New York Yankees: Key to Success in 2012 Is to Be Like the 1996 Yankees

The 2011 New York Yankees scored 867 runs, averaging about 5.35 runs per game. The team struck out 1,138 times with 627 walks. Not one Yankees' player walked more than he struck out.

A few seasons ago, the 1996 Yankees, who won the first Yankees' World Series since 1978, scored 871 runs, averaging 5.38 runs a game. The team struck out 909 times and walked 632 times. Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, Wade Boggs and Tim Raines had more walks than strikeouts.

The 2011 Yankees scored a mere four more runs more than the 1996 Yankees, but had five fewer walks. The big difference is that the 2011 team had 229 more strikeouts.

1996 was the first full season after the 1994 strike and it was the beginning of one of baseball's greatest offensive eras. Last season resulted in a decrease in offense, particularly because of the larger focus on performance-enhancing drugs. 

Today, strikeouts are considered just another out and the home run is considered the most effective weapon in the war on pitchers.

In 2011, the Yankees scored 52 percent of their runs off home runs. Forty-nine percent or 109 home runs were hit with at least one runner on base. The 1996 Yankees were not as dependent on the home run to score.

How would striking out less have affected the 2011 Yankees' offense? They had 229 more strikeouts than in 1996, but scored about the same number of runs.

If hitters put the ball in play only 25 percent of the time instead of striking out, there would have been 58 more times that there could have been a hit, an error, a sacrifice fly, a ground ball that moved a runner up a base or even a home run.

Assuming that when a player cuts back on his swing the chances of a long ball decreases, it is reasonable to conclude that between five and seven of the 58 balls put in play would be a home run. It is also reasonable to think that about 15 of the 58 balls in play would result in the batter reaching base.

In 1996, the Yankees batted .288/.360/.436. Last year, the Yankees batted .263/.343/.444. The numbers support the position that if the current Yankees struck out less, they would score more runs.

Batting average may be overrated, but on base percentage is not. In 1996, the Yankees' on base percentage was 17 points higher than in 2011. It is obvious that fewer strikeouts would result in more runs. And the teams had almost identical slugging percentages.

Triples, doubles and even singles can produce high slugging percentages. And a strikeout is not just another out.