 Cartoon of Bill James, Courtesy of The New Yorker We have new pages! Yay! Be excited! We have added further content to assist our readers in being the best baseball fans they can possibly be.
If you are staring at this screen, you are a baseball fan. At the very least, you know that baseball exists. Congrats. You are awesome, and we appreciate your readership. We made this website for you. This site was created by nerdy fans for the casual fan. Yes, we occasionally talk about advanced statistics. We also occasionally talk about bad 1980's television and pro wrestling. If we were forced by the internet to create a mission statement, it would likely be something like this: We want fans to have all the information, but understand they may not want it. We want fans to know where to find it, and how to use it. Furthermore, we want all stadiums to serve more garlic fries and Tom wants his son to play minor league baseball for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. We understand that all 7 of our readers come here for their own reasons. You might have a fantasy league opponent that you want to destroy, and your thirst for victory has brought you a lukewarm affinity for baseball. Perhaps you purchased a team cap because the color makes your eyes pop, and you want to defend the hat with some baseball knowledge. However you got here, we want you to leave us as better fans. When you finally decide to click on a wildly inappropriate internet ad and leave this site, we want you to know just a tiny bit more about player value. So, in an effort to improve our efforts, we are efforting to put forth more effort. We understand that there is great information out there, and we want you to know where to find it. Rather than produce better content, which would take way too much time, we want to direct you to the many sites that already produce it. We begin by presenting you with our favorite team sites. We understand that our own coastal biases might leave you wanting more Twins content, or Royals content, or garlic fries, so we will do our best to point you in the right direction. Enjoy the team sites, and check out our Resource page for more nerdy fun.
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 The Rangers needed cheap starting pitching depth with upside. They now have cheap starting pitching depth with upside. Also, does anyone else think that he should have been a police officer? FisterCuffs would make a great nickname.
After a terribly underrated five year stretch in which he was (probably) a top 20 MLB starting pitcher, Doug Fister has spent the past three seasons hopping from organization to organization. Fister was incredibly fun to watch during his prime, due to his elite control and general lack of strikeouts. Once his velocity began to fade over two years ago, Fister was no longer able to dominate with control. He has recently emerged with new results, boasting an increased strikeout rate with an equally ballooned walk rate. This intrigues me immensely. If he can keep the ball inside Arlington, he might give them a 4.3 ERA over 100 innings. I would not expect much more from Fister, given the injury history and his inability to strike guys out. However, we have seen the man dominate this league with mediocre stuff, and I will be interested to see if his approach changes in 2018. But seriously, FisterCuffs.  In what will likely go down as one of the greatest all-time World Series victories, the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to become the 2017 World Champions. It was special. It was dramatic. It was long. It was difficult to watch. It was amazing. In 2004, I bet $5 that the Houston Astros would win the World Series. This is true. If I remember correctly, I had been informed by a mysterious old man that the Astros would win the Series after acquiring Carlos Beltran, so I made that bet with confidence. Unfortunately, Beltran and the Astros chose the wrong year to win it all.  Obviously, I should have actually read the book. Or read Sports Illustrated three years ago. The 2004 Astros had indeed acquired Carlos Beltran for the stretch run, much like the 2017 team, but their story did not end as well. Despite having Texas icons like Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman, and Roger Clemens on the playoff roster, along with an MVP level performance from Beltran, they were stopped short by the St Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals then ran into the curse-breaking 2004 Red Sox, and that potentially historic Astros playoff team became an easily forgotten footnote. They would return to the playoffs in 2005, sans a healthy Bagwell but with a healthy Andy Pettite, and they actually made it to the World Series!! That team was then destroyed by the Chicago White Sox. Baseball is hard. Sometimes, great teams earn a window of opportunity but fail to win 11 games in October. The Atlanta Braves were great for ten years. TEN YEARS!!! They only have one championship flag for all that success. That is why the playoffs are special and heartbreaking and awesome and unpredictable and sexy and tense and fun. Did I say sexy? I meant gritty. I always confuse those. You're welcome, David Eckstein and Willie Bloomquist. My point is this: The Astros truly earned this win, and I hope that Houston fans realize just how special and unlikely it was. The two best teams in baseball made it to the World Series and went at it for seven games. The Astros beat a historically good Dodgers team. As for the Dodgers, they get to start over in February like everyone else. Nothing is promised. Teams will often come close and never win it. The playoffs are unpredictable. Front offices have little control over the playoffs, so they do their best to create a nice window for success. This Phillies had theirs ten years ago, and got a win. The Rangers had theirs six years ago, and never pulled it off. The 2004 and 2005 Astros are still without a championship flag. The Braves were incredible throughout my childhood, with only one championship flag hanging in Atlanta. The Cubs and Dodgers appear to be right in the middle of their respective windows, along with the Indians and Astros and Red Sox and Yankees. Nothing is promised. Get ready for an exciting offseason, as front offices throughout the league look to open windows and create opportunity. As you root for your favorite teams to make the big trade or signing, keep all of this in mind. It's all about giving your team a small chance in October. The rest is up to fate, and the time traveling folks at Sports Illustrated.  |
ABoutSpanning an entire continent, lifelong fans Chris Kubak and Tom Baird take you on a magical, sabermetrically enhanced journey through Major League Baseball. Archives
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