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Guides, tips, and deep dives on the free browser baseball card game powered by real MLB Statcast data.
Looking for a single stat? The baseball stats glossary defines every MLB & Statcast term, grouped by category.
A farm system is the network of minor league affiliates an MLB team uses to develop drafted and signed players until they are ready for the majors.
A triple play is a single defensive sequence in which the fielding team records three outs on one batted ball, the rarest routine play in baseball.
The bullpen is a team's group of relief pitchers, and the physical area where they warm up, responsible for finishing games the starter does not complete.
A switch hitter is a batter who can hit from both the left and right sides of the plate, choosing the side that gives the platoon advantage against each pitcher.
HR/FB rate is the percentage of a player's fly balls that become home runs, a measure of raw power for hitters and a key regression signal for pitchers.
Line drive rate (LD%) is the percentage of a hitter's batted balls that are classified as line drives, the contact type that produces the highest batting average on balls in play.
A Blast is a Statcast bat-tracking classification for a swing that both squares the ball up and arrives with fast bat speed — the rarest and most damaging type of contact a hitter can make.
A Wild Card is an MLB playoff berth awarded to the top non-division-winning teams in each league by record, giving three extra clubs per league a postseason spot.
Waivers is the MLB transaction process by which a team makes a player available to all other clubs, who can claim him in reverse order of standings before he can be removed from the 40-man roster or sent to the minors.
A closer is the relief pitcher a team designates to pitch the final inning of close games to protect a lead and earn the save.
BB/9 (walks per nine innings) measures how many batters a pitcher walks per nine innings pitched, the standard rate stat for command and control.
Contact rate (Contact%) is the percentage of a hitter's swings that result in contact with the ball, the inverse of whiff rate and a core plate-discipline metric.
A double play is a single defensive sequence that records two outs on one batted ball or play, most commonly a ground ball turned shortstop-to-second-to-first.
Batting average against (BAA) is the batting average that opposing hitters compile off a pitcher, calculated as hits allowed divided by at-bats faced.
Spin mirroring is pairing two pitches whose spin axes point in nearly opposite directions, so they look identical out of the hand but break in opposite directions.
A sacrifice fly is a fly-ball out, hit with fewer than two outs, that scores a runner from base — credited as an RBI and excluded from the batter's at-bat total.
An error is a defensive misplay charged by the official scorer when a fielder fails to convert an out that ordinary effort would have produced, allowing a batter or runner to advance.
Batting average is a hitter's total hits divided by official at-bats, expressed as a three-digit decimal that measures how often a batter gets a hit.
The Milwaukee Brewers ran off an MLB-best 19-7 May behind rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski's 0.23 ERA, while the Atlanta Braves (40-20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (38-21) pulled away atop the National League and the Detroit Tigers cratered to a 6-22 collapse.
A no-hitter is a complete game in which a pitcher or combination of pitchers allows the opposing team zero hits over at least nine innings.
A player option is a contract clause that gives the player — not the team — the sole right to decide whether to play another year at a set salary or become a free agent.
Total bases is the sum of all bases a hitter earns on hits, counting a single as 1, a double as 2, a triple as 3, and a home run as 4.
A passed ball is a pitch that the catcher should have caught or controlled with ordinary effort but fails to, allowing a baserunner to advance — charged to the catcher, not the pitcher.
A perfect game is a complete game in which a single pitcher (or pitchers) retires all 27 batters faced, allowing no hits, no walks, no hit-by-pitches, and no baserunners of any kind.
DRA (Deserved Run Average) is Baseball Prospectus's run-prevention metric that estimates how many runs a pitcher deserved to allow per nine innings after stripping out the influence of defense, framing, park, and opponent quality.
A wild pitch is a pitch so high, wide, or low that the catcher cannot control it with ordinary effort, allowing a baserunner to advance, charged to the pitcher rather than the catcher.
Fielding percentage measures the rate at which a fielder successfully handles the chances he reaches, calculated as putouts plus assists divided by total chances.
RBI (runs batted in) credits a batter for each runner who scores as a direct result of his plate appearance, excluding runs that score on errors or grounded-into double plays.
A fielder's choice is when a batter reaches base only because the defense chose to put out a different baserunner instead of throwing him out, crediting no hit.
Deferred money is salary a player agrees to be paid in future years — often long after the contract ends — lowering the deal's present-day cost and luxury-tax hit.
The designated hitter (DH) is a player who bats in place of the pitcher every time the pitcher's spot comes up, without ever playing the field.
Ketel Marte just clubbed Oracle Park's longest home run since Shohei Ohtani — 452 feet — capping a .536, 1.563 OPS Player of the Week stretch and a 10-game hitting streak.
A club option is a contract provision that gives a team the unilateral right to extend a player's contract for one or more additional years at a pre-specified salary, in exchange for paying a smaller buyout if the team declines.
A walk-off is a play in which the home team scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning or later, ending the game instantly because the visiting team has no further at-bat.
A forkball is an off-speed pitch thrown with the index and middle fingers spread wide around the ball, producing low spin and a sharp downward tumble that mimics a fastball before falling out of the strike zone.
Arm strength is the Statcast metric measuring a fielder's maximum throwing velocity in miles per hour, used to grade outfield arms and infielder throwing tools.
Fly ball rate (FB%) is the percentage of a hitter's or pitcher's batted balls that are classified as fly balls, a core component of every batted-ball profile.
An immaculate inning is a half-inning in which one pitcher strikes out all three batters on exactly nine pitches — every pitch a strike, no contact, no balls.
The MLB league-average exit velocity in 2026 is roughly 88-89 mph across all qualified hitters, while the hardest hitters in baseball average above 95 mph. Here's what counts as a good average exit velocity, the league baseline, how 'exit velo' is measured, and who's at the top right now.
The MLB league-average whiff rate in 2026 is roughly 25%, an elite pitcher clears 30%, and the best swing-and-miss arms in baseball top 40%. Here's what counts as a good whiff rate, the league baseline, how whiff rate differs from swinging-strike rate, and who leads MLB right now.
BsR (Base Running Runs) is FanGraphs' all-in-one baserunning metric that measures how many runs a player adds or costs his team on the bases — including stolen bases, extra-base advancement on hits, and double-play avoidance — relative to a league-average runner.
HR/9 (home runs allowed per nine innings) is a rate stat that measures how often a pitcher gives up home runs, normalized to a full game's workload — calculated as (HR ÷ IP) × 9.
A screwball is a rare breaking pitch that moves opposite of a curveball — fading and dropping toward the pitcher's arm side — created by pronating the wrist outward at release rather than supinating it.
6-4-3-2 in baseball is scorekeeping notation: a 6-4-3 double play (shortstop to second baseman to first baseman) extended by a throw home to the catcher to try to retire a runner scoring from third. It is not automatically a triple play.
FC in baseball stands for fielder's choice — when a batter reaches base only because the defense chose to put out a different runner instead of him. It is not a hit, does not count toward on-base percentage, but does count as an at-bat.
"Go yard" is baseball slang for hitting a home run — the "yard" refers to the ballyard, so to go yard is to hit the ball out of the playing field. The phrase was in print by 1988, well before Camden Yards opened.
A swing-off in baseball is the All-Star Game tiebreaker that replaces extra innings with a Home Run Derby-style mini-contest: each side picks three hitters who take three swings apiece, and the team that hits the most home runs wins.
K/9 is a rate stat that expresses how many batters a pitcher strikes out per nine innings of work, providing a workload-normalized view of swing-and-miss production.
Swinging strike rate (SwStr%) is the percentage of a pitcher's total pitches that result in a swing-and-miss, measuring raw bat-missing ability across every pitch thrown.
The three true outcomes are strikeouts, walks, and home runs — plate appearances whose outcomes are decided entirely by the pitcher and hitter with no involvement from fielders.
Who leads MLB in barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and exit velocity in 2026 — and why the three Statcast leaderboards rank hitters differently. José Tena tops average exit velocity (98.3 mph) and hard-hit rate (75.8%), while Luke Raley leads barrel rate (28.9%). James Wood is the only hitter in the top 5 of all three.
Clutch is a FanGraphs metric that measures how much better or worse a player performed in high-leverage situations compared to his own context-neutral production.
A knuckle-curve is a curveball thrown with one or two fingers spiked (knuckled) against the ball, producing tight, late vertical break with curveball-level spin rates.
ZiPS is a player projection system created by Dan Szymborski that forecasts MLB hitter and pitcher performance using weighted historical data, similarity scores, and empirical aging curves.
ERA (Earned Run Average) is the number of earned runs a pitcher allows per nine innings, calculated as (Earned Runs × 9) ÷ Innings Pitched.
On-Base Percentage (OBP) is the rate at which a hitter reaches base via hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch, calculated as (H + BB + HBP) ÷ (AB + BB + HBP + SF).
The strike zone is the rulebook three-dimensional space over home plate, from the midpoint between the batter's shoulders and waist down to the hollow beneath the kneecap, in which a pitch that is not swung at is called a strike.
Aaron Judge has the loudest power profile in MLB. Juan Soto has the best plate discipline in baseball. They were Yankees teammates in 2024, and they're still the two best right fielders in MLB in 2026. Here's the Statcast-driven comparison between two MVP-tier hitters who win with completely different approaches.
Aaron Judge is MLB's most consistent power hitter; Shohei Ohtani is the only two-way star in baseball history. Here's a side-by-side Statcast-driven comparison — exit velocity, barrel rate, pitching velocity, and the underlying numbers that decide the 'best player in baseball' debate in 2026.
Drake Baldwin leads MLB catchers in 2026 by Statcast-derived overall rating, with Iván Herrera, Shea Langeliers, Will Smith, and William Contreras rounding out the top five. Here's the ranked best catchers in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the position's framing, pop time, and arm strength alongside hitting, and which backstops pair the best bat with elite defensive coverage.
Michael Harris II leads MLB center fielders in 2026, narrowly ahead of Byron Buxton, Trent Grisham, Oneil Cruz, and Brandon Marsh. Here's the ranked best center fielders in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the position's unique blend of sprint speed and outfield range, and which players pair elite contact with the coverage range that defines a true center fielder.
Mason Miller leads MLB's closer corps in 2026 — paired triple-digit velocity, a 42.8% whiff rate, and the cleanest swing-and-miss stuff in the league. Edwin Díaz, Josh Hader, Cade Smith, and Aroldis Chapman round out the elite tier. Here are the best closers in baseball this year, how Statcast measures relief dominance beyond saves, and why the modern closer is graded on stuff, not finishing speeches.
Ben Rice leads MLB first basemen in 2026 by Statcast-derived overall rating, narrowly ahead of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bryce Harper, Matt Olson, and Willson Contreras. Here's the ranked best first basemen in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the position's power-first profile, and which corner-infielders pair the loudest contact with the discipline to sustain it across a 162-game season.
Yordan Alvarez leads MLB left fielders in 2026 — top-tier exit velocity, elite barrel rate, and the cleanest power-first profile at the position. Kyle Schwarber, James Wood, Cody Bellinger, and Riley Greene round out the top five. Here are the ranked best left fielders in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the corner-outfield power-first profile, and which sluggers project to sustain elite production.
Aaron Judge leads MLB right fielders in 2026 — the consensus best position-player in baseball, top-tier across every Statcast input. Juan Soto, Mike Trout (now right field), Corbin Carroll, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Fernando Tatis Jr. round out the top six. Here are the ranked best right fielders in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the position's unique demand for arm strength alongside power and the modern bar for elite right field production.
Ketel Marte leads MLB second basemen in 2026 by Statcast-derived overall rating, followed by Otto Lopez, Brice Turang, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Brendan Donovan. Here's the ranked best second basemen in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the position's modern dual demand on offense and range, and which keystoners pair the best contact quality with elite defensive coverage.
Bobby Witt Jr. leads the 2026 MLB shortstop class — elite sprint speed, top-tier exit velocity, and Gold Glove–caliber range. Kevin McGonigle, Elly De La Cruz, Corey Seager, and Gunnar Henderson round out the early top-five by Statcast-derived overall rating. Here's the ranked best shortstops in baseball this year, how they stack up across hitting and defense, and what makes the modern shortstop a different player than the position ever was.
Shohei Ohtani, Paul Skenes, and Tarik Skubal lead MLB starting pitchers in 2026 by Statcast-derived overall rating, with Drew Rasmussen, Cole Ragans, Tyler Glasnow, Garrett Crochet, and Hunter Brown rounding out the elite tier. Here are the best starting pitchers in baseball this year, how Statcast measures starter dominance beyond ERA, and which arms pair the rare combination of stuff and stamina that defines a true ace.
José Ramírez leads MLB third basemen in 2026 by Statcast-derived overall rating, with Munetaka Murakami, Max Muncy, Sal Stewart, and Miguel Vargas rounding out the early top five. Here's the ranked best third basemen in baseball this year, how Statcast measures the hot corner's unique blend of power, reaction time, and arm strength, and which corner-infielders best pair elite contact with cross-diamond throwing accuracy.
Bobby Witt Jr. is MLB's most balanced superstar. Elly De La Cruz is MLB's highest-ceiling phenom. Both are top-five shortstops by Statcast-derived rating and top-five MLB sprint speed leaders. Here's the side-by-side Statcast comparison — power, speed, contact, and which shortstop projects as the safer long-term bet.
Bobby Witt Jr. leads MLB in 2026 sprint speed at 30.4 ft/sec — measured on his fastest competitive runs as tracked by Statcast. He's tied at the top with Eli White and Gabriel Rincones Jr. Here are the fastest players in baseball this year, how sprint speed is measured, and why it predicts more than just stolen bases.
Jarred Kelenic leads MLB in 2026 with a 96.7 mph average exit velocity — meaning every ball he puts in play comes off the bat at nearly 100 mph on average. Here's who hits the ball the hardest in baseball this year, how Statcast measures it, and why exit velocity matters more than home runs for projecting the rest of the season.
Mason Miller leads MLB in 2026 with a 101.3 mph average fastball — the only pitcher averaging triple digits across his outings this season. Edgardo Henriquez (100.2) is the only other pitcher above 100. Here are the hardest throwers in baseball, how Statcast measures fastball velocity, and why pure velocity has limits as a projection tool.
Mason Miller has the loudest pure stuff in baseball — a 101+ mph fastball and a 42.8% whiff rate. Edwin Díaz holds the Statcast-era closer whiff-rate record at 43.7% (2022). Here's the side-by-side between the two best closers in MLB right now and the Statcast inputs that decide the debate.
Mason Miller leads MLB in 2026 whiff rate at 42.8% — meaning hitters miss nearly half the time they swing against him. Jacob Misiorowski (39.5%) and Devin Williams (39.3%) round out the top three. Here are the pitchers who get the most swings-and-misses in baseball, how whiff rate is measured, and why it predicts strikeouts better than strikeout totals themselves.
Paul Skenes has the loudest pure stuff in MLB. Tarik Skubal has the best command-and-mix portfolio. Here's the Statcast-driven head-to-head between baseball's two best starting pitchers — fastball velocity, whiff rate, pitch arsenal, and which arm projects as the safer Cy Young bet in 2026.
Jackson Chourio has launched 6 HRs in his last 10 games with a 94.1 mph average exit velocity and a .811 slugging — the loudest stretch of his young career.
A slurve is a breaking pitch that combines the horizontal sweep of a slider with the downward bite of a curveball, traveling 78–84 mph with a diagonal 11-to-5 shape.
A five-tool player is a position player who grades plus-or-better at all five core baseball skills: hitting for average, hitting for power, running speed, fielding ability, and throwing arm.
A no-trade clause is a contract provision giving an MLB player the right to veto any trade — either to all 29 other teams (full NTC) or to a specified list (limited NTC).
Yordan Alvarez is MLB's cleanest power profile — elite contact paired with elite exit velocity. Kyle Schwarber is MLB's most consistent 40-HR threat. Both anchor our left fielders leaderboard. Here's the Statcast-driven head-to-head between two of baseball's premier sluggers.
Horizontal break measures how many inches a pitch moves side-to-side relative to a spinless trajectory, capturing the arm-side run or glove-side sweep a hitter has to track from release to the plate.
Release point is the three-dimensional coordinate where a pitcher's hand lets go of the baseball, captured in feet by Statcast and used to evaluate arm slot, command consistency, and pitch deception.
Hitting for the cycle is when a single batter records a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game — one of baseball's rarest individual feats, rarer than a no-hitter.
LOB% (left-on-base percentage, also called strand rate) measures the share of baserunners a pitcher prevents from scoring; league average sits around 72-73%.
A minor league option lets a team freely send a player on the 40-man roster to the minors during a season; each player gets three option years, with a possible fourth under the 2022 CBA.
PitchCom is the MLB-approved encrypted wearable that lets catchers send pitch type and location calls electronically to pitchers and fielders, replacing traditional finger signs.
Perceived velocity is the effective speed of a pitch as experienced by the hitter, adjusting raw release velocity for the pitcher's extension toward home plate.
SIERA (Skill-Interactive ERA) is an ERA estimator that predicts a pitcher's true run-prevention skill from strikeouts, walks, and batted-ball mix while accounting for how those skills interact.
Walk rate (BB%) is the percentage of a hitter's or pitcher's plate appearances that end in a base on balls, measuring plate discipline for hitters and command for pitchers.
Location+ is a Stuff+ family pitching metric that grades how well a pitcher locates each pitch given the count, batter handedness, and pitch type, scaled so 100 is league average and 10 points equals one standard deviation.
Squared-up rate is the percentage of swings on which a hitter transfers at least 80% of the maximum possible exit velocity to the ball, given their bat speed and the incoming pitch speed.
Swing length is the total distance, measured in feet, that the head of the bat travels from the start of a hitter's swing through contact, tracked by Statcast's bat-tracking system.
A non-tender is when an MLB team declines to offer a contract to one of its arbitration-eligible players by the annual tender deadline, instantly making the player a free agent.
Horizontal Approach Angle (HAA) is the side-to-side angle in degrees at which a pitch crosses the front of home plate, measuring how sharply a pitch cuts across the strike zone from the hitter's view.
The 40-man roster is the group of players under MLB contract who occupy a team's 40 player slots, are protected from the Rule 5 Draft, and form the pool from which the 26-man active roster is drawn.
A hold is a relief-pitching stat awarded when a pitcher enters in a save situation, records at least one out, and leaves the game with the lead still intact for a teammate to finish.
K% (strikeout rate) is the share of plate appearances ending in a strikeout, calculated as strikeouts divided by plate appearances, and used to measure both hitter contact ability and pitcher dominance.
Expected Slugging Percentage (xSLG) is a Statcast metric that estimates a hitter's slugging percentage from exit velocity, launch angle, and sprint speed, stripping out the effects of defense, ballpark, and luck.
Jacob Misiorowski threw 22 pitches at 102+ mph against the Yankees on May 8 — two more than any starter in the pitch-tracking era — and now leads MLB with a 14.0 K/9 on the back of a 101.1 mph fastball that has no historical precedent.
Slugging percentage (SLG) is a hitter's total bases divided by at-bats, weighting singles as 1, doubles as 2, triples as 3, and home runs as 4 to measure per-at-bat power output.
The injured list (IL) is MLB's roster mechanism for sidelining medically restricted players, freeing the 26-man spot for replacements while preserving the player's service time and full salary.
A team's magic number is the combined total of its own remaining wins plus its closest pursuer's losses required to mathematically clinch a playoff spot or division title — when it hits zero, the spot is secured.
Designated for Assignment (DFA) is an MLB roster move that removes a player from the 40-man roster, opening a seven-day window for the team to trade, waive, outright, or release him.
Game Score is a single-number metric created by Bill James that grades an individual starting pitcher's performance in one game, where 50 is average and 100+ is historically elite.
Sweet Spot Percentage is the share of a hitter's batted balls struck with a launch angle between 8 and 32 degrees — the optimal range for producing hits and extra-base damage.
Platoon splits measure how a hitter or pitcher performs against same-handed versus opposite-handed opponents — the foundation of lineup and bullpen strategy.
Spin efficiency is the percentage of a pitch's total spin that actually creates movement — the rest is gyrospin that contributes nothing to break.
A balk is an illegal pitching motion with runners on base that the umpire judges to deceive the runner — the ball is dead and every runner advances one base.
Bauer Units (BU) measure fastball spin rate divided by velocity, expressing how much spin a pitcher generates per mile per hour.
Pull rate is the percentage of a hitter's batted balls hit to the side of the field they swing toward — left field for right-handed batters, right field for left-handed batters.
The ghost runner is an automatic runner placed on second base at the start of each extra-inning half-inning in MLB regular-season games, introduced in 2020 and made permanent in 2023.
The Cubs ripped off a second 10-game winning streak (their first such double since 1935), the Rays pushed to 26-13 atop the AL East, and Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski set seven Statcast velocity records by topping out at 103.6 mph in a 6-0 shutout of the Yankees.
Pitching+ is a FanGraphs model that combines Stuff+ (pitch shape quality) and Location+ (command quality) into a single 100-scaled metric, where 100 is league average and every point above represents roughly 1% better expected run prevention.
Spin axis is the orientation of a baseball's rotational axis as it travels toward home plate, expressed as a clock-face direction that determines whether a pitch carries, sinks, cuts, or sweeps.
A save is a statistic credited to a relief pitcher who finishes a game won by their team while meeting MLB Rule 9.19 criteria — generally entering in a tight spot and protecting a lead of three runs or fewer.
A quality start is any starting-pitcher outing of at least six innings with three or fewer earned runs allowed — a binary credit for keeping the team in the game.
Seam-shifted wake is non-Magnus pitch movement created when the orientation of a baseball's raised seams steers airflow, producing break that pure spin physics can't explain.
The Mendoza Line is the .200 batting-average threshold that separates barely-employable major-league hitters from those almost certain to lose their job.
Induced Vertical Break (IVB) is the amount of vertical movement on a pitch caused by spin and aerodynamics after the effect of gravity is subtracted, measured in inches by Statcast.
Pythagorean Winning Percentage estimates a team's expected winning percentage from runs scored and runs allowed using the formula RS² / (RS² + RA²), revealing teams that are over- or under-performing their underlying run differential.
Super Two is the designation given to the top 22% of MLB players with between 2 and 3 years of service time, granting them an extra year of arbitration eligibility before free agency.
Munetaka Murakami has homered in five straight games and 14 of his first 14 MLB extra-base hits have left the yard — the longest such streak to start a career since at least 1900, backed by a 96.4 mph average exit velocity and a 22.1% barrel rate.
An opener is a relief pitcher used to start a game and work only the first inning before handing off to a bulk reliever, designed to neutralize the top of the order and dodge the times-through-the-order penalty.
The infield fly rule automatically retires the batter on a fair pop-up an infielder can catch with ordinary effort when there are runners on first and second (or bases loaded) with fewer than two outs — preventing fielders from intentionally dropping the ball for cheap double plays.
The qualifying offer is a one-year guaranteed contract a team can extend to its own impending free agent at the average of the top 125 MLB salaries — declining it attaches draft-pick compensation that depresses the player's market value.
Catch Probability is a Statcast metric that estimates the likelihood — expressed as a percentage from 0 to 100 — that a major-league outfielder will catch a specific fly ball or line drive, based solely on the distance to the landing zone and the time available to get there.
Ground Ball Rate (GB%) is the percentage of balls put in play — excluding home runs — that travel along the ground, and it is the primary batted-ball metric for gauging a pitcher's ability to suppress extra-base contact and generate double plays.
Leverage Index (LI) quantifies the importance of any plate appearance by measuring how much the game's win probability could swing on its outcome relative to an average situation, where 1.0 is league-average leverage.
A two-seam fastball is a fastball gripped along the narrow parallel seams of the baseball, producing arm-side run and natural downward movement that generates weak contact and groundballs.
K-BB% (strikeout rate minus walk rate) measures a pitcher's ability to generate strikeouts while limiting walks, making it one of the most stable and predictive single-number indicators of pitching quality.
A slash line is a three-number shorthand displaying a batter's Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage separated by slashes — for example, .300/.380/.520 — giving a compact portrait of contact, discipline, and power.
A knuckleball is a pitch thrown with minimal spin — typically under 1,500 RPM — that flutters unpredictably toward the plate due to asymmetric airflow across its seams, making it difficult for hitters and catchers alike to track.
ERA+ (Adjusted ERA Plus) is a park- and league-adjusted version of ERA where 100 equals league average and every point above 100 means the pitcher allowed 1% fewer runs than a typical pitcher in the same conditions.
Win Probability Added (WPA) measures how much each plate appearance changes a team's probability of winning, summed across a full season, to quantify a player's clutch contribution to actual wins.
A four-seam fastball is baseball's most common pitch — gripped across the horseshoe seams to generate maximum backspin and near-zero horizontal movement, producing the highest velocity and the most carry through the strike zone of any pitch type.
The shift is a defensive alignment that positions three or more infielders on one side of second base to take away pull-heavy hitters' most likely ground-ball zones — a strategy banned in MLB starting with the 2023 season.
xFIP (Expected Fielding Independent Pitching) is a defense-neutral ERA estimator that normalizes a pitcher's home run rate to league average, isolating only the outcomes pitchers control: strikeouts, walks, and fly balls.
OPS+ is on-base plus slugging percentage adjusted for park and league context, scaled so that 100 equals league average — a 150 OPS+ means a hitter was 50% better than league average at producing offense.
The 20-80 scouting scale is the industry-standard grading system pro scouts use to rate baseball tools, where 50 is MLB-average, 80 is elite, and 20 is well below replacement level.
The eephus is an ultra-slow, high-arcing lob pitch — typically 45 to 65 mph — designed to disrupt a hitter's timing by appearing 30-plus mph slower than a pitcher's fastball.
Attack Angle is the vertical angle of the bat's path at the moment of contact, measured by Statcast bat tracking, indicating whether a hitter is swinging up, down, or level through the ball.
Pitch tunneling is the technique of throwing different pitches along the same visible path for as long as possible, so the hitter can't distinguish them before the swing decision point roughly 23–25 feet from home plate.
Run Value is a Statcast metric that measures how many runs a single pitch, plate appearance, or season's worth of events added or subtracted relative to league average, calculated from the run expectancy matrix.
James Wood has launched 6 home runs in his last 14 games with a 95.4 mph average exit velocity and a 116.1 mph peak — the loudest two weeks of any hitter in baseball.
The Rule 5 Draft is an annual MLB event held during the Winter Meetings that lets teams select unprotected minor-league players from other organizations, with strict roster rules designed to prevent talent hoarding.
UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) measures a fielder's total defensive value in runs above or below an average player at the same position, combining range, errors, double plays, and outfield arm strength.
Vertical Approach Angle (VAA) is the downward angle at which a pitch crosses home plate, measured in degrees, and is the key Statcast metric for explaining why some fastballs miss bats at the top of the zone.
Arm angle is the angle in degrees between a pitcher's shoulders and the line from shoulder to ball release, where 0° is sidearm, 90° is straight overhead, and negative values are submarine.
Service time is the count of days a player spends on an MLB active roster or injured list, where 172 days equals one full service year and accrual unlocks arbitration at three years and free agency at six.
The luxury tax, formally MLB's Competitive Balance Tax, is a graduated penalty paid by teams whose payroll exceeds annual thresholds set in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, with rates that escalate by tier and by repeat-offender status.
MLB salary arbitration is the contract process for players with 3-6 years of service time where, if the player and team can't agree on a salary, an independent panel must choose between the two filed figures with no compromise allowed.
CSW (Called Strikes plus Whiffs) Rate is the percentage of a pitcher's total pitches that result in either a called strike or a swinging strike, capturing both command and stuff in one number.
Pitcher extension is the distance in feet from the front of the pitching rubber to where the pitcher releases the ball, measured by Statcast — longer extension makes a fastball play faster than its radar-gun reading.
A sinker is a fastball variant with arm-side run and downward movement that induces ground balls, thrown 88-96 mph with a spin axis tilted toward the throwing arm.
WHIP (Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched) measures how many baserunners a pitcher allows per inning, calculated as walks plus hits divided by innings pitched.
xERA is Statcast's expected ERA estimator, built from a pitcher's quality-of-contact data, strikeouts, and walks to predict run prevention skill independent of defense and sequencing luck.
The Cubs ripped off a 10-game winning streak before the Dodgers ended it 12-4 on April 26, the Yankees lost an 8-game streak to Houston the same day, Mason Miller pushed his scoreless run to 34 2/3 innings, and Boston fired manager Alex Cora at 10-17 in MLB's wildest week of April 2026.
A curveball is a slow breaking pitch thrown with heavy topspin that drops sharply as it crosses the plate, typically 70-82 mph in MLB.
The pitch clock is an MLB rule introduced in 2023 that limits time between pitches—15 seconds with bases empty, 18 with runners on—and cut average game time by 24 minutes in its first season.
Tommy John surgery reconstructs a torn ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow with a tendon graft, with a 12-18 month return-to-pitch timeline and an 80-85% success rate.
A changeup is an off-speed pitch thrown with fastball arm action but at reduced velocity, designed to disrupt a hitter's timing through deception rather than break.
Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) is a comprehensive fielding metric that estimates how many runs a defender saves or costs his team relative to an average player at his position.
OPS (On-base Plus Slugging) is the sum of a hitter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage, used as a quick single-number measure of total offensive production.
A splitter is an off-speed pitch thrown with the index and middle fingers split wide on the ball, producing sharp late downward movement at near-fastball velocity.
Chase rate is the percentage of pitches outside the strike zone that a batter swings at, measuring plate discipline where a lower number indicates a more selective hitter.
ISO (Isolated Power) measures a hitter's raw extra-base power by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage, isolating only doubles, triples, and home runs.
Junior Caminero has hit 8 HRs in his last 14 games with a 95.8 mph average exit velocity and a .521 xwOBA — every contact metric now sits in the 97th percentile or better.
Hard Hit Rate is the percentage of a hitter's batted balls struck at 95 mph or harder off the bat, a Statcast quality-of-contact measure that correlates strongly with power and expected slugging.
Pop time is the number of seconds from the instant a pitch hits the catcher's mitt to the instant the ball reaches the fielder's glove at the base on a throw to second or third, measuring a catcher's total throw-down quickness.
xBA (expected batting average) is a Statcast metric that estimates what a hitter's batting average should be based on the exit velocity, launch angle, and sprint speed of each batted ball, stripping out luck and defense.
A cutter is a fastball variant — typically 2-5 mph slower than a four-seamer — that breaks late toward the pitcher's glove side, splitting the difference between a fastball and a slider.
Stuff+ is a pitch-quality model that rates the physical nastiness of a pitch — velocity, spin, and movement — on a scale where 100 is MLB average and every 10 points equals one standard deviation.
Whiff rate is the percentage of a batter's swings that miss the ball — calculated as swings-and-misses divided by total swings — and is the cleanest single measure of a pitch's bat-missing ability.
A sweeper is a breaking pitch thrown in the low-to-mid 80s with exaggerated horizontal break—often 15 to 20 inches—and minimal vertical drop, classified by Statcast as a distinct pitch from the traditional slider.
Bat speed is the velocity of the bat's sweet spot at contact, measured in miles per hour by Statcast's Hawkeye system, with an MLB league average near 71 mph and elite hitters exceeding 75 mph.
Catcher framing is the skill of converting borderline pitches into called strikes through pitch receiving, measured by Statcast as the difference between actual and expected called-strike rate in the shadow zone.
A slider is a breaking pitch thrown between 78 and 92 mph that moves laterally and downward, sitting between a fastball and a curveball in velocity and break.
BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) measures how often a hitter reaches base on balls put in play, excluding home runs and strikeouts, with league average hovering near .300.
wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus) is a park- and league-adjusted measure of total offensive value where 100 is league average and every point above or below equals one percent better or worse than average.
The Dodgers (15-6), Braves (15-7), and Reds (14-8) pulled away from their divisions the week of April 13–19, 2026, while Yordan Álvarez's 8-homer line, Elly De La Cruz's 442-foot bomb, and Masataka Yoshida's pinch-hit walk-off over Detroit headlined the action.
OAA (Outs Above Average) is Statcast's primary defensive metric, measuring how many outs a fielder converts above or below what an average fielder would produce given identical opportunities.
Spin rate is the number of times a pitched baseball rotates around its axis per minute (RPM), measured by Statcast, and is a primary driver of pitch movement and swing-and-miss rates.
WAR (Wins Above Replacement) measures how many wins a player contributes above what a freely available replacement-level player would provide, combining offense, defense, baserunning, and pitching into a single number.
A barrel is a batted ball hit at 98+ mph exit velocity with a launch angle in a specific run-productive window — a combination that has historically produced a .500+ batting average and 1.500+ slugging. Barrel rate is the share of a hitter's batted balls that qualify. It is the single best predictor of sustainable power.
Exit velocity is the speed of the baseball as it leaves the bat, measured in miles per hour by the Hawk-Eye tracking system in every MLB stadium. It is the cleanest measurement of raw contact quality and the single largest input into modern hitter evaluation.
FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is a pitcher's ERA estimator built only from strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches, and home runs — outcomes the pitcher controls directly, independent of the defense behind him.
Launch angle is the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat after contact, measured in degrees by Statcast's optical tracking. It determines whether a batted ball becomes a ground ball, line drive, or fly ball — and pairs with exit velocity to define the full shape of a hitter's power profile.
Park factor is a ratio that captures how much a specific ballpark inflates or depresses offensive events (runs, home runs, hits) relative to a neutral environment. It is the correction that lets analysts fairly compare a Coors Field hitter to a Petco Park hitter — and the reason Legends Deck card ratings already adjust for ballpark effects.
Sprint speed is the average top-end running speed of a player, measured in feet per second during their fastest one-second window on qualified plays. It is the single cleanest measurement of raw athletic speed in baseball and drives infield hit rates, extra-base taking, and defensive range.
wOBA (weighted On-Base Average) is a rate stat that credits each offensive event — walk, single, double, triple, home run — by its actual run value, then scales the result to the familiar OBP range. It is the single most accurate summary of a hitter's offensive production on the 0–1 scale.
xwOBA (expected weighted On-Base Average) is Statcast's quality-of-contact metric that estimates what a hitter's wOBA should be based purely on exit velocity, launch angle, and (for speed-dependent balls) sprint speed. It strips out luck, defense, and ballpark to reveal true underlying offensive skill.
Every Legends Deck card rating is derived from real Statcast percentiles — no editorial opinions, no manufacturer curves. This is the full breakdown of how hitter and pitcher ratings are calculated, why they sometimes surprise you, and how to read a card to know whether it's a buy or a sell.
Statcast is MLB's radar-and-camera tracking system that measures every pitch, swing, and sprint at the major-league level. Legends Deck turns that data — exit velocity, barrel rate, xwOBA, sprint speed — directly into card ratings, so every card reflects how a real player is actually performing right now.
You do not need a maxed-out wallet to compete in Legends Deck. This guide covers the cheapest high-impact cards in the 2026 marketplace — overlooked contact hitters, high-spin relievers, and value shortstops — along with a crafting path that upgrades them to elite tier.
Franchise Mode is Legends Deck's full-season, front-office simulation: 162 games, farm system development, trades, the amateur draft, arbitration, playoffs, and the Hall of Fame. This guide walks through every system and the non-obvious strategies that separate dynasty rosters from also-rans.
| --- | --- | --- | --- | | AL East | Tampa Bay Rays | 29-15 | — | ↑ 1.0 | | AL East | New York Yankees | 28-18 | 2.0 | ↓ 1.0 | | AL East | Baltimore Orioles | 20-26 | 10.0 | → | | AL East | Toronto Blue Jays | 20-25 | 9…