Predictably Irrational meets Moneyball in ESPN veteran writer and statistical analyst Keith Law’s iconoclastic look at the numbers game of baseball, proving why some of the most trusted stats are amazingly wrong, explaining what numbers actually work, and exploring the actual rise of Big Data means for the future of the sport.

For decades, statistics such as for example batting typical, saves recorded, and pitching won-lost records have been utilized to measure individual players’ and teams’ potential and about Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats that are Ruining the overall game, the brand new Ones that are Operating it, and the proper way to CONSIDER Baseball success. However in the past fifteen years, a groundbreaking new standard of measurement-sabermetrics-has been embraced by front side offices in Main League Baseball and among illusion baseball aficionados. But while sabermetrics is regarded as getting smarter and more accurate, traditionalists, including journalists, enthusiasts, and managers, stubbornly believe that the ‘aged’ way-a combination of obsolete amounts and ‘gut’ instinct-is still the simplest way. Baseball, they argue, should be run by people, not by numbers.

In this informative and provocative publication, the renowned ESPN analyst and older baseball writer demolishes a century’s worthy of of accepted wisdom, producing the definitive case against the long-established view. Armed with concrete illustrations from different eras of baseball history, logic, just a little math, and lively commentary, he displays the way the allegiance to these numbers-dating back again to the start of the professional game-is securely rooted not really in accuracy or success, but in baseball’s irrational adherence to custom.

While Law gores sacred cows, from clutch performers to RBIs to the infamous save guideline, he also demystifies sabermetrics, explaining what these ‘new’ figures really are and just why they’re vital. He also considers the game’s upcoming, examining how teams are employing Data-from PhDs to advanced statistical databases-to build upcoming rosters; changes which will transform football and most of professional sports.