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In the long run has "moneyball" done serious long term damage to Major League Baseball?

posted 4 years ago by TMC-4 (20149)
2 replies | jump to latest

I just thought about how "moneyball" may or may not be overrated after reading this:
https://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/597294/2020-thread-operations-suspended-indefinitely?page=33

They were talking about your last point about how to recover on the radio yesterday afternoon about bringing people back.

The HR chase is what brought fans back in 98. That isn't going to work in 2020 because the allure of it is gone. Quck, *without looking*, who lead the league in HR last year? Can you name anyone in the top 3? Most fans can't. So, a big HR chase won't save baseball

Who is the face of the league? Would most people be able to identify Mike Trout if he walked past them at the grocery store?

The average fan cannot and will not be willing to pay asinine prices to attend a 4 hour, 9 inning game.

Nobody is going to follow a 162 game schedule anymore.

Honestly, as much as it "worked" to a degree, Moneyball has done serious long term damage. 6 pitching changes in 3 innings? 4 hour games? Shifts and shifts gallore? The fixation on advanced stats that nobody outside of baseball nerds care about has caused the life to be sucked right out of the game.

Do you agree that the goal of "moneyball" teams like the Oakland A's (or teams like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates, who take the money they make from baseball and pocket it.) is to simply get to the playoffs by using whatever talent you scrape together & using the best strategies planned? Once those teams get there, they crash and burn against overwhelming might. Simply put, the idea boils down to using math to reach an acceptable ratio of cheap/"good enough". And then the more successful teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have taken the sabremetics aspect of moneyball and actually spent money to keep star players and complement existing rosters with key free agents.

[–] spacecomedy (2046) 4 years ago

Moneyball hasn't damaged the game as much as the lack of a salary cap and lack of profit sharing has. If MLB had a cap and profit sharing like the NFL, you'd see far greater parity and small market teams (like the 2015 Royals) would have a much better chance of reaching the World Series. The issue is that the MLB Players Union is the oldest and strongest union in professional sports and the players would never accept a salary cap. As Billy said to his scouts, "The problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams." MLB has become like the Premiere League, there's only a handful of teams that actually have a chance at winning the title. At least in the NFL nearly every team has a shot at making the Super Bowl because the Patriots can't outspend the Chiefs by $167 million (which was the payroll difference between the Red Sox and the A's in 2018).

[–] strntz (12255) 4 years ago

I haven't watched an inning in 2020 since MLB threw their lot in with the Marxists, but that's another thread.

I had been a fan since around '65 or so, and baseball has gotten unwatchable. When I was a kid, I'd spend a whole Sunday watching a double header. Games were about 2:30 minutes and were crisply played with more action in less time

Today's baseball games are a terrible product. Seeing 20 to 30 strikeouts per game is boring as is too many pitching changes. There's virtually no bunting, no stealing, no hit and run, no hitting behind the runner, no hitting for contact - particularly with two strikes.. The triple is the most thrilling hit in baseball, but batters can't hit a triple while posing for a ball they think is out.

Add to that a batter who goes for a stroll after every pitch, adjusts his gloves twice, takes two or three practice swings, then gets back in the box. If he steps out, the routine is repeated. When I was a kid, an at-bat was a singular event. Guy gets in the batter's box and stayed there. I would have to watch a baseball game with the remote in my hand. If a pitch was not hit, I'd hit the recall button and go to another show for 30 seconds. Sometimes I'd not go back for a few minutes.

I have no problem with shifts. A team that shifts is leaving themselves open for a smart hitter. Too bad there's so few smart hitters left.