Must-see MLB.TV

by
November 13, 2012

One of our intrepid readers asked for some guidance. He’d like to spend time during the offseason watching some 2012 games on MLB.TV, but he doesn’t know where to start. Could we, he wondered, create a list of the most interesting games of 2012 so he could pick games to watch? If you’ve got a subscription to MLB.TV, this is a great way to spend your offseason.

No problem, I thought. Forthwith, here is our sortable list of the top 150 games to watch this offseason. We’ve listed the date and home and away teams for each game. (Milwaukee has 15 games on the list, followed by Colorado with 14; Tampa Bay is only on the list six times). No scores, or anything, because we don’t want to give away the results. We’ve also included the excitability score of each game, as well as a marker if the game went into extra innings.

The excitability score was derived by combining the average swing in Win Expectancy per inning (times nine innings) plus the average leverage index of each play. By combining action (swings in WPA) with intensity (average leverage index), we were able to identify the games that are most likely to keep you on the edge of your seat this offseason.

We didn’t factor the pennant race into our scores, nor did we add anything for special games, such as that no-hitter thrown by (fill in pitcher’s name). We figure you can find those games on your own. These games were simply the most exciting, filled with lead swings and intense action. Enjoy!

Date Home Away Score Extra Inn?
2012-07-13 KC CHA 8.10 Y
2012-05-17 COL ARI 7.83 N
2012-05-11 MIL CHN 7.74 Y
2012-06-05 WAS NYN 7.58 Y
2012-09-22 NYA OAK 7.48 Y
2012-07-17 WAS NYN 7.35 Y
2012-05-26 TEX TOR 7.33 Y
2012-08-23 BOS LAA 7.31 Y
2012-08-21 PHI CIN 7.13 N
2012-08-05 DET CLE 7.10 Y
2012-06-17 STL KC 7.10 Y
2012-04-08 DET BOS 7.04 Y
2012-04-06 TB NYA 7.03 N
2012-08-05 LAN CHN 7.03 N
2012-06-02 DET NYA 6.95 N
2012-06-08 MIN CHN 6.94 Y
2012-07-14 BAL DET 6.86 Y
2012-05-02 ATL PHI 6.85 Y
2012-07-30 SF NYN 6.83 Y
2012-07-25 HOU CIN 6.77 N
2012-05-15 SF COL 6.77 N
2012-05-04 COL ATL 6.76 Y
2012-04-20 NYN SF 6.70 Y
2012-04-28 LAN WAS 6.70 Y
2012-09-10 CIN PIT 6.68 Y
2012-06-17 MIN MIL 6.67 Y
2012-05-02 WAS ARI 6.66 N
2012-08-05 KC TEX 6.66 Y
2012-06-25 HOU SD 6.55 Y
2012-05-28 COL HOU 6.54 Y
2012-05-22 ARI LAN 6.54 N
2012-04-14 COL ARI 6.53 N
2012-08-21 SD PIT 6.51 Y
2012-05-04 SD FLA 6.50 Y
2012-09-09 MIN CLE 6.49 N
2012-06-20 PHI COL 6.48 N
2012-07-25 PHI MIL 6.47 Y
2012-10-01 TOR MIN 6.46 Y
2012-05-06 BOS BAL 6.44 Y
2012-05-27 MIN DET 6.44 N
2012-09-29 CLE KC 6.42 Y
2012-07-18 LAN PHI 6.40 Y
2012-07-05 NYN PHI 6.39 N
2012-09-09 CHA KC 6.38 Y
2012-05-09 HOU FLA 6.37 Y
2012-09-18 CLE MIN 6.37 Y
2012-09-04 SF ARI 6.37 Y
2012-05-20 SD LAA 6.35 Y
2012-07-01 SF CIN 6.34 N
2012-07-14 ATL NYN 6.34 N
2012-05-11 STL ATL 6.34 Y
2012-09-13 BAL TB 6.33 Y
2012-04-15 FLA HOU 6.29 Y
2012-09-07 STL MIL 6.28 Y
2012-07-27 BAL OAK 6.28 N
2012-08-03 BOS MIN 6.26 Y
2012-04-25 OAK CHA 6.25 Y
2012-05-30 CHN SD 6.23 N
2012-09-20 STL HOU 6.22 N
2012-06-19 CLE CIN 6.21 Y
2012-05-13 CIN WAS 6.20 N
2012-04-11 OAK KC 6.20 Y
2012-08-01 TEX LAA 6.19 Y
2012-07-03 MIL FLA 6.19 Y
2012-09-16 SD COL 6.18 N
2012-04-29 STL MIL 6.18 N
2012-05-29 MIN OAK 6.17 N
2012-06-19 MIL TOR 6.16 N
2012-10-02 ARI COL 6.15 N
2012-04-15 LAN SD 6.15 N
2012-06-28 TOR LAA 6.14 N
2012-08-19 STL PIT 6.14 Y
2012-07-20 TB SEA 6.14 Y
2012-07-27 HOU PIT 6.13 N
2012-04-11 BAL NYA 6.11 Y
2012-08-23 PHI CIN 6.11 Y
2012-05-13 FLA NYN 6.11 N
2012-07-18 ATL SF 6.10 Y
2012-05-15 STL CHN 6.10 N
2012-07-22 NYN LAN 6.10 Y
2012-08-20 WAS ATL 6.06 Y
2012-05-08 OAK TOR 6.06 N
2012-10-02 NYA BOS 6.05 Y
2012-05-17 CLE SEA 6.05 Y
2012-06-08 ATL TOR 6.04 Y
2012-07-14 LAN SD 6.04 N
2012-05-04 WAS PHI 6.04 Y
2012-04-17 SEA CLE 6.04 N
2012-08-30 CHN MIL 6.04 N
2012-09-07 WAS FLA 6.03 Y
2012-05-28 LAA NYA 6.03 N
2012-04-27 MIN KC 6.02 N
2012-05-28 MIN OAK 6.02 N
2012-08-31 ATL PHI 6.02 Y
2012-09-14 KC LAA 6.02 N
2012-05-17 TEX OAK 6.01 Y
2012-07-07 TEX MIN 6.01 Y
2012-06-02 CHA SEA 6.00 Y
2012-04-10 BAL NYA 6.00 Y
2012-08-12 PHI STL 6.00 Y
2012-09-13 TEX CLE 5.98 N
2012-09-09 NYN ATL 5.98 Y
2012-04-29 COL NYN 5.98 Y
2012-08-11 CHA OAK 5.97 N
2012-06-13 LAN LAA 5.95 N
2012-08-08 BOS TEX 5.95 N
2012-06-19 ARI SEA 5.95 Y
2012-05-08 PIT WAS 5.95 N
2012-08-21 ARI FLA 5.95 Y
2012-08-17 ATL LAN 5.93 Y
2012-09-16 FLA CIN 5.92 Y
2012-07-29 MIL WAS 5.92 Y
2012-06-16 TOR PHI 5.92 Y
2012-06-28 COL WAS 5.91 Y
2012-06-14 KC MIL 5.90 N
2012-08-03 CHA LAA 5.89 Y
2012-07-13 MIL PIT 5.89 N
2012-07-21 PHI SF 5.88 Y
2012-06-05 BOS BAL 5.87 Y
2012-08-06 HOU WAS 5.86 Y
2012-06-07 CIN PIT 5.85 Y
2012-04-30 TB SEA 5.85 Y
2012-06-28 TEX OAK 5.84 N
2012-09-02 COL SD 5.84 N
2012-08-09 DET NYA 5.84 N
2012-04-27 NYA DET 5.84 N
2012-07-28 HOU PIT 5.83 N
2012-04-18 KC DET 5.82 N
2012-09-01 WAS STL 5.82 N
2012-09-07 CHA KC 5.82 N
2012-06-11 LAN LAA 5.82 N
2012-06-13 KC MIL 5.82 Y
2012-05-05 TB OAK 5.81 Y
2012-06-06 LAA SEA 5.81 N
2012-05-02 COL LAN 5.80 N
2012-09-16 CLE DET 5.80 N
2012-06-22 CIN MIN 5.79 N
2012-05-18 LAN STL 5.78 N
2012-04-17 MIL LAN 5.76 N
2012-06-02 LAA TEX 5.76 N
2012-06-08 CIN DET 5.76 Y
2012-05-19 MIL MIN 5.76 Y
2012-06-29 BAL CLE 5.75 N
2012-06-09 BAL PHI 5.75 Y
2012-07-30 OAK TB 5.74 Y
2012-05-14 STL CHN 5.73 N
2012-04-13 COL ARI 5.73 N
2012-06-15 DET COL 5.72 Y
2012-06-23 CHA MIL 5.72 N
2012-07-29 FLA SD 5.72 Y


Dave Studeman was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Follow his sporadic tweets @dastudes.
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studes
12 years ago

Thanks, James. I included the extra inning identifier so people could see whether they might be watching a long game.  Maybe a mistake.

BTW, I found a flaw in the system. MLB.TV posts the final score of the game at the top of the screen while you’re watching it!  (at least, they did on my iPad).  Come on, MLB.TV—don’t give away the score while the game is in progress.

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Steve
12 years ago

Great idea and a great piece. I’ve often gone back to my MLB.TV subscription in the offseason and tried to pick a random fun game and ended up with a few duds, so good to have guide to the ones worth watching. Many thanks.

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Marco Lepe
12 years ago

Great piece! My personal recommendation and favorite game of the 2012 season is The Giants/Phillies contest from April 18th. Matt Cain and Cliff Lee both threw 9 innings of shut out ball, and Lee even finished the 10th (!) Great fun.

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studes
12 years ago

By the way, no team went undefeated in these games, but two teams did go unwon.  One was Houston (0-9), which is sad but not surprising.  The other was 0-8. Guess.

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James
12 years ago

Would prefer to have the “Extra Innings” column removed, since that takes away much of the drama of watching the first 9 innings, which you know in advance will end in a tie. Love this list smile

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Charlie
12 years ago

Studes, you can turn off the layer with the score. Just swipe it up or tap the screen wih two fingers. On my iPad it stays hidden now for all games.

I just got the latest update of the app on iPad and it now includes a bunch of classic games in addition to the archives.

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Brady
12 years ago

I kept an entire word doc of “intriguing games” if anyone’s interested in it. Highlighted series’ with playoff implications from August on.

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