Since sportswriter Henry Chadwick popularized the box score in the 19th century, baseball fans have had a love affair with statistics. Many can recite records like Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, Rickey Henderson’s 130 stolen bases or Barry Bonds’ 73 home runs in one season. But have statistics ruined the game fans love?

In the new millennium, the statistical revolution forced baseball to double down on numbers. By looking deeper into the data, the far-sighted general manager Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics converted a small-market team into a big winner – and in the process got to be played by Brad Pitt in the blockbuster film “Moneyball.”

Soon fans had to learn new stats, dumping time-honored but not very revealing counts like pitcher wins and runs batted in, in favor of newfangled rates like wOBA and xFIP. But the statistical turn has changed how the game is played – and in far from fan-friendly ways. As someone who used stats to turn around a team, I know that they also have their downsides. 

Read on, courtesy of The Conversation... 

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