October 18, 2015
SABRE DANCE:
'Moneyball' Makes A Quiet Comeback As Data-Driven Baseball Teams Dominate The MLB Playoffs (Allen St. John, 10/18/15, Forbes)
ESPN's Ben Baumer slotted MLB teams into four categories regarding their use of analytics in scouting and game mangement: All-in/Believers/One Foot In/Skeptics/Nonbelievers.Of the 10 teams that made the playoffs, nine of them fell into the first two categories.The Cubs, Astros, Cardinals, Yankees and Pirates were rankes "All-In," while the Royals, Dodgers, Mets, and Blue Jays feel not far behind, considered to be "Believers" by Baumer. The Texas Rangers, who were eliminated by the Blue Jays in the division series, were middle-of-the packers when it came to crunching numbers.And the faces will be familiar to those who read Michael Lewis's best-seller. Theo Epstein, who took the Red Sox GM job after Beane declined it, has rebuilt the Cubs from the ground up, employing the tools he used in Boston to create one of the most exciting young teams in baseball on the North Side of Chicago.The Mets are run by Sandy Alderson, Beane's mentor, and he's been joined by two former GMs, JP Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta (played by Jonah Hill in the movie), who got their start in Oakland's front office.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 18, 2015 7:07 PM
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