Los Angeles Dodgers workout for the upcoming National League Division Series baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Call it the winter of baseball’s discontent, a holiday from reason and long-term thinking. From the first chill until Macy’s starts prepping for the parade, Mercury is in retrograde over the ballparks of America. Playoff baseball has always heightened the senses. Deciding the fate of a season in bursts of two-to-seven games isn’t scientific or rigorous, but it is highly entertaining. So we zoom in, sit up and scrutinize. It’s a monthlong Super Bowl of strategic second-guessing.
Let’s get this out of the way: “Analytics” is a catch-all term for “data and information that influence how sports teams operate.” In practice, however, it often connotes “data and information that influence sports in a way I don’t like, for reasons I don’t want to explain.
The point Rosenthal, a far more experienced and connected observer than me, is making is important to understand because I think he’s honestly reflecting the feelings of a huge swath of fans and perhaps even people inside the game. He says he’s seeking accountability, but that doesn’t seem quite right. Clearly, Toronto’s move was a bad decision. Virtually everyone watching agreed upon that instantly.
This is part of what Schneider said after that Game 2 loss when asked about the decision to pull Berríos: “I think that when you're so diligent with your work and you trust the people that you're working with and the people that you're kind of going to battle with, both on the field and off, you just try to make the best decision that you can for the guys that are on the field to win.
If Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and pitching coach Mark Prior and Co. — architects of a 100-win team —against the 84-win Diamondbacks this week, we can examine their decisions and reckon with the unknowables of a 95 mph fastball smashing into a wooden bat. We can highlight their mistakes while accepting both their rationale and their humanity.