In 2012 and 2013, there were 10 teams in the MLB playoffs: the six teams that had the most wins in each baseball division, and four “wild card” teams. The playoffs start between the four wild card teams - the two teams that win proceed in the playoffs (8 teams remaining). Then, these teams are paired off and play a series of games. The four teams that win are then paired and play to determine who will play in the World Series.

We can assign rankings to the teams as follows:

Rank 1: the team that won the World Series Rank 2: the team that lost the World Series Rank 3: the two teams that lost to the teams in the World Series Rank 4: the four teams that made it past the wild card round, but lost to the above four teams Rank 5: the two teams that lost the wild card round

# Define team ranks vector (1 = Champion, 5 = Early Elimination)
teamRank <- c(1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5)

# 2012 Regular Season Wins (ordered by teamRank)
# Rank 1: SF (94) | Rank 2: DET (88)
# Rank 3: NYY (95), STL (88)
# Rank 4: BAL (93), OAK (94), WSH (98), CIN (97)
# Rank 5: TEX (93), ATL (94)
wins2012 <- c(94, 88, 95, 88, 93, 94, 98, 97, 93, 94)

# 2013 Regular Season Wins (ordered by teamRank)
# Rank 1: BOS (97) | Rank 2: STL (97)
# Rank 3: LAD (92), DET (93)
# Rank 4: TB (92), OAK (96), PIT (94), ATL (96)
# Rank 5: CLE (92), CIN (90)
wins2013 <- c(97, 97, 92, 93, 92, 96, 94, 96, 92, 90)

Chunk 2: Exercises & Correlation AnalysisWe calculate Pearson’s correlation coefficient r for both seasons using R’s cor() function:

# Exercise 1: Correlation for 2012 Season
cor_2012 <- cor(teamRank, wins2012)
cor_2012
[1] 0.3477129
# Exercise 2: Correlation for 2013 Season
cor_2013 <- cor(teamRank, wins2013)
cor_2013
[1] -0.6556945
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