There’s a stat for nearly every action in baseball. Little is left to the imagination. Sports were never intended to be a computer program, stripped to cold, hard, indisputable, statistical facts. Sports — particularly for fans — are not science. Sports, like art, are supposed to be interpreted.

It’s difficult to interpret baseball these days. The stat geeks won’t let you argue. They quote sabermetrics and end all discussion. Is so-and-so a Hall of Famer? The sabermeticians will punch in the numbers and give you, in their mind, a definitive answer.

It’s boring. It’s ruining sports.

I don't know how the saber crowd enjoys sports. Maybe they are better at their fantasy leagues and building major league rosters. Bernstein for one sounds insufferable. Frankly, I don't care. I sit back and use the ole eye test.

Stats are just a tool that can be applied to understanding sports. You can use them as much or as little as you like. To say that statistics are ruining sports is ridiculous.

Agreed.

I love me some sabermetrics. I can't imagine anyone, including Bernstein, is really considering someones BABIP if a defender makes an amazing play on a ball. The stats can just be used to understands results and tendencies between games as well as serve as a tool to help predict future outcomes.

You sit at a bar and say A-Ram is a clutch hitter. Bernsie tells you there's no such thing, and then goes on to beat your arguments into the ground. You tell him you like Juan Pierre and he explains how bad he really is. Then you tell him you hate Adam Dunn, and he tells you how great he really is. By the end of the conversation, you hate baseball.

I prefer my meatballness.

Heliocentrism is Runining our Fun!


Sure there's "stats" and there's "proof" that one planetary body has an effect on other celestial bodies. Why some scientist might just pull out a statistic to tell you what time to expect tides to rise and while that might save lives, it ain't doing Zeus any good. Why, what fun is praying to a god when some "expert" can determine what time the sun will rise on the third tuesday of June in 2057?

Here's a thought. Don't talk to BernSTINE at a bar and just watch the game with other meatballs or drink so much Old Style that you end up headbutting him and calling him a stat weenie. Problem solved. Enjoyment of sports still intact.

For those who don't like sabermetrics, quick question... do you want the people running your teams using sabermetrics?

Not really. Obviously they are going use stats, but I think sabermetric purists go way too deep on relying on stats.

Man you are gonna be pissed when the Cubs bring in Billy Beane huh?

I am pissed that I am a Cubs fan.

Stats are just a tool that can be applied to understanding sports. You can use them as much or as little as you like. To say that statistics are ruining sports is ridiculous.

For those who don't like sabermetrics, quick question... do you want the people running your teams using sabermetrics?

If you don't like IB why not just be straight with him and tell him?

Man you are gonna be pissed when the Cubs bring in Billy Beane huh?

Stats can enhance enjoyment of the sport. The box score was the original sabermetric. The overuse does become absurd.

To be fair, he could be talking about Boilermaker Rick too.

I've always found the "how can you enjoy it?" argument curious. "I love baseball so much that I choose to remain ignorant about it." OK. I'd think if you really liked something that you'd try to learn as much about it as possible.

Do you think 'stat guys' watch games and study the stats? That's my biggest issue with 'stat guys.' I think most just spend time on Fangraphs or buy a subscription to Baseball Prospectus and think they know baseball. I think the introduction of sabermetrics has actually made 'fans' watch baseball less.