I’ve arbitrarily chosen the last twenty-five years as the period depicted in the graph. I could have gone back farther in time than that, but it was going to be unreadable and so I’ve not bothered to research before 1989.
A full-credit answer will correctly describe both the significance of the each graphed column as well as the significance of the number appearing atop each column. The values of the columns and the numbers atop each column are related, but not mathematically.
Will 2013’s number change as we move through the year?
No.
2013 was once indeterminate but now will not change.
Tuesday hint: I said quite recently that I wouldn’t do this again any time soon. Yet here I am, doing it again.
So it’s baseball. Good luck, whoever gets this one.
Wednesday hint: We’re talking streaks here.
MLB: the y axis is the max number wins in a row any team (some multiple) had to start the season before a loss, with the number above the bar graph the max number of losses in a row any team had to start the season before a win.
You are half right, sir.
I think you are right on the y-axis but not the number above the bar; I don’t remember any time starting out 0-21. I’ll guess that the number represents the highest number of runs scored on Opening Day.
Nope… that’s not it… the Astros scored 8 and then several other teams surpassed 4 when the rest of the slate got underway.
The Orioles started the 1988 season 0-21 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/games_lost_records.shtml but I misremembered it as more recent and thought it might have been in 1990.
Egads!
The O’s have all kinds of ‘egads’ records.
My boss at the time (whom I detested) was from Baltimore. Good times.
The number above the bar is the date of the final win in the streak.
And that is the other half of the puzzle. Half-point wins to Kolohe and Mike Schilling.
Which is why 1995 is so much larger than the rest. The season started late because of the lockout.
Pretty much All Of Canada believes that the reason they were willing to lose the 94 World Series was because Montreal was doing so well (not that it was the reason, but that they weren’t going to cry over the ‘Spos losing out on a title shot).
Damn straight we’re not going to let foreigners beat us at our own game three years in a row.
Your game? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_in_Canada#History
In Ontario, a variant of baseball known as “The Canadian Game” was most prevalent. […] All eleven players went to bat each inning, which would not end until they were all retired.
There’s a game that sounds like, and it’s not baseball.