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Prospective measures of competitive balance: application to money lines in major league baseball

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  • R. Alan Bowman
  • Thomas Ashman
  • James Lambrinos

Abstract

This study examines competitive balance in Major League Baseball (MLB) by looking at the money lines for the games during the regular season. The assertion is that the closer the money lines are to indicating that each team has an equal chance of winning each game, the more competitive balance there is in the league. This study extends the model developed by Bowman et al . (2012), which used point spreads to assess competitive balance in the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). In this study, money lines for the 1999--2011 seasons were used to develop several measures of competitive balance. The results indicate that competitive balance increased rather substantially during this period. A by-product of this research is to identify the most highly rated team and pitcher. In 2002, New York Yankees were the highest rated team and from the year 2000 Pedro Martinez was the highest rated pitcher.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Alan Bowman & Thomas Ashman & James Lambrinos, 2013. "Prospective measures of competitive balance: application to money lines in major league baseball," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(29), pages 4071-4081, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:45:y:2013:i:29:p:4071-4081
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2012.750421
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tony Caporale & Trevor Collier, 2015. "Are We Getting Better or Are They Getting Worse? Draft Position, Strength of Schedule, and Competitive Balance in the National Football League," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 291-300, September.
    2. Antonio Avila-Cano & Amparo Ruiz-Sepulveda & Francisco Triguero-Ruiz, 2021. "Identifying the Maximum Concentration of Results in Bilateral Sports Competitions," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez & Julio del Corral & R. Todd Jewell & Jorge García-Unanue & Cornel Nesseler, 2019. "A Prospective Analysis of Competitive Balance Levels in Major League Soccer," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(1), pages 175-190, February.
    4. Julio del Corral & Andrés Maroto & Andrés Gallardo, 2017. "Are Former Professional Athletes and Native Better Coaches? Evidence From Spanish Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(7), pages 698-719, October.

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