I recently published an article, citing work from Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, on how in 2021, the most successful (as determined by postseason qualification) teams were generally those that did the best job at minimizing ground balls. A friend of mine asked a critical question: What does this really mean? Yes, teams that most effectively avoided hitting the ball on the ground...
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As baseball fans, we debate the contrasting views. “It’s all about launch angle, hit it over the shift.” Then the other side counters with, “take the single, push the ball the other way and beat the shift.” But which approach is more effective? Jared Diamond answered this question is a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes statistical evidence can be...
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The 1986 Mets dominated the National League. They won 108 games during the regular season, and seemed destined to steamroll any opponent that stood between them and a championship. The Houston Astros had other ideas. The Mets and Astros clashed in the 1986 NLCS, after Houston won the National League’s western division with a 96-66 record. The Astros, behind the pitching of Mike Scott, gave...
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The 2000 New York Mets qualified for the postseason as the National League’s wildcard team, in the time when there was only one wildcard entrant per league. Their first round opponent was the San Francisco Giants, who had the best regular season record in all of baseball at 97-65. The best-of-five series began in San Francisco, where the two teams split the first two games. In Game Two,...
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For the New York Mets, third base was a revolving door in the early years of the franchise. From Don Zimmer to Ed Charles, from Wayne Garrett to Lenny Randle, from Richie Hebner to Ty Wigginton, the Mets were always searching for a solution at the hot corner. That search ended on July 21, 2004, when David Wright made his major league debut. The young man from Norfolk, VA, who grew up a Mets fan,...
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