Player Won-Lost Records in Baseball: Measuring Performance in Context

Baseball analysts often criticize pitcher win-loss records as a poor measure of pitcher performance, as wins are the product of team performance. Fans criticize WAR (Wins Above Replacement) because it takes in theoretical rather than actual wins.

Player won-lost records bridge the gap between these two schools of thought, giving credit to all players for what they do--without credit or blame for teammates' performance--and measuring contributions to actual team wins and losses. The result ...