Superpesis roundup

  Who were the best, worst and most efficient Pitchers in 2020? Since the end of the 2020 regular season I have been working on some statistical analysis of pitcher’s performance in games. When I first became interested in pesäpallo I was surprised that there weren’t any statistics for pitchers or team’s defence at all. At the time, there was very little in the way of statistics for fielders in baseball or cricket and it was in fact a major talking point amongst MLB fans and commentators. In both cricket and baseball however there has always been a method of calculating a pitcher/bowler’s performance, usually based on the number of runs scored against them measured against the number of batters they faced or innings/overs they played. Pesis didn't seem to have any equivalent, which led me to wonder two things: (1) why are there no statistics? (2) what would the statistics look like if they did exist? Why are there currently no pitching/defence statistics To answer this question,...

A new tournament could become a great symbol for the game and unite pesäpallo across Finland Just over a month ago, the Pessäpalloliito (Pesäpallo association) announced that the annual winter (pre-season) tournament was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. In the press release, the Pessäpalloliito stated that teams would still be able to play organised training games tournaments, but with the association’s approval. The association suggested that teams would have to “be creative” to create any tournaments... this got me thinking: what could a more expansive tournament look like in the future? What could a tournament look like now? With the Supercup now being cancelled and a hint that there may be a competition next year to mark the 100 year anniversary, I thought I should finally get round to putting my thoughts together in a post. Why change Halli-SM at all The truth is, there is no real reason to replace the current tournament; however the prospect of creating something new an...

Janette Lepisto came back from an injury during the season to lead Lapua to the playoffs in 2020 To celebrate International Women’s Day I decided to update and re-write a post I published last year. Even though the blog focuses on the men’s Superpesis, I am a big fan of the women’s game too - sadly the team I support disbanded their women’s team some time ago, so I have mainly followed the men’s game (mostly due to my many competing demands on my time). In 2020 we saw the Women’s Superpesis regular season start before the men’s and draw in a lot more attention, with more and more people realising how competitive, athletic and thrilling the women’s game can be. Popularity of women’s sport For decades (if not longer) women’s sport in general has taken a back seat to men’s and in some cases (such as the Football Association in England) been purposefully oppressed. In the modern age, many sports are playing “catch up” when it comes to promoting a women’s competition. 2019 saw the crea...

Perttu Ruuska spent the 2020 season developing his game management skills What is meant by the tempo of the game? When you watch Pesis there is often a lot going on that doesn’t stand out immediately, especially if you are be to the game; however one thing that players and coaches talk about a lot is how to control the tempo of the game (especially pitchers). The easiest way to imagine this is to draw a direct example with American Football - the quarterback controls the tempo of the game and will either take a quick snap or take some time to adjust to the opposing team’s defence, in doing so the quarterback hopes to out play the opposing defence. The same is true in pesäpallo, but it is the pitcher who takes on the quarterback role and the batting/running team they are attempting to beat. If you are coming from baseball background, this can seem a little different to what your re used to; in baseball, pitch selection and location are the key tools to try and defeat the batter, n...