Legends of the Fall: Part II of V

By mw2828, Section MLB
Posted on Thu Jun 07 2007 at 5:24 PM EST
More on: Red Sox, A's, Billy Beane (all tags)

 Spring bowed to summer before summer submitted to autumn, and the most marvelous postseason in Baseball history postseason began.

 In the American League, the 101 win Yankees, champions of the American League East, were matched with the determined Minnesota Twins, a team consumed with reaching the World Series after falling one step short against Anaheim a year prior.

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Midseason "Moneyball" All-Stars - American League

By BostonMac, Section MLB
Posted on Tue Jun 27 2006 at 5:43 PM EST
More on: MLB, payroll, All-Stars, Moneyball, Billy Beane (all tags)

By Ryan McGowan

Like my colleague Trevor Freeman, Michael Lewis' Moneyball is one of my favorite books.  For any baseball fan, the inside story of Billy Beane's quest to change traditional thinking and manage a baseball team based entirely on analyzing statistics and turning the conventional wisdom upside down is a fascinating read.  Looking at the 2006 season up to this point, I have chosen a 25-man American League All-Star team that accomplishes the major goals of any team driven by a Moneyball philosophy.

In no particular order, these goals are:

1. Find players who get on base (high on-base percentage, or OBP) and hit for some power (the combination of the two produces a high on-base plus slugging, or OPS, the golden statistic of Moneyball).
2. Pay no attention to fielding statistics.
3. Spend as little money as possible.

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