Playoff Odds as Distance from Rome circa 200 AD

Below is a map of the Roman Empire upon which are pasted the logos of all 30 Major League Baseball teams. Where they are located on the map corresponds to cities of the Roman Empire. Each city’s distance from Rome in travel days is roughly equivalent to the chance each team has of making the playoffs in 2014. The image is entirely embiggenable and is really only understood in an embiggened state.

RomanPlayoffOdds

A table with some data for y’alls:

Team Playoff Odds (%) Roman City Travel Days From Roma Distance (km)
Cardinals 78.2 Capua 3.3 276
Tigers 74 Carthago 4.2 632
Dodgers 73.5 Syracusae 5.1 771
Red Sox 67.7 Dertona 6.2 598
Braves 59.2 Massilia 6.8 906
Nationals 57 Tarentum 7.2 1065
Rangers 52 Apollonia (Epirus) 8.1 1201
Pirates 48.8 Salona 8.4 433
Giants 46.4 Iol Caesarea 8.7 1362
Athletics 43.8 Arminum 8.9 442
Indians 42.7 Corinthus 9.2 1444
Angels 41 Carthago Nova 10.7 1629
Rays 36.6 Chersonasos 11 1754
Yankees 34.1 Verona 12.9 668
Blue Jays 33 Alexandria 13.2 2309
Royals 31.5 Smyrna 14 2148
Diamondbacks 28.3 Caesaraugusta 15.8 1280
Mariners 28.1 Memphis 15.8 2535
Padres 25.1 Lugdunum 15.9 1267
Rockies 24.5 Virunum 17.2 806
Brewers 17.2 Antiocha 17.9 2903
Mets 13.4 Portis Blendium 18.1 1733
Reds 12 Siscia 19 733
Phillies 10 Scytholopolis 20 2980
Orioles 6.4 Constantinopolis 20.6 2645
Astros 4.2 Sirmium 21.2 888
Cubs 3.5 Volubilis 22.8 2384
Marlins 3 Londinium 26 2972
Twins 2.5 Lauriacum 26.5 1049
White Sox 2.4 Circesium 31.8 3588

Some notes:

  • Distance was determined by using an astonishingly cool tool called ORBIS, and playoff odds are found on this very site, itself astonishingly cool.
  • ORBIS assumes the year to be 200 AD, but this map represents the Roman Empire in 400 AD. If you tinker with ORBIS yourself, I used the default settings with September as the travel month (’cause we’re travelling to the playoffs, get it??).
  • Portis Blendium, where the Mets are located, apparently disappeared between 200 and 400 AD.
  • You’ll notice that it’s very difficult to hike over mountains and quite efficient to cross the empire by sea. This explains why the Twins in Lauriacum appear much closer to the playoffs/Rome than the Angels or Blue Jays. In reality, the Twins have about the same chance as the Marlins (OLD LOGO ALERT) in Londinium. I included Distance (km) in the table to give you a sense of the disparity between route length and ease of travel. The Giants are “closer” than the A’s by travel days!
  • Poor White Sox.

 





Zach is an egregious malcontent whose life goal is to literally become the London Tube. @itszachreynolds.

39 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Yirmiyahu
10 years ago

This is brilliant, and combines all the things I love: baseball, statistics, maps, and history.

On a related note: I am such a geek.

Tim
10 years ago
Reply to  Yirmiyahu

Everything you just said. Absolutely great article