Expert: Tom Schott - 5/19/2009

Question
It seems every time I look up a pitcher is getting a hit against my beloved Dodgers.  Can you tell me the batting avg for pitchers against the Dodgers and and where they rank with regards to other teams in MLB for the past couple years?

Answer
Keith,

 I cannot answer this question with complete precision because I can only give you the batting average for the 9th batting order position. Most often this would be the pitcher, but it would sometimes be a pinch hitter or somebody there because of a double-switch. With those provisos in mind here's what I found. I looked the Dodgers and four other NL teams for the last three years. Here's what I found.

                 Batting Average of 9th BOP

                   2006            2007            2008

vs Dodgers          .186            .158            .167
vs Cubs             .179            .164            .168
vs Rockies          .177            .169            .184
vs Phillies         .224            .188            .177
vs Mets             .192            .197            .199


 I picked these other teams just randomly, and as you can see, the Dodgers were best against 9th place hitters in 2 of the last 3 years, at least in this sample. I think that's enough to demonstrate that it just =seems= like the other guy's pitchers are getting all those hits. It's not really happening.