Anals vs Fans. Why I believe Anals have taken away from the game while being accurat

[Kinkotheclown]

Ok, I had this hit me yesterday.

Teams are built by analytics teams. Analytics are undeniably accurate, after the fact. They tell a tale of who a player is in his sum total and base his future production on those numbers.
They study every aspect of a player and try to find the guys who fit certain outcomes in order to build a team they believe will be successfully.

They study every aspect of the game to breakdown the most important facets to success.

That is what we are watching. Why is it that baseball is less popular? Slower? Less interesting?

Because the fans are watching. The anals are concerned with a statical chance to win. Fans want to watch baseball. The anals have removed the importance of many of the things that I believe the vast majority enjoy, aggressive base running, situational hitting, getting the bat on the ball, hit and run, bunts...

I truly believe that most fans want to watch guys on the bases, running around and an Hr a couple times a game.

What would be very interesting is for the Anals to turn their attention away from their measure of productivity and to what Fans want to see. Take that info and put it into their algorithms.
I am not saying build a team around solely what fans want, but instead, add that to the mix.

Please feel free to pishaw, agree, disagree. I think it's an interesting idea. Take the anals out of simply player performance and add what people like to see in the game. My guess is we'd get more guys who can hit, run and field with a few boppers

[Kinkotheclown]

The short version. Anals take into account what is perceived as successful numbers and players but doesn't take into account entertainment.

This things do not equal each other.

[drt1010]

Honest simple question: How do we / you know what the fans want to see? Old fart purists like me view the game very differently than younger fans. We may appreciate the nuances more than a casual or younger fan. At one point MLB juiced the ball believing it was the HR that attracted younger eyeballs, until it wasn't. Now they deaden the ball to cut down on the long ball and encourage the pitching duel.

I would imagine. from a purely entertainment perspective, MLB would argue the HR is exciting entertainment. The fundamentals of the game have taken a backseat. The MLB is competing for eyeballs with the other major sports as well as video and other leisure time activity. They are losing and they know it. They are throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to capture viewership. All these gimmicks, eg electronic K zone, mound alterations, expanding rosters for April, the automatic runner on second in extra-inning and the "Ohtani rule", ushering in the universal DH, are all, imo concessions to the younger eyeballs. We can expect a pitch clock, banning the shift and larger bases next season.

[rrzubnyy]

Honest simple question: How do we / you know what the fans want to see? Old fart purists like me view the game very differently than younger fans. We may appreciate the nuances more than a casual or younger fan. At one point MLB juiced the ball believing it was the HR that attracted younger eyeballs, until it wasn't. Now they deaden the ball to cut down on the long ball and encourage the pitching duel.

I would imagine. from a purely entertainment perspective, MLB would argue the HR is exciting entertainment. The fundamentals of the game have taken a backseat. The MLB is competing for eyeballs with the other major sports as well as video and other leisure time activity. They are losing and they know it. They are throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to capture viewership. All these gimmicks, eg electronic K zone, mound alterations, expanding rosters for April, the automatic runner on second in extra-inning and the "Ohtani rule", ushering in the universal DH, are all, imo concessions to the younger eyeballs. We can expect a pitch clock, banning the shift and larger bases next season.

I absolutely hate the shift. I do not mind shifts within your boundaries or OF can do as they please. But in today’s game? Hell no, it sucks!

Why does the same 9 inning game take longer than say in 1978?


The premium was on starting pitching.

As for DH? Love it, absolutely hate pitchers batting…for what? They are pitchers. Let the hitters hit. And save the changes later in game crap.

Expanding rosters in April was because of late start I believe…

Overall the game has gotten worse. Again, go to utube and watch a few games from 1978…..

[Kinkotheclown]

Honest simple question: How do we / you know what the fans want to see? Old fart purists like me view the game very differently than younger fans. We may appreciate the nuances more than a casual or younger fan. At one point MLB juiced the ball believing it was the HR that attracted younger eyeballs, until it wasn't. Now they deaden the ball to cut down on the long ball and encourage the pitching duel.

I would imagine. from a purely entertainment perspective, MLB would argue the HR is exciting entertainment. The fundamentals of the game have taken a backseat. The MLB is competing for eyeballs with the other major sports as well as video and other leisure time activity. They are losing and they know it. They are throwing caution to the wind in an attempt to capture viewership. All these gimmicks, eg electronic K zone, mound alterations, expanding rosters for April, the automatic runner on second in extra-inning and the "Ohtani rule", ushering in the universal DH, are all, imo concessions to the younger eyeballs. We can expect a pitch clock, banning the shift and larger bases next season.

This is exactly the point!! Why not have the anals take stats from fans? If they can build a successful team bases on algorithms, they could certainly add an entertainment aspect

Not everyone will be happy all the time but I would bet they could find a mix of the old fart crew, like us and the newer fan.
There is a happy medium between “by the numbers” and what is fun to watch

I realize my argument may be a couple years late. The game seems to be moving back to more team oriented offense and less, walk, walk, 3 run HR

Many teams are taking advantage of opponent’s errors and misplays

I go ave been pleasantly surprised by the Yankees and I hope it continues

[drt1010]

I absolutely hate the shift. I do not mind shifts within your boundaries or OF can do as they please. But in today’s game? Hell no, it sucks!

Why does the same 9 inning game take longer than say in 1978?


The premium was on starting pitching.

As for DH? Love it, absolutely hate pitchers batting…for what? They are pitchers. Let the hitters hit. And save the changes later in game crap.

Expanding rosters in April was because of late start I believe…

Overall the game has gotten worse. Again, go to utube and watch a few games from 1978…..

Nicky, the average game time today is 30 minutes longer compared to 70's. What or who is responsible? I would guess it's partly do to pitchers stepping off frequently, batter stepping out, and the proliferation of televised games squeezing as much ad time as humanly possible between innings. In some cases the networks dictate to the umps!

DH we could debate all day. It's here to stay and will soon be universal. Some would argue the DH has taken a strategic element out of the game.

I don't know if the game is worse, it certainly is different and changing. Is it for the good of the game? MLB execs would probably argue they are competing with the glitz and continuous action of football and basketball, they must change. In academia there is an old slogan "publish or perish", I imagine this is the BB equivalent.

[dayners81]

Ok, I had this hit me yesterday.

Teams are built by analytics teams. Analytics are undeniably accurate, after the fact. They tell a tale of who a player is in his sum total and base his future production on those numbers.
They study every aspect of a player and try to find the guys who fit certain outcomes in order to build a team they believe will be successfully.

They study every aspect of the game to breakdown the most important facets to success.

That is what we are watching. Why is it that baseball is less popular? Slower? Less interesting?

Because the fans are watching. The anals are concerned with a statical chance to win. Fans want to watch baseball. The anals have removed the importance of many of the things that I believe the vast majority enjoy, aggressive base running, situational hitting, getting the bat on the ball, hit and run, bunts...

I truly believe that most fans want to watch guys on the bases, running around and an Hr a couple times a game.

What would be very interesting is for the Anals to turn their attention away from their measure of productivity and to what Fans want to see. Take that info and put it into their algorithms.
I am not saying build a team around solely what fans want, but instead, add that to the mix.

Please feel free to pishaw, agree, disagree. I think it's an interesting idea. Take the anals out of simply player performance and add what people like to see in the game. My guess is we'd get more guys who can hit, run and field with a few boppers

Interesting. Here's a question though. If they ran their algorithms that said player A would be the best by the numbers for the team but the fans would think player B would be more entertaining , do they go with player A or B?

I would love to see them incorporate players that can steal bases, hit and run ect. Last yr, this team was the most fun to watch when Flo, Allen and Velasquez were up stealing base's, going from 1st to home on a ball in the gaps ect. I'd love to see more of that