It’s been another painful year to be a Washington Nationals fan. Fresh off a 3-0 series drubbing by the red-hot Atlanta Braves, they lost again today to the Philadelphia Phillies, leaving them with a 2-8 record in their last 10 games, and 19.5 games back of the Mets for the NL East lead.
I write, however, prompted not so much by the continued pains of the Nats (though each Corbin start does wound me deeper and deeper), but by the clearly evident skill of the Atlanta Braves - who hit thirteen home runs in their three game sweep.
That monster figure prompted me to look into power production across the league, which then morphed into another question - if we look at both home runs for, and home runs against, which teams have capitalized most this season on the longball? And how much does home run differential seem to matter with regard to overall run differential on the season?
Take a peek below to see what I found in the data, which unfortunately seems to back up the story that yes, the Braves are really that good, and yes, the Nats are really that bad 🤦
Home Run Differential Chart
Home Run Differential and Overall Run Differential Scatterplot
