No, not really.

Radio commentators, fans in the stands, and writers in the media all seem to issue cautionary statements regarding OSU baseball games where OSU strands more runners than their opponents.

Left on base (abbreviated LOB) is not really a baseball performance statistic, but is really used as a check on the box score (team plate appearances in a game = runs scored + LOB + times put out).  Team LOB and opponent’s LOB is reported on the box score and is kept not only for single games but also for the season as well.

Is it bad for a team to strand more runners than the opponent?  An examination of LOB expressed on a per game basis reveals some interesting trends.  OSU has consistently had a higher LOB than opponents over the last 11 seasons (Figure 1).  This has been a cause for concern among fans and is regularly noted on-air by OSU’s radio announcers.  OSU has left on average 1.1 more runners on base per game than their opponents during this period.  And 2013 is no different; OSU is leaving 1.4 more runners per game stranded than their opponents to date.   Moreover, in OSU’s CWS appearances in 2005, 2006, and 2007, the team averaged 1.3 more runners stranded than their opponents.  So in 3 of the best 4 seasons in OSU history, the Beavers stranded more runners than their opponents.

Figure 1. OSU baseball season LOB per game compared to opponents (OPP) LOB. (Click to enlarge)

Is the stranding of too many runners only an OSU phenomenon?  Examination of the LOB statistics for the past 10 CWS winners shows that 9 of the 10 champions had a greater LOB than their opponents (Figure 2).  The only exception was Fresno State in 2008, which was probably the most unlikely CWS winner of all-time and so didn’t fit the normal profile statistics of a team with a great season.  On average, CWS winners strand 1.0 more runners per game than their opponents even with the Fresno State anomaly included.

Figure 2. Team season LOB for College World Series winners compared with opponent season LOB (OPP) over the past decade. (Click to enlarge).

Do bad teams really strand more runners?  Over the last decade, the last place teams in the Pac-10/12 have averaged 7.5 runners per game LOB while their opponents have averaged 8.0 runners LOB per game.  Bad teams leave FEWER runners than their opponents, and in this case, 0.5 fewer runners per game were stranded by last place teams compared with their opponents.

Good teams put more runners on base and as a consequence, these good teams generally leave more runners on base than their opponents.   Often times, leaving too many runners is thought to be the cause of some OSU losses.  But there is only one way a team loses to another in baseball – that’s by scoring fewer runs than your opponent, not by stranding too many runners.