MLB (Baseball)
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I think it would probably be a challenge to become a fan of baseball as an adult, but when you're steeped in it as part of your cultural background it's a great game with more magic to it than any of the other sports. Lots of strange things happen, there is great history, and every time you watch you're likely to see something that has never happened or only happened a few times over hundreds of thousands of games (unassisted triple plays, perfect games, and so forth).
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I think it would probably be a challenge to become a fan of baseball as an adult, but when you're steeped in it as part of your cultural background it's a great game with more magic to it than any of the other sports. Lots of strange things happen, there is great history, and every time you watch you're likely to see something that has never happened or only happened a few times over hundreds of thousands of games (unassisted triple plays, perfect games, and so forth).
It's those elements of history and culture that I find appealing as well as it being similar to cricket in as far as the statistics are interesting. I agree that it would be a little forced/artificial to develop an interest for it on a whim, but I find it a fascinating part of your sporting culture.
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You should check out a game live for sure. But there is so much to know, so many rules, traditions, historical context, and so forth, that it is a lot to get your head around in terms of the context that enriches the game for baseball lovers.
And yes, for those of us who love numbers, statistics are king in baseball, but they always battle instinct in terms of strategy. Sabermetrics was born there to temper the effects of instinct, and those analytical methods have since spread to American football and other sports as well. However, risk aversion still wins, especially in football strategy, where teams go against the numbers routinely (e.g., punting on fourth down excessively).
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However, risk aversion still wins, especially in football strategy, where teams go against the numbers routinely (e.g., punting on fourth down excessively).
I was actually reading something in The Guardian about how that has changed in the NFL this season. How the new generation of young QB's are going for more passes and less rushing yards and how anything goes on 4th downs now.
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However, risk aversion still wins, especially in football strategy, where teams go against the numbers routinely (e.g., punting on fourth down excessively).
I was actually reading something in The Guardian about how that has changed in the NFL this season. How the new generation of young QB's are going for more passes and less rushing yards and how anything goes on 4th downs now.
There's a great book called "Scorecasting" (IIRC) that takes an economic view (e., Applying regression analysis) of sports and finds that much of the conventional wisdom in various sports (punt on 4th down, freeze the kicker, "defense wins championships") doesn't make sense. But we are more fearful of loss and getting harangued for it than we are focused on winning, so this destructive, "safe" tendency (also covered in 'Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow") hampers how effective strategies are. If things were done by the numbers in football, punts would occur only in limited circumstances. But risk aversion plagues the fans as much as the strategists, and the teams suffer as a result. I believe baseball is less plagued by this, but even so it is still quite common–Billy Beane helped managers get away from some of this stuff and go by the numbers to a greater degree than some other sports. The "gut" is comfortable, but unreliable.
Beyond sports, risk aversion plagues us as a species in many more ways.
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Well said @mclaincausey
@neph93 I’m a passionate baseball fan. Thank you for stirring the pot.
I once participated in a game with an unassisted triple play. 11 years old. I was playing short stop. A man
On first and second base. The batter hit a line drive to second base for
The first out. The runner on first was tagged out running to second and the second baseman who caught the ball ran and tagged second base as the runner on second base had been advancing to third. Inning over It
Unassisted triple playRuben you should go on YouTube and look up on assisted triple play
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Well said @mclaincausey
@neph93 I’m a passionate baseball fan. Thank you for stirring the pot.
I once participated in a game with an unassisted triple play. 11 years old. I was playing short stop. A man
On first and second base. The batter hit a line drive to second base for
The first out. The runner on first was tagged out running to second and the second baseman who caught the ball ran and tagged second base as the runner on second base had been advancing to third. Inning over It
Unassisted triple playRuben you should go on YouTube and look up on assisted triple play
That is super cool!!
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That also has to be super rare. More rare than a perfect game maybe?
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I witnessed Tony Womack hit an inside the park Grand Slam for the Dbacks back in the late 90's/early 2000's I believe it was? That was really cool and also super rare.
Admittedly baseball can have it's exciting moments but overall my opinion still stands, the game is slow and boring to watch in general. MLB even acknowledges that the game needs to be sped up as they have been kicking around ideas on how to do so. I'm not up to date on the latest rule changes but I know different ideas were being tossed around as far as limiting the pitchers time between each pitch, limiting manager visits to the mound, etc…not sure if anything has been implemented though.
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Aside from arbitrary things like Shawn Green going 6/6 with two doubles and 4 HR, I think the unassisted triple play is the rarest single-game feat and probably the rarest play in baseball. Then you have to think of multi game feats such as DiMaggio's hitting streak or Ripkens starting game streak that seem to be insurmountable, one-off occurrences. Then you can get into playoff and WS records… All kinds of ways you can witness unprecedented events in the game, one of its many charms.
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Wow, inside the park GS has to be super rare, requires all the baserunners in front of you to be good enough baserunners to score as well as the hitter.
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That also has to be super rare. More rare than a perfect game maybe?
23 perfect game in mlb history
15 unassisted triple plays.
Indeed much more rare.
I Love stats like that. Not Into saber metrics and all
That. But stats like that are cool. -
Admittedly baseball can have it's exciting moments but overall my opinion still stands, the game is slow and boring to watch in general. MLB even acknowledges that the game needs to be sped up as they have been kicking around ideas on how to do so. I'm not up to date on the latest rule changes but I know different ideas were being tossed around as far as limiting the pitchers time between each pitch, limiting manager visits to the mound, etc…not sure if anything has been implemented though.
I love baseball but don't follow it religiously. But I agree with your sentiment. It's for this reason that I haven't taken my son to any MLB games. It would likely bore him to tears and we'd likely leave after a couple of innings. I will say though, minor league games are fun to watch. The St.Paul Saints, which is co-owned by Bill Murray, always has fun activities between innings. I think this makes it more enjoyable for the kids in attendance but also less likely for you to leave before the game is over. My 2 cents
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Baseball is also one of the national pass times in Japan when I lived there as a young 'un/teenager. It was amusing to me that washed up American ball players would play on Japanese teams when their careers were finished stateside. It was also interesting to see the influx of pro Japanese ball players joining MLB teams in the last couple of decades. I'm still looking for vintage Seibu Lions gear
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It was amusing to me that washed up American ball players would play on Japanese teams when their careers were finished stateside.
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It was amusing to me that washed up American ball players would play on Japanese teams when their careers were finished stateside.
yep. Except replace Tom Selleck with this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Wells_(baseball)
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I'd love to see the Dodgers win in 7 over Boston, mainly because they are my dad's team going back to when they were in Brooklyn, and as a Cubs fan I've always liked Boston since they had a similar run of futility. That said, it would have been historically interesting to have back to back franchise-first WS titles (Astros, Brewers), and I don't think the odds are very good of either NL team beating either AL team, probably less so for the Dodgers unless Kershaw and Hill can continue to dominate.
I thought the Astros would take Boston out but man they are a murderer's row of a batting order and the bullpen was good enough against another formidable lineup.
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Red Sox!!!
