Plunk Everyone

Getting hit by a pitch will usually help your team, if you can do it without getting seriously injured, and without the umpire deciding not to award you first base for some perceived lack of effort to avoid the pitch. But, it seems that getting hit in certain innings is more effective for helping your team win.

Overall, teams that get hit by a pitch at least once in a game have won those games 57% of the time this season. But, teams that get hit in the 8th inning have won 61.4% of games, while teams that get hit in the 9th inning have won just 46.3% of games. Teams that get hit by a pitch in the 10th or 11th inning win their game 71.4% of the time, but the overall win rate for teams that get plunked in extra innings is just 53.8%, because teams that get plunked in the 12th inning or later have just 4 wins against 8 loses.

Here's the chart of win-loss records, by inning with a plunk:

inning	W-L	win pct
1	98-69	0.587
2	105-74	0.587
3	87-60	0.592
4	84-68	0.553
5	91-73	0.555
6	114-78	0.594
7	98-63	0.609
8	97-61	0.614
9	50-58	0.463
10	5-2	0.714
11	5-2	0.714
12	2-4	0.333
13	1-2	0.333
14	1-0	1
15	0-2	0
22	0-1	0
all extra	14-12	0.538
1 to 9	696-525	0.57

Of course not every team conforms to these averages particularly well. The Seattle Mariners, for example, are in last place in the American League with a .393 win pct. They're a bit better, at .419 in games when they get hit by a pitch, but when they've been plunked in the 2nd inning this year, they're 6-1 for an .857 win pct. On the other hand, if you plunk the Mariners in the 6th inning, they seem to pack up and go home. They're 0-7 when plunked in the 6th. That's the worst record in the league for games with plunks in any particular inning. On the other end of that scale, the Toronto Bluejays are 6-0 when they get hit in the 6th.

Here the listing of how each team does when they're hit in each inning, sorted by overall record in games when they've had at least 1 plunk.

Chicago Cubs overall record: 88-58 (.603) in games with an hbp: 29-10 (.744)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-0 1 2 2-2 0.5 3 1-1 0.5 4 5-0 1 5 4-1 0.8 6 4-1 0.8 7 6-4 0.6 8 5-1 0.833 9 3-1 0.75 11 1-0 1
Houston Astros overall record: 80-67 (.544) in games with an hbp: 29-11 (.725)	inning W-L win pct 1 5-0 1 2 3-1 0.75 3 2-0 1 4 4-0 1 5 4-1 0.8 6 5-3 0.625 7 4-2 0.667 8 5-1 0.833 9 0-4 0
Tampa Bay Rays overall record: 88-58 (.603) in games with an hbp: 31-16 (.660)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-1 0.8 2 4-2 0.667 3 6-2 0.75 4 2-2 0.5 5 1-3 0.25 6 5-1 0.833 7 7-3 0.7 8 4-1 0.8 9 1-3 0.25 10 1-0 1 13 0-1 0
Toronto Blue Jays overall record: 88-58 (.603) in games with an hbp: 30-16 (.652)	inning W-L win pct 1 7-3 0.7 2 5-3 0.625 3 6-2 0.75 4 3-3 0.5 5 4-3 0.571 6 6-0 1 7 2-0 1 8 0-3 0 9 3-0 1
LA Angels of someplace overall record: 89-57 (.610) in games with an hbp: 28-15 (.651)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-0 1 2 5-0 1 3 5-2 0.714 4 5-6 0.455 5 3-3 0.5 6 4-3 0.571 7 1-0 1 8 0-1 0 9 3-0 1
Baltimore Orioles overall record: 65-80 (.448) in games with an hbp: 22-12 (.647)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-2 0.667 2 3-1 0.75 3 1-1 0.5 4 0-2 0 5 2-4 0.333 6 2-1 0.667 7 4-1 0.8 8 5-2 0.714 9 4-0 1
Arizona Diamondbacks overall record: 71-74 (.490) in games with an hbp: 21-12 (.636)	inning W-L win pct 1 3-1 0.75 2 1-1 0.5 3 1-3 0.25 4 7-1 0.875 5 2-0 1 6 3-0 1 7 3-2 0.6 8 3-1 0.75 9 2-5 0.286 11 1-0 1
Minnesota Twins overall record: 80-66 (.548) in games with an hbp: 17-10 (.630)	inning W-L win pct 1 2-2 0.5 2 1-3 0.25 3 5-0 1 4 1-0 1 5 2-1 0.667 6 1-2 0.333 7 4-1 0.8 8 2-1 0.667 11 1-0 1
New York Yankees overall record: 77-69 (.527) in games with an hbp: 34-21 (.618)	inning W-L win pct 1 0-2 0 2 6-4 0.6 3 5-1 0.833 4 4-4 0.5 5 4-1 0.8 6 11-7 0.611 7 5-2 0.714 8 4-5 0.444 9 1-3 0.25 12 1-0 1
Milwaukee Brewers overall record: 83-64 (.565) in games with an hbp: 29-18 (.617)	inning W-L win pct 1 6-2 0.75 2 4-4 0.5 3 2-0 1 4 2-2 0.5 5 5-3 0.625 6 5-5 0.5 7 5-2 0.714 8 4-1 0.8 9 5-1 0.833 10 1-0 1
Boston Red Sox overall record: 85-60 (.586) in games with an hbp: 30-19 (.612)	inning W-L win pct 1 5-1 0.833 2 4-3 0.571 3 5-2 0.714 4 5-3 0.625 5 1-6 0.143 6 7-3 0.7 7 5-1 0.833 8 5-1 0.833 9 0-2 0 11 0-1 0 12 0-1 0
Atlanta Braves overall record: 65-82 (.442) in games with an hbp: 21-14 (.600)	inning W-L win pct 1 2-1 0.667 2 2-3 0.4 3 3-1 0.75 4 1-5 0.167 5 4-0 1 6 5-1 0.833 7 3-2 0.6 8 2-0 1 9 2-2 0.5
St. Louis Cardinals overall record: 78-68 (.534) in games with an hbp: 19-13 (.594)	inning W-L win pct 1 2-0 1 2 4-3 0.571 3 2-1 0.667 4 2-0 1 5 3-1 0.75 6 2-1 0.667 7 4-2 0.667 8 4-3 0.571 9 0-3 0 10 1-0 1
Colorado Rockies overall record: 67-80 (.456) in games with an hbp: 23-16 (.590)	inning W-L win pct 1 3-1 0.75 2 3-2 0.6 3 4-2 0.667 4 1-3 0.25 5 4-2 0.667 6 4-3 0.571 7 5-1 0.833 8 4-4 0.5 9 1-1 0.5
LA Dodgers overall record: 75-71 (.514) in games with an hbp: 21-15 (.583)	inning W-L win pct 1 2-6 0.25 2 0-2 0 3 3-0 1 4 1-1 0.5 5 2-2 0.5 6 9-1 0.9 7 1-0 1 8 2-2 0.5 9 2-1 0.667 11 1-0 1
Chicago White Sox overall record: 81-65 (.555) in games with an hbp: 30-22 (.577)	inning W-L win pct 1 5-1 0.833 2 2-2 0.5 3 3-2 0.6 4 3-6 0.333 5 3-2 0.6 6 6-3 0.667 7 5-2 0.714 8 6-4 0.6 9 2-4 0.333
Cleveland Indians overall record: 71-74 (.490) in games with an hbp: 37-28 (.569)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-4 0.5 2 6-7 0.462 3 6-5 0.545 4 3-4 0.429 5 9-3 0.75 6 2-4 0.333 7 9-4 0.692 8 6-5 0.545 9 1-2 0.333 11 1-0 1
Philadelphia Phillies overall record: 80-67 (.544) in games with an hbp: 27-21 (.563)	inning W-L win pct 1 8-5 0.615 2 2-2 0.5 3 3-2 0.6 4 3-2 0.6 5 3-2 0.6 6 5-4 0.556 7 4-4 0.5 8 3-2 0.6 9 4-3 0.571
Florida Marlins overall record: 74-72 (.507) in games with an hbp: 29-24 (.547)	inning W-L win pct 1 5-3 0.625 2 8-6 0.571 3 3-2 0.6 4 5-2 0.714 5 3-1 0.75 6 4-3 0.571 7 4-3 0.571 8 1-4 0.2 9 1-3 0.25 11 0-1 0
San Francisco Giants overall record: 65-81 (.445) in games with an hbp: 20-17 (.541)	inning W-L win pct 1 1-4 0.2 2 4-3 0.571 3 2-1 0.667 4 1-2 0.333 5 2-3 0.4 6 6-3 0.667 7 0-2 0 8 5-2 0.714 9 1-1 0.5 10 1-0 1
Oakland A's overall record: 67-79 (.459) in games with an hbp: 17-15 (.531)	inning W-L win pct 1 3-4 0.429 2 2-0 1 3 1-3 0.25 4 3-1 0.75 5 3-1 0.75 6 1-1 0.5 7 1-3 0.25 8 2-1 0.667 9 2-2 0.5 10 0-1 0 12 1-1 0.5
Kansas City Royals overall record: 62-83 (.428) in games with an hbp: 20-18 (.526)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-1 0.8 2 1-3 0.25 3 5-2 0.714 4 4-0 1 5 3-4 0.429 6 0-2 0 7 0-2 0 8 2-2 0.5 9 1-3 0.25 10 0-1 0 13 0-1 0 15 0-1 0
Cincinnatti Reds overall record: 66-80 (.452) in games with an hbp: 18-17 (.514)	inning W-L win pct 1 1-5 0.167 2 7-4 0.636 3 1-1 0.5 4 3-0 1 5 4-2 0.667 6 4-3 0.571 7 2-2 0.5 8 3-1 0.75 9 1-0 1
San Diego Padres overall record: 57-90 (.388) in games with an hbp: 22-22 (.500)	inning W-L win pct 1 4-1 0.8 2 5-2 0.714 3 2-3 0.4 4 2-3 0.4 5 1-2 0.333 6 1-3 0.25 7 1-2 0.333 8 3-4 0.429 9 2-1 0.667 12 0-1 0 13 1-0 1 22 0-1 0
New York Mets overall record: 82-63 (.566) in games with an hbp: 13-15 (.464)	inning W-L win pct 1 1-1 0.5 2 1-4 0.2 3 2-0 1 4 2-2 0.5 5 3-4 0.429 6 0-1 0 7 3-4 0.429 8 1-1 0.5 9 1-1 0.5
Detroit Tigers overall record: 70-76 (.479) in games with an hbp: 15-18 (.455)	inning W-L win pct 1 1-3 0.25 2 3-2 0.6 3 0-4 0 4 1-1 0.5 5 0-3 0 6 5-3 0.625 7 0-3 0 8 5-1 0.833 9 2-0 1
Washinton Nationals overall record: 56-90 (.384) in games with an hbp: 23-29 (.442)	inning W-L win pct 1 5-3 0.625 2 3-3 0.5 3 2-6 0.25 4 4-4 0.5 5 4-4 0.5 6 2-3 0.4 7 3-2 0.6 8 1-3 0.25 9 2-4 0.333 10 1-0 1 12 0-1 0 14 1-0 1
Texas Rangers overall record: 72-75 (.490) in games with an hbp: 21-27 (.438)	inning W-L win pct 1 1-4 0.2 2 5-1 0.833 3 1-5 0.167 4 4-1 0.8 5 4-5 0.444 6 3-3 0.5 7 4-4 0.5 8 4-1 0.8 9 1-4 0.2
Pittsburgh Pirates overall record: 60-86 (.411) in games with an hbp: 19-25 (.432)	inning W-L win pct 1 2-6 0.25 2 3-0 1 3 3-6 0.333 4 3-5 0.375 5 2-4 0.333 6 2-3 0.4 7 1-1 0.5 8 4-3 0.571 9 2-3 0.4
Seattle Mariners overall record: 57-88 (.393) in games with an hbp: 13-18 (.419)	inning W-L win pct 1 0-2 0 2 6-1 0.857 3 2-0 1 4 0-3 0 5 2-2 0.5 6 0-7 0 7 2-2 0.5 8 2-0 1 9 0-1 0 15 0-1 0

As you can see from that list, the Rangers, Tigers and Mets are the only teams that do worse when they get hit by a pitch. And, if only games in which teams got hit by a pitch counted in the standings (the way it should be), the division leaders would be the Braves, Cubs, and D-backs in the NL and the Rays, Twins, and Angels in the AL. The wild card leaders would be Houston and Toronto.