Tag: MLB

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MLB General

Midseason "Moneyball" All-Stars – American League

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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Philadelphia Flyers

Thank you- Philadelphia

Just when I think my world as a Philadelphia fan can’t get any more dismal, some Philadelphia team shakes things up by placing themselves eleven games out of the division lead, blowing it in the playoffs, not making the playoffs, or spending more time arguing with a crazy wide receiver, than playing the actual game. Over the past couple of days, I’ve started making a list of the things that make me crazy as a Philadelphia fan. Here’s a sampling:

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Categories
MLB General

It’s Going To Be The Best Postseason Ever!

The Astros! The Angels! The Cardinals! The White Sox! It’s going to be the best postseason ever!

No, seriously. There’ll be no overwrought, over-hyped, overly-annoying New York vs. Boston drama. No A-rod, no Papi. No Sheffield, no Manny. No constant droning about Bucky Dent or the Curse of the Bambino. No announcers going on and on about “the idiots” or “the boss” or whatever. And no teams that are only here because they had the bucks to buy their way in. All that stuff is so 2004 (and before).

So keep your 86 years. Keep your 26-going-on-27 championships. This year, there’s an entirely different set of numbers that matter.

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