Evan OShaughnessy

Math 215
Statistics Project

1. Problem: Using the data from the 2015 Major League Baseball League to
determine if there is a correlation between the amounts of bases, a team
steals and their total number of wins.
2. Data: The total number of bases stolen and total wins for each MLB team is
compiled for the 2015 season. See attached sheet for data.
3. Data: The data I used to conduct this analysis can be found from the
following sources:
a. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/
b. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/type/expande
d
4. Analysis:
a. Stolen Bases:
i. Mean: 83.5
ii. Median: 83.5
iii. Standard Deviation: 22.8152248
b. Wins:
i. Mean: 80.97
ii. Median: 81
iii. Standard Deviation: 10.45345
5. Analysis:

Scatter Diagram
120
100
80

Stolen Bases

f(x) = - 0.07x + 86.98

R = 0.02

60
40
20
0
20

40

60

80

Wins

100

120

140

Correlation Coefficient: -0.157234078

There is a weak negative linear association between the number of bases
that a team steals and their total number of wins.
6. Analysis:
a. Regression Equation: y = -0.072 + 86.982
R-Square: 2.47%
7. Conclusion:
After analyzing the results, it appears that there is a negative association
between the number of bases stolen and games won. The more bases a team
steals the less likely they are to win more games. The R-squared value is .
0247 meaning, the variable number of wins may account for 2.47% of the
variance in stolen bases. The regression equation may be used to predict the
number of games a team may win based off their total number of stolen
bases. If a team steals 87 bases one may predict that they will win 81 games
during the regular season (y = -0.072(87) + 86.982 = 80.718).