The ultimate goal in any sport (besides having fun) is to win. One measure of how well a team does is winning percentage. In baseball, a lot of effort goes into figuring out the variables that help to predict a team's winning percentage. Go to www.pearsonhighered.com/sullivanstats to obtain the data file 4_1_38 using the file format of your choice for the version of the text you are using. The data represent the winning percentages of teams in both the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The difference between the AL and NL is that teams in the AL allow a designated hitter to hit for the pitcher. Pitchers are typically poor hitters, so teams in the NL tend to score fewer runs.
(a) Which variable is the best predictor of winning percentage? What does the relation between this variable and winning percentage suggest?
(b) Suppose a manager wants to score lots of runs. What variable best predicts runs scored?
(c) What does the negative correlation between runs and at-bats per home run suggest?