In baseball, teams have little control over the clustering of hits. Hence, we can use run creation formulas to estimate a team’s luck in clustering hits.
This table shows cluster luck for MLB teams in units of runs. A positive number implies good luck in all cases, e.g. positive cluster luck on defense implies a team allowed fewer runs than expected.
These are final cluster luck numbers from the regular season for 2019.
| Rnk | Team | Total | Off | Def |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Yankees | 65.1 | 37.9 | 27.1 |
| 2 | St. Louis | 52.0 | 33.4 | 18.6 |
| 3 | Arizona | 50.8 | 32.4 | 18.4 |
| 4 | Oakland | 47.9 | 39.2 | 8.7 |
| 5 | Texas | 44.4 | 50.1 | -5.8 |
| 6 | Philadelphia | 42.1 | 15.1 | 27.0 |
| 7 | Cleveland | 42.0 | 8.5 | 33.5 |
| 8 | Atlanta | 32.8 | 17.6 | 15.2 |
| 9 | Washington | 22.5 | 35.6 | -13.1 |
| 10 | Chicago Cubs | 21.1 | 7.7 | 13.5 |
| 11 | Toronto | 8.1 | -2.4 | 10.5 |
| 12 | Kansas City | 6.2 | 17.2 | -11.1 |
| 13 | Chicago White Sox | 5.4 | 13.8 | -8.4 |
| 14 | Minnesota | 4.6 | 21.2 | -16.6 |
| 15 | San Francisco | -1.5 | 14.8 | -16.3 |
| 16 | Los Angeles Dodgers | -2.7 | 25.6 | -28.3 |
| 17 | New York Mets | -4.9 | -4.8 | -0.1 |
| 18 | Colorado | -6.2 | 11.1 | -17.2 |
| 19 | Pittsburgh | -9.4 | 18.9 | -28.4 |
| 20 | Miami | -17.8 | 8.3 | -26.1 |
| 21 | Boston | -24.6 | 6.8 | -31.4 |
| 22 | Los Angeles Angels | -25.1 | 6.9 | -32.0 |
| 23 | Cincinnati | -30.8 | -14.7 | -16.1 |
| 24 | Baltimore | -30.8 | 15.4 | -46.2 |
| 25 | Tampa Bay | -33.5 | -10.2 | -23.3 |
| 26 | Seattle | -37.6 | 10.0 | -47.6 |
| 27 | Houston | -37.7 | -35.1 | -2.5 |
| 28 | Milwaukee | -38.4 | -32.9 | -5.5 |
| 29 | San Diego | -56.5 | -4.8 | -51.7 |
| 30 | Detroit | -68.3 | -46.9 | -21.4 |