2018 MLB playoffs thread

Technically Francona wasn't fired because his contract ran out, but if he was given a contract he most likely would have stayed. Lucchino was cleaning house to get control of everything.

 

This isn't basketball. This tells us how many HOFers were on champions, but not how many teams with 3+ HOFers won titles. The whole endeavor is skewed by the fact that winning titles is a contributing factor to being elected.

 

Listen. I don't like when people use logic to undermine my shoddy sports opinions. I'm watching you.

 

They got there. But those analytics failed them IN the World Series.

 

You're the guy who thinks going all in with 2, 7 offsuit and beating pocket aces was a great move.

They lost to a 108 win team, it's a short series. Yes, let's just throw out everything they are doing because they lost a 7 game series. Have they never won a playoff series?

 

Analytics are supposed to deliver more accurate measurement of the percentages which have always been used in baseball. But they're percentages, not guarantees. Sometimes they fail. I assume Ryan Madson is one of those cases.

 

Exactly. It's ridiculous to think they are full proof.

 

I want to know what form of analytics recommended pitching in the World Series a 38-year-old with a 1.4 WHIP who gives up 9.9 hits per nine innings. Because maybe go against the numbers in that situation.

 

They have but it’s clear the analytics haven’t worked in the World Series. I’m far from the only person who’s saying that.

And how do you explain Roberts leaving some of his best hitters on the bench because he was fixated on lefty-righty matchups?

Sometimes this stuff gets overthought, even by players. A minor player from my coverage area insisted on being a switch hitter for years and it didn’t work out. He remade himself strictly as a right-handed hitter and was one of the top hitters in the Eastern League this past season.

 

They should go back to the old eye and gut test. It's a virtual guarantee had they not used "analytics" they would have won the last two world series.

 

It seems to me that counting on analytics is always going to be more reliable over 162 games, and less reliable over a seven-game series.

 

That's not really a good reason to abandon your decision-making process, though. The macro is made up of the micro, so you're still making the best decision following the analytics. I just think there needs to be a person there who can see where factors not included in the numbers come into play. Ryan Madson isn't the best choice there, no matter what the numbers say. He's seven months into a season, he's 38 and the last two nights he's taken a mason jar full of gasoline and thrown it at a small fire. Maybe don't elect him to be the guy to put out the fire on the third night. Maybe you just realize that Cody Bellinger needs to play in the two most important games of the season because of reasons the numbers aren't showing, whether that be morale or confidence.