2022 MLB playoffs

While we wait for game 3, a piece about baseball's metrics gettin' outta hand, and metrics elsewhere in our culture as well.

www.theatlantic.com

What Moneyball-for-Everything Has Done to American Culture

You can make a thing so perfect that it’s ruined.
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...on a deeper level, I think what happened is that baseball was colonized by math and got solved like an equation.

The analytics revolution, which began with the movement known as Moneyball, led to a series of offensive and defensive adjustments that were, let’s say, catastrophically successful. Seeking strikeouts, managers increased the number of pitchers per game and pushed up the average velocity and spin rate per pitcher. Hitters responded by increasing the launch angles of their swings, raising the odds of a home run, but making strikeouts more likely as well. These decisions were all legal, and more important, they were all correct from an analytical and strategic standpoint.

Smarties approached baseball like an equation, optimized for Y, solved for X, and proved in the process that a solved sport is a worse one. The sport that I fell in love with doesn’t really exist anymore.
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Or take film. As with music, you could certainly make the case that the communications revolution has created an abundance of video content that, in the aggregate, is fantastically diverse. But although the rules for making a viral video, or a critically acclaimed film, are deeply complex, blockbuster movies look a lot like a solved equation.

In 2019, the 10 biggest films by domestic box office included two Marvel sequels, two animated-film sequels, a reboot of a ’90s blockbuster, and a Batman spin-off.

In 2022, the 10 biggest films by domestic box office included two Marvel sequels, one animated-film sequel, a reboot of a ’90s blockbuster, and a Batman spin-off.

Correctly observing that audiences responded predictably to familiar intellectual property, studios invested in a strategy that has squeezed original IP from the top-10 charts. Blockbusters are kinda boring now, not because Hollywood is stupid, but because it got so smart.
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Wow... I swear the Phillies just love to play baseball... at home, anyway. 😊

Edit: gee, only the bottom of the 5th inning and Phillies are up 7 to zip. They havin' fun!
 
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I heard that the Astros pitcher set a WS record for coughing up HRs. And the manager set a record for not pulling the pitcher before he set a record.
 
Houston would have done much better against the Dodgers or the Braves – they do not know how to play against a low-ranked team.
 
Yoused said:
Houston would have done much better against the Dodgers or the Braves – they do not know how to play against a low-ranked team.
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Yeah maybe Astros a little unsure how to play against a team that was obviously not at all intimidated by unexpectedly landing in the playoffs (and then taking the first WS game in extra innings on Houston grass).

The other thing is that although Philadelphia's regular season W-L was unimpressive, its late season trajectory was on the rise and already scrappy before the playoffs.

I felt at the outset of the series that there might have been some delayed psychological impact of that late regular season 3-0 loss the Astros experienced at hands of Philadelphia. LIke when it happened, well so what, Astros already clinched their division etc. and anyone can win a ballgame now and then.

But then in postseason when Philadelphia had serially tuned up both the Braves and the Padres and the Astros were on deck for the Series and Phillies were like sayin' "Next?," well... hmm.

Self-doubt is a funny thing, it can just sit there and fester...

Still, Houston has a very capable team on field and at bat. It was just weird Baker didn't take that pitcher out before those hot Philly bats pegged the bar too high for a comeback last night. In a way it had to be a bet that Phillies can't sweep the three home games, so Baker was saving his starters, and also believing that the Astros can take the last two in Houston? This despite Philly already having demo'd they can win an away game in the WS under pressure.

I dunno. It sure hasn't been a boring series so far.
 
Herdfan said:
He had to be tipping. No way guys can tee off like that if he isn’t.
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So sayeth those who noted a quick conversation between Philly batsmen, a chat that paid off.

Lotta iPad scrolling for pitching coaches' homework: What did they see, what does he do.
 
lizkat said:
Lotta iPad scrolling for pitching coaches' homework: What did they see, what does he do.
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They mentioned leg kick as an option. I doubt that since he got lit up from both the windup and the stretch.

I am thinking arm angle or maybe the Phillies have a spy and a trash can. 😳😂
 
Hah well the Astros have untll spring to figure it out, if he's still around by then.
 
Welp the Phillies made history again last night but not in a thrilling way for Philly fans... Astros handed them the first no-hitter in the World series since the 1950s. Series tied up 2-2 now.

On to tonight's game, the last of the three in Philadelphia. Schwarber has homered in bottom of the first to tie up the game 1-1, so whatever the Astros might have been thinking about another no-hitter just went over a wall. Heh after last night no place to go but up, so that low bar has been cleared already.
 
Are Houstoners watching the WS or the Eagles @ Texans game in Houston on at the very same time? (Texans are pretty crappy this years, while the Eagles lead their division – but football is still somewhat more popular in the US, and in Texas in particular.)
 
Yoused said:
Are Houstoners watching the WS or the Eagles @ Texans game in Houston on at the very same time? (Texans are pretty crappy this years, while the Eagles lead their division – but football is still somewhat more popular in the US, and in Texas in particular.)
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dunno... haven't looked at US football since back in the days of the office pool, where i routinely chipped in my two bucks and threw darts at a copy of the sheet stuck to corkboard in the pantry to make my picks. Once in awhile I won enough to have to stop by the bakery and come up with the obligatory round of pastries for Monday morning...
 
Enthralling game 5 last night didn't go the Phillies way, exasperating how they left men on base and then their bats went quiet at the wrong times. Weird how they practically had Verlander on the ropes after their 2nd inning showing (Houston did already have action in the bullpen) but then they couldn't hit the relievers when they started showing up.

Anyway the Series is 3-2 Astros (was it a bad omen that game 5 score was also 3-2?) so it's must-win in Houston Saturday night for the Phillies. Of course the Phils would have preferred going there not having to win both games. They already proved they can win an away game v Houston but having to take two straight after a demoralizing no-hitter on Wednesday and a squeaker loss last night... ugh.

My problem is figuring out whether to bother getting streaming video access to the last or last two games in Houston. I revived a YTTV sub for the postseason but it happens to expire "on the 5th" so no clue if that means 23:59 on the 4th. I guess I will revert to listening to the game(s) on Audacy instead. I'd take a free trial on fubo but hardly seems worth using that up for possibly just one game.

Still it was amazing to watch the Astros' McCormick snag that Realmuto zinger up against the wall last night in the 9th. No Astros fan, me... but gotta give credit where due on that catch.

Astros' McCormick robs Realmuto at the wall.jpg
 
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Game 6 tonight! The start of do-or-die time for the Phillies in Houston is a few minutes away. Trying to figure out whether to make the popcorn now or save it for the top of the 9th. Hope the Phillies don't save their hot bats for then, except as insurance runs.

[ Welp it's a pitchers' battle so far... i noticed in one of the ads that someone was eating nachos, which seemed llike a great idea so I stepped out to the kitchen in the bottom of the 4th and made those instead of breaking out the popcorn. Funny how the ad was for some softdrink but what caught my eye were the nachos! ]​
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Edit: Phillies first on the board with a solo homer by Schwarber in the 6th. It's the nachos, I'm sure of it now. 🥳

Edit: welp, that didn't last long. Astros scored big on the reliever and now it's 3-1 Houston... man the Phillies keep asking so much of Alvarado when they bring him into situations like having runners on 1st and 3rd... best case he'd probably come out of it tied up. but 3-1, ugh. Even more nachos might not work now... 😦
 
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