Cost of Winning: What contributing factors play the most significant roles in increasing the winning percentage of a major league baseball team?

Authors

Patrick Tartaro, Bryant University

Document Type

Dissertation

First Faculty Advisor

Yobaccio, Elizabeth

Keywords

Cost; Winning; factors; winning; percentage; major league baseball; mlb; team; baseball; salary

Publisher

Bryant University

Abstract

Over the past decade, discussions of competition disparity in Major League Baseball have been brought to the forefront of many debates regarding the sport. The belief that "large market" teams such as the New York Yankees buy their championships through acquiring star talent at high prices has become a common belief of many followers of the game. This research will answer the pressing question, "What are the most significant factors that correlate to a Major League Baseball Team’s winning percentage?”. I used stepwise regression to identify factors significantly related to winning percentage. Interestingly enough, payroll is not a significant factor in the best model. Its high correlation with several other model variables may explain this.