It says a lot when
SeamHeads have to grudgingly point to non-geeky things like "luck" to explain baseball. Of course, the Red Sox 2011-2014 roller-coaster ride
is the most vexing modern day example of un-explainable hardball stuff. Hey, it's the
Red Sox, after all. They collapsed and under-performed expectations in 2011, they "Valentined" to the bottom in 2012, they won it all in 2013, and they stunk out the cellar in 2014. How could this happen, ask the
DataBoys? One of the best of the lot (
Neil Paine of
FiveThrityEight.com) delivers a refreshingly honest analysis by suggesting that,
"the uneasy answer might instead simply be luck".
Luck?
Nate Silver must be apoplectic!
Bill James may be heading back to his job at the
Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery in Kansas.
Dean "Chance" could not be reached for comment.
