1. It's the heartwarming story about how a few statisticians with a dream transformed baseball from a game of inches into a game of computer-generated statistics and analytics-obsessed number crunchers. In other words, about how two nerds turned the greatest game ever invented into a spreadsheet, leading to more intentional walks, overshifts, and pitch counts than any of us who grew up with baseball in the 20th century care to count.
2. It's also the amazing story of how the same two nerds turned a small-market baseball team that used to win World Series into one that could accomplish the amazing task of pretty much never making the playoffs anymore on an even smaller budget using those aforementioned "analytics." I mean, it's pretty remarkable how far the A's have gone with so little money in the 21st century, isn't it? Surely their empty trophy case is the envy of every other team in baseball. Whatever.
I wonder if there'd be a market for how Howard Ballard turned the Leafs into a bad joke that hasn't won the Stanley Cup since I was three.
ReplyDeleteAnd now the A's are going to go all the way to Las Vegas.
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