Download Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball AudioBook Free
Predictably Irrational matches Moneyball in ESPN veteran copy writer and statistical analyst Keith Law's iconoclastic go through the figures game of football, proving why some of the most dependable stats are incredibly wrong, explaining what numbers really work, and exploring what the surge of Big Data opportinity for the future of the sport. For decades, information such as batting average, will save you recorded, and pitching won-lost records have been used to measure individual players' and groups' potential and success. However in days gone by 15 years, a cutting edge new standard of way of measuring - sabermetrics - has been embraced by prominent offices in Major League Football and among fantasy football enthusiasts. But while sabermetrics is regarded as being smarter and much more correct, traditionalists, including journalists, admirers, and professionals, stubbornly believe the old way - a combination of outdated figures and gut instinct - continues to be the best way. Baseball, they dispute, should be run by people, not by figures. In this helpful and provocative publication, the renowned ESPN analyst and senior baseball copy writer demolishes a century's value of accepted knowledge, making the definitive circumstance against the long-established view. Armed with concrete samples from different eras of football history, logic, just a little math, and lively commentary, he shows the way the allegiance to these figures - dating back to the beginning of the professional game - is firmly rooted not in reliability or success but in baseball's irrational adherence to traditions. While Legislation gores sacred cows, from clutch performers to RBIs to the infamous save rule, he also demystifies sabermetrics, explaining what these "new" figures really are and why they're vital. He also considers the game's future, analyzing how teams are employing data, from PhDs to advanced statistical databases, to generate future rosters - changes that will convert baseball and all of professional sports.