If I wanted to watch a random series of independent events, I’ll hang out at a craps table
Sadly, I make my living as an accountant, and one of the things I’ve learned (since I am not formally trained) is that if the numbers on the spreadsheet don’t tell the reader some sort of story, they’re basically useless. And I’m afraid that’s where too many sabermetric baseball analysts seem to be headed.
No, I didn’t want to be the old guy in the shawl, but recent events have forced my hand. Specifically, the last straw came last night as I tried to listen to ESPN’s Baseball Today podcast. Derek Jeter’s pursuit of 3,000 hits was basically dismissed as no big deal, said our hosts, because it was an inevitable mathematical certainty. So what was the point of worrying about it?
Then what the hell do we watch the games for? I might as well watch the bartenders at Turkey’s Nest play Quick Draw. Because that’s what you’re telling me is happening. And that isn’t fun.
Admittedly, as a Yankee fan, maybe I’m biased. But as I said, this was the last straw. Another major storyline this season the host has been pooh-poohing as unimportant and useless is the Dodgers ownership mess. “Who cares who the owner is?” is the usual refrain. Really? Ask any Red Sox fan if they’d happily have Frank “I’ll pay you Tuesday for a Fox Television Contract Today” McCourt as their owner right now, which could have happened. If you think ownership is meaningless in sports, you are just not paying attention to the big picture while you focus on UZR. And that doenn’t do coverage of the sport any favors.
Look, I understand that that advanced stats can and do deepen our understanding of the game. I’m not against numbers. But narrative matters. Not at all costs, but it does. There’s a reason sports on television is not susceptible to the DVR. The drama matters. Any baseball analysis that dismisses this out of hand operates in a vacuum operated by a random number generator. Does that sound like fun to you? I didn’t think so.
So, in addition to no longer listening to this podcast, count me now as a baseball fan slightly getting closer to the old-schoolers now. No, I don’t believe pitching wins is a useful statistic, but I still don’t completely dismiss RBI. Deal with it.
7 months ago