“Hit it where they ain’t.”
Or so said Willie Keeler in 1904, his 7th straight season with a batting average over .360. Ever since, it’s been a classic adage for baseball, one of the, well, strangest games people play worldwide.
Continue reading “On Baseball, Luck, and Squirrels”
Note: this post was originally published for MetsMerized. Give them a click!
How we feeling, Mets fans?
It’s true – Francisco Lindor, Mr. Smile, is officially headed to Queens. Just as the Dodgers did last offseason, and in shockingly similar fashion, the Mets have acquired a career-prime, marketable superstar to underscore new owner Steve Cohen’s stamp on the team (if that wasn’t strong enough already).
Continue reading “Mr. Smile: a Deep Dive into Francisco Lindor”
In today’s MLB, it feels like superstar players are being traded every year. Teams are looking to jumpstart a rebuild, and the best way to do that is often by trading their best player. However, how often does a team actually get a return value worthy of the superstar himself? In this study, we looked to identify potential superstars who could be traded in the future and what their ideal return package should look like.
Continue reading “To Trade or Not to Trade?”
All MLB pitchers were starters at one point in their careers.
Growing up through Little League, college, and the Minor Leagues, anyone who is eventually good enough to pitch in the majors was likely the superstar ace of most of their previous teams. However, at the highest of levels, many pitchers have to make concessions to their new reality – the fact that they may be better served – and better serve their teams – coming out of the bullpen as relievers.
Continue reading “Making the Switch: Which Starters Should Come Out of the Bullpen?”
The American Sports Landscape
On May 14th, 2019, fans of the New York Knicks, the basketball franchise in the global financial center of the world, will be packed around their televisions. No, the Knicks won’t be playing in the second round of the NBA playoffs, which will be occurring at this time – these fans will be watching the NBA Draft lottery, which will determine the order of selection for the 2019 NBA Draft.
Continue reading “Immediate Gratification and American Football”
Since its creation, baseball has always served as a metaphor for our country. In the 20th Century, artists like Norman Rockwell and the creators of the film Field of Dreams used the game to contrast modern, urban obsessions with America’s simple, rural, and more grounded roots. Contemporary America is a long way from those values – and the national pastime is too. Today, baseball is more about power, data, recruiting overseas talent, and total revenue earned than playing the game the old, “right way”. These changes reflect the newer America: an appetite for speed and immediacy, emphasis on increasing power/production, utilizing immigrant labor, and profit maximization. A majority of fans may be happy with the majestic home runs and electrifying strikeouts they witnessed in the 2017 World Series. But, there are some who believe that it is baseball that has lost something fundamental about its essence.
The managers of MLB seem to have it down to an art.
Continue reading “The Batting Order: Where Managers Cost Their Teams Wins”
It has been said recently that the NBA has never been stronger than it is right now, and it really is true. The NBA is all over the sports news, currently dominating the news cycle on ESPN, getting more airtime than America’s pastime, the MLB. Franchise values are skyrocketing and the league recently turned down a prospective owner who wanted to pay a billion dollars for the Kings, over $300 million more than they was valued at before the bidding war began. The league has two extremely marketable superstars in Kevin Durant and LeBron James, who by all accounts are not only phenomenal basketball players, but also good citizens.
The NBA is an interesting test case because of the idea of parity in sports. With the NBA, you can pick 8 teams at the beginning of the season and you will have a 90% chance of getting the correct champion. Don’t believe me? Check this out.
Corner Three 