).
The Yankees have been amazingly consistent over the last 5 years, especially with their offense.
About Kevin Dame
Kevin Dame is a writer and visual designer who brings sports information to life in new and meaningful ways. His work, which has been featured on espn.com, Fast Company, and the San Francisco Chronicle, can also be found at 
Love the afterglows! I think that the Yankees have an unbelievable offense and that when you look top to the bottom it is seriously unfair to the other teams in the Major Leagues. However, their pitching as everyone knows is quite suspect except maybe for Sabathia. This I think is going to cause issues for them because like any sport you can’t outscore your opponents in the playoffs the same way in which you do during the regular season. Also, you think you could check out my blog? I really want to hear your thoughts. http://chrisross91.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/bottom-3/
Hi Kevin,
This is really interesting. The TB chart really tells a very clear visual story of development, and having the line broaden as it snakes toward the present is effective.
However, the consistency of the Yankees makes the line fold over on itself and you have to kind of struggle to follow the movement over time.
If you animated the charts, it avoid confusion when there are overlaps. Don’t know if you do that kind of thing. Also, more accurate labels than “offense and pitching” might be “run production and run prevention”
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