The World Series

Week 32 Vizzes

Posted by David Velleca on October 12, 2018

Data Storytelling and DataViz Approach

Turns out that I really enjoyed this dataset. Despite my Cardinals not making the MLB Playoffs this year, there's just something about the Playoffs and especially the World Series. I created two vizzes this week, with the intention of addressing different questions. The first (above) is a cuvy timeline, adapted from a methodology by Ken Flerlage, and the second is a stacked shape chart.

With the timeline, I wanted to look at the series over time, especially stretches where one team has repeated success in reaching or winning the World Series. For example, my Cardinals in the 1940's or the Yankees in the 1920's. I used the logos for each team, where a greyscale logo indicates a loss and the full color version of the logo is a World Series win. I also used the tooltip to provide some additional information on the series. More artistic or infographic than dashboard, but I really love the look.

The second with the stacked shapes gives a quick look at the number of appearances by franchise, as well as their wins. A trophy icon indicates a win, whereas a full color team logo indicates a World Series appearance where the team lost. To leverage interactivity, I createad a set of BANS with some metrics about the selected team's history in the World Series. Some of these are contextual - for example, the 4th metric displays either the team's first appearance in the WS, or their first win, depending on how they performed in their first series. For example, where my Cardinals experienced success in their first WS attempt, the calc displays the text 'First Win', and for the Yankees who took 3 tries to get their first WS win, it displays 'First Appearance'. Similarly, the last metric displays either the team's last WS win or appearance depending on how they did in their last WS appearance.

I've really enjoyed the participation we've seen in the community this week as well! Several great submissions: