.304 and a Batting Champion?

[22lcidw]

True. But half (or more!) of them would not crack MLB, in 2025.

Okay. I do remember going to games and I would not notice the difference in entertainment. And the costs were much cheaper. In playoffs, choking then is like choking now. Smal all is a rumor. and when they try to out of perceived necessity if not used to it, they fail. Lat night was an example when the Phillies bunted and wasted an out with a slower runner attempting to go from 2nd to 3rd base on it.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

But the thread itself is AVGs way down?

Yes, decreasing anyway.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Okay. I do remember going to games and I would not notice the difference in entertainment. And the costs were much cheaper. In playoffs, choking then is like choking now. Smal all is a rumor. and when they try to out of perceived necessity if not used to it, they fail. Lat night was an example when the Phillies bunted and wasted an out with a slower runner attempting to go from 2nd to 3rd base on it.

But if your team loses 100 games a year, you will stop atte ding and stop watching.

It's just a fact, over the whole.

So the GMs have to employ a winning strategy, not an entertaining strategy.

 

[leftwinger]

Good baseball wins no matter what (see TB, STL, CIN over the years). You cant just buy and sabernetric your title, can you? (well LA did last year. We'll see)

MIL can be a problem for $$$ billion dollar $$$ LA, provided they hold on over PHI.

 

[rightwinger]

So the GMs have to employ a winning strategy, not an entertaining strategy

GM has to put fannys in the seats

Baseball relies on getting new fans and young fans interested in the product they put on the field

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

GM has to put fannys in the seats

Winning ballgames tends to do that.

Losing ballgames tends to do the opposite. See: 2025 Cardinals.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Winning ballgames tends to do that.

Losing ballgames tends to do the opposite. See: 2025 Cardinals.

that depends on the fans.....the Angels have always drawn well.....

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

that depends on the fans.....the Angels have always drawn well.....

Which, oddly enough, provides less incentive to win ballgames.

Which shows, in the management of that team.

 

[Meathead]

Okay. I do remember going to games and I would not notice the difference in entertainment. And the costs were much cheaper. In playoffs, choking then is like choking now. Smal all is a rumor. and when they try to out of perceived necessity if not used to it, they fail. Lat night was an example when the Phillies bunted and wasted an out with a slower runner attempting to go from 2nd to 3rd base on it.

Don't ******* understand that. Stott was hitting well with some power, slow runner on second with no outs and Thompson has him lay down a bunt.

That loss is on the Phillie manager.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Which, oddly enough, provides less incentive to win ballgames.

Which shows, in the management of that team.

who are pretty bad.....

 

[22lcidw]

But if your team loses 100 games a year, you will stop atte ding and stop watching.

It's just a fact, over the whole.

So the GMs have to employ a winning strategy, not an entertaining strategy.

When I was younger, I went to a lot of games each year. No matter the record. Now that I am older, I am somewhat of a front runner. There is a difference in losing if a team tries or it mails it in. Teams can lose with knowing they gave their best.

 

[Unkotare]

And yet...Wade Boggs was regularly in the top 5 (led MLB twice) in runs scored. ...

And #1 in beating his wife with empty beer cans.

 

[my2¢]

Being from an era before sports analytics became a thing, I have no idea what a lot of these baseball stats are now-a-days.

 

[rightwinger]

Being from an era before sports analytics became a thing, I have no idea what a lot of these baseball stats are now-a-days.

WAR is a made up number

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

WAR is a made up number

Well aren't they all? Wins for pitchers? Only granted to a starter if he goes 5 innings... but a pitcher who comes in after 2 outs in the first and records only one out can get the win?

.OBP.... guy on third, one out, tie game, bottom of the 9th... you hit the sac fly and win the game. But your .OBP goes down?

RBIs... bottom of the 8th, bases loaded., no outs, tie game. You hit into a double play, and the go ahead run scores. Your batting average goes down AND you don't get an RBI.

But if you get hit in the face with a pitch with the bases loaded... RBI!

WAR is a very useful stat for measuring a player's production compared to his peers in a given season. And thats the name of the game, when it comes to spending on players within a budget.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Being from an era before sports analytics became a thing, I have no idea what a lot of these baseball stats are now-a-days.

You should start with two:

BABiP and FIP.

BABiP: Batting Average on balls in play. This is a useful number for seeing if a hitter is over or underperforming in terms of actual results, when it comes to hits and batting average. A BABiP over .300 tends to show a player who has been getting lucky, and you can usually expect that player's results to regress. Vice versa for low BABiP. Also, players who hit the ball harder tend to have higher BABiP stats. So it is also a way to indicate power, but other measurements do better.

FIP: Field independent pitching. This corrects pitchers' ERA for the different traits of different ballparks and for quality of defense behind the pitcher. When FIP is lower than ERA, it signals that a pitcher has been the victim of poor defense or of playing half their games in a "hitter's park", or some combination of both. A GM can reasonably expect that pitcher's ERA to improve in a more favorable ballpark, or with a better defense playing behind him.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

who are pretty bad.....

Worst in baseball, I would say. Good fan draw and HoF talent, and the owners pocket the money instead of bringing in the right talent to support the gems they have had. MLB should have forced a hostile takeover of that team by now. They are like the Expos were in the 90s, but at least they had an excuse: poor attendance. The Angels dont have that excuse.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Don't ******* understand that. Stott was hitting well with some power, slow runner on second with no outs and Thompson has him lay down a bunt.

That loss is on the Phillie manager.

Murphy pulled something similar for the Brewers, but the guy on third got hung out to dry. I get the logic behind WANTING a bunt, but wanting a bunt and having players who can reliably execute it are two different things.

I find it impossible to believe that such a bunt attempt has a higher expected success rate than letting the guy swing the bat. I think MLB managers outsmart themselves a lot with the bunt, especially in the playoffs. Plus, even with a halfway successful bunt with a guy on 3rd, so many other things have to go right... the defense has to misplay it, the runner has to read it perfectly, etc.

"Hope baseball". A SAC fly or a slow grounder takes the "hope" out of the equation.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Well aren't they all? Wins for pitchers? Only granted to a starter if he goes 5 innings... but a pitcher who comes in after 2 outs on the first and records only one out can get the win?

.OBP.... guy on third, one out, tie game, bottom of the 9th... you hit the sac fly and win the game. But your .OBP goes down?

RBIs... bottom of the 8th, bases loaded., no outs, tie game. You hit into a double play, and the go ahead run scores. Your batting average goes down AND you don't get an RBI.

But if you get hit in the face with a pitch with the bases loaded... RBI!

WAR is a very useful stat for measuring a player's production compared to his peers in a given season. And thats the name of the game, when it comes to spending on players within a budget.

why would your OBP go down?...sac flies are a plus number when figuring it out....

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

why would your OBP go down?

Because the hitter is charged with a PA (plate appearance). Not an AB (so no effect on BA), but they still get charged with a PA. So .OBP goes down.