76ers: Is fatball aka baseball the least strategically and tactically demanding sport ever?

[DAF86]

Why does midnightpulp keep bringing up the "parking the bus strategy" (as if that was an strategy on itself)? Does he even know that the teams that use that strategy (either by choice or because they have no other option) lose most of the time?

[midnightpulp]

Why does midnightpulp keep bringing up the "parking the bus strategy" (as if that was an strategy on itself)? Does he even know that the teams that use that strategy (either by choice or because they have no other option) lose most of the time?

Chelsea is a two-time EPL champ over the last decade.

Sorry, sport. I know you want to talk up floppytrot like it's the most complex sport ever devised by man, but it isn't. No sports are particularly "deep," and often come down to simply which team executes better, imposes their style more, and out skills the other.

In fact, floppytrot is the most luck based of all sports:

But if the rest of the world took our helpful advice, would soccer really be any fairer? Not necessarily, say the economists and statisticians who have been analyzing the balance between skill and luck in sports and in the rest of life.

Because of fluke goals, low scores and the many matches that end in ties, soccer is less predictable than other major sports, as Chris Anderson and David Sally explain in their soccer book, “The Numbers Game.”

The authors, who are professors at Cornell and Dartmouth, as well as consultants to soccer teams, found that the team favored by bettors won just half the time in soccer, whereas the favorite won three-fifths of the time in baseball and two-thirds of the time in football and in basketball. After surveying the research literature, they concluded that a soccer match’s outcome was about half skill and half luck.

But just because an individual soccer game can be decided by a lucky bounce doesn’t mean that the game is less fair than other sports.

It's literally the blackjack of sports

"Deep."

[DAF86]

Chelsea is a two-time EPL champ over the last decade.

The does that have to do with anything?

Sorry, sport. I know you want to talk up floppytrot like it's the most complex sport ever devised by man, but it isn't. No sports are particularly "deep," and often come down to simply which team executes better, imposes their style more, and out skills the other.

In fact, floppytrot is the most luck based of all sports:





It's literally the blackjack of sports

"Deep."

No, I don't want to talk up soccer as the most complex game ever. I'm just pointing out the pretty obvious fact that is way more complex and dynamic than baseball, tbh.

Soccer being more unpredictable than other sports doesn't mean it isn't complex, tbh. When was the last time the favoured team won the NFL 'ship? Does that mean that the NFL isn't strategic?

In baseball is pretty normal to see teams that win it all one year suck complete ass the next one, or visceversa. If that isn't the ultimate "unpredictable" sport ocurrance it's pretty damn near the top, tbh. Is that for a lack of complexity too?

[midnightpulp]

The does that have to do with anything?



No, I don't want to talk up soccer as the most complex game ever. I'm just pointing out the pretty obvious fact that is way more complex and dynamic than baseball, tbh.

Soccer being more unpredictable than other sports doesn't mean it isn't complex, tbh. When was the last time the favoured team won the NFL 'ship? Does that mean that the NFL isn't strategic?

In baseball is pretty normal to see teams that win it all one year suck complete ass the next one, or visceversa. If that isn't the ultimate "unpredictable" sport ocurrance it's pretty damn near the top, tbh. Is that for a lack of complexity too?

Because you don't know anything about baseball. Nothing. You have zero clue whatsoever about the sport. Take me to task all you want for not knowing anything about soccer, but I at least have a casual understanding of the game, watched over 100 hours of it, used to play FIFA and other soccer video games that can teach you a cursory understanding of the tactics involved.

You don't even have a casual understanding about baseball, but yet proceed to think you know about it. I actually wrote out a detailed post and you replied, "I'm not reading all that." It's obvious you're biased. And that's what irritates me.

Again, demonstrating a lack of knowledge. When that happens, it's usually the result of key players getting hurt or players who were free agents going to other teams. Yeah, it's not like the Yankees were a bloop single away from 4-peating or anything, something no other American professional sports team has come close to doing.

And if you bothered to read anything I write, the reason bad teams can become good the next season is because baseball has this thing called a Farm system, where loads of prospects are being developed. Unlike in the NBA and NFL, there's no drafting a number 1 pick, throwing a jersey on him, and he comes in and improves the team by a few wins. If a team has its scouting and development on point, they can often turn 20th in' round draft picks into great players. It literally makes NBA roster building look like a farce.

And baseball roster building is probably the most complex in all of sports. You don't just need to build your main MLB roster, but also the 5-10 farm teams below the main team and your International feeder teams.

"It's not complex because they don't run plays"

There's different kinds of complexity. Like I said, Ivy league nerds head up MLB Front offices for a reason.

[313]

There's tons of strategy and coaching

pinch-running for the fat guys
sacrifice bunting
pinch sacrifice bunting
the righty-lefty switch to gain minuscule advantage
relief pitchers facing 1 batter every few nights, gets paid a million $
"setup" relief pitchers facing 3 batters every few nights, gets paid multi-million $s
base coaches to tell a player to stop or go, wrong 1/2 the time
base coaches wearing helmets
should allow base coach at 2nd since these cretins can't figure out to run or stop
managers wearing the outfit
strategy: budweiser or miller lite?
strategy: drumstick or thigh?
strategy: marlboro or camel?

stretch breaks for the crowd after the sixth inning

[AlexJones]

Baseball strategy is overrated. So many managers overdo everything. Shifts are fine, but the red light/green lights, sending the runner on certain counts and outs, etc. are all a bunch of insignificant that do not matter in the long run.

[midnightpulp]

Baseball strategy is overrated. So many managers overdo everything. Shifts are fine, but the red light/green lights, sending the runner on certain counts and outs, etc. are all a bunch of insignificant that do not matter in the long run.

Not true.

The hit-and-run is far from the worst play in baseball. For a small-ball tactic, it has been quite successful over the past nine seasons, increasing scoring by .06 runs per attempt on average. The value of the hole in the infield defense is real, adding about 27 points to the batting average of the hitter. The double plays avoided by executing the hit-and-run offset the runners caught stealing on the play, and the extra bases gained by the runner when the ball is put in play are enough to move the play into the plus column overall.

However, there are some situations where the hit-and-run attempt made less sense and was a barely positive or even a net negative play—with the fourth and fifth hitters in the lineup up, with one out, or in the popular ball-strike count of 2-1.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...rticleid=15713

So sending the runner on certain counts and out situations depending on who is at the plate does have a different effect, and armed with this data, managers know that executing a hit-and-run play in certain situations is a net positive and a net negative in other situations. In this case, you're producing another 3 "outs" for yourself as if you were playing poker (6%). And we'd all like to have 3 additional outs when drawing.

[midnightpulp]

Link to any base coach that has died?

http://espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=2945798

[resistanze]

And as it stands LeBron probably scores 50 straight points on me. But don't make it out like he's a god. In a 1-on-1 scenario, he's just one man, albeit THE man at the current moment. This isn't like an MLB pitcher throwing a fastball or something with some English on it or me trying to hold onto the ball while getting rocked by a linebacker in mid-flight. I'd actually stand a worse chance of beating Steph Curry since he can hit 3's like layups and could keep up with me and my quickness+agility better than LeBron.

Keep up with your agile + quickness? LMAO. I'd bet my salary this year LeBron is quicker and more agile than you


Why in God's name do you think 1-on-1 gives you a better chance than an actual team game? Or think he'd ever need to gamble against you? I don't know if you've seen LeBron or any top athlete play in real time man. LeBron would blow by you with every first step and would score 100 straight dunks, he wouldn't even bother shooting. You can't be serious.

[apalisoc_9]

The only way some random dide would sxore on Lebron is if it was losers out. Otherwise, he'd bulldozer his way to a 15-0 victory..98% of the time.

Americans are truly delusional

[DAF86]

Because you don't know anything about baseball. Nothing. You have zero clue whatsoever about the sport. Take me to task all you want for not knowing anything about soccer, but I at least have a casual understanding of the game, watched over 100 hours of it, used to play FIFA and other soccer video games that can teach you a cursory understanding of the tactics involved.

You don't even have a casual understanding about baseball, but yet proceed to think you know about it. I actually wrote out a detailed post and you replied, "I'm not reading all that." It's obvious you're biased. And that's what irritates me.

Again, demonstrating a lack of knowledge. When that happens, it's usually the result of key players getting hurt or players who were free agents going to other teams. Yeah, it's not like the Yankees were a bloop single away from 4-peating or anything, something no other American professional sports team has come close to doing.

And if you bothered to read anything I write, the reason bad teams can become good the next season is because baseball has this thing called a Farm system, where loads of prospects are being developed. Unlike in the NBA and NFL, there's no drafting a number 1 pick, throwing a jersey on him, and he comes in and improves the team by a few wins. If a team has its scouting and development on point, they can often turn 20th in' round draft picks into great players. It literally makes NBA roster building look like a farce.

And baseball roster building is probably the most complex in all of sports. You don't just need to build your main MLB roster, but also the 5-10 farm teams below the main team and your International feeder teams.

"It's not complex because they don't run plays"

There's different kinds of complexity. Like I said, Ivy league nerds head up MLB Front offices for a reason.

When you say something as re ed as "soccer doesn't need a balance between righties and lefties" your "casual knowledge" doesn't show at all, tbh.

And it's funny you bring this up son, 'cause I also believe to have an understanding of baseball, tbh. I used to watch it, I even played it, and my favourite videogames are baseball ones. So I know all about that you are ranting about son. That's why I don't come up with re ed exposing comments such as "baseball doesn't need a balance between righties and lefties", tbh.

[140]

When you say something as re ed as "soccer doesn't need a balance between righties and lefties" your "casual knowledge" doesn't show at all, tbh.

This, tbh smh..

Also:

And since every ball park is unique, you have to build your team in a way that it can best excel at home.

trying to spin the fact that fatbol fails to even have something as basic as standard sized fields in its top league into something positive

[FkLA]

That also proves how hard baseball is. The fact that the best Argies can't throw strikes consistently.

But MLB pitchers can pretty much throw a strike every time down at 90mph. The only reason there is balls at times is because it would suicide to just throw 90mph fastballs straight down the middle to a major league hitter. You're not a major league hitter, and a 75 mph lob would be enough to strike you out. Also, another misconception the soccer crew has is that you can track pitchers all the way to the plate. Nope. The eye/brain can't track the last 10 or so feet of a 90+mph fastball, and factoring reaction times, you have to judge the pitch and its trajectory at about 20 feet away.



See this pitch? From the batter's perspective, it will look like it's coming right at your chest at that crucial midway point, so the batter lays off, thinking a ball, and then the ball breaks in. You're at home thinking, "Why didn't he swing? I would've swung!"



And this is where the chess game begins? Do I lay off? Is he throwing a fast ball in the zone or a slider? Example:



To you, it looks like a "ball that shouldn't have been swung at," and you're there at home thinking I would've never swung at it. But again, the pitcher will have set up this pitch with a fastball in the zone delivered from the same arm angle, and if it's a pitcher's count, the batter will be forced into protection mode and have to fight off pitches. If the pitcher hits his spot, that slider (a wild looking pitch to you) will look exactly like a fastball to the batter as he readies to swing. Then he swings and whiff. Nothing there.

And this is where the intensive video analysis and scouting reports come in. Batters will be studying a pitcher's delivery looking for tells, variations in arm angle, studying pitch patterns in certain situation, all to be able to better predict what the pitcher will throw and where he'll throw it.

It's not "guy throws hard, guys swings, durrrrr,"

(you'll always be my bro, apologize for calling you stupid, but this annoys me. Did you see in my first post ITT that I didn't even attempt to break down soccer, because I only have a casual understanding of it? Yet the soccer crew thinks they can go into depth on baseball because they saw Bartolo Colon being made fun of on twitter),

At trying to paint the simplest things as complicated. Hitting is a guessing game not a 'chess game'. It's why the change-up pitch exists. Reaction times and hand-eye coordination play their role but no amount of that will help you if you guess wrong and are done with your swing because you guessed fastball and got a change-up. If it was more skill than guess, then guys who only get hits in 3 out of 10 tries wouldn't be considered great hitters.

[Kawhitstorm]

Girlball > Fatball

[Splits]

Girlball > Fatball

[Kawhitstorm]

[lefty]

And no one here would be able to beat a dart 501 player in darts.

Whats your point?

Come to think of it, baseball=Darts.

[lefty]

stretch breaks for the crowd after the sixth inning

[lefty]

trying to spin the fact that fatbol fails to even have something as basic as standard sized fields in its top league into something positive

but don't you remember the mythic xxxxField corner that fooled that catcher in that famous 10 hour game from 1944 ?

[Splits]

stretch breaks for the crowd after the sixth inning

take me out to the fatbol game
take me out to the snoring crowd
buy me some beer and fried chicken
players can "perform" drunk no problem
we will smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke like a chimney
just can't do it in the dugout anymore
for it's 1, 2, 3 beers an inning
while the crowd drools in boredom!

[140]

stretch breaks for the crowd after the sixth inning

[midnightpulp]

When you say something as re ed as "soccer doesn't need a balance between righties and lefties" your "casual knowledge" doesn't show at all, tbh.

And it's funny you bring this up son, 'cause I also believe to have an understanding of baseball, tbh. I used to watch it, I even played it, and my favourite videogames are baseball ones. So I know all about that you are ranting about son. That's why I don't come up with re ed exposing comments such as "baseball doesn't need a balance between righties and lefties", tbh.

No you don't.

And I never said soccer "doesn't need a balance between lefties and righties." I asked YOU that question and also asked you to show me how a lefty/righty balance translates into success for clubs, which would demonstrate its importance.

Also, does a soccer roster need a balance between left and right handed players?

Show me something. A roster lineup that will illustrate 15 right footed players to 10 left footed players or something like that. Show me advanced statistical breakdowns that illustrate what the best theoretical balance is?

Here's the Pepsi Challenge to see if you know about baseball. Kindergarden Level tactics you say? Okay.



From watching this video, tell me:

- What's the most effective way to pitch to Trout?

- What kind of hitters will you put in front and behind Trout in the lineup to protect him?

No googling. "Kindergarden level" things don't need research to be understood.

[midnightpulp]

At trying to paint the simplest things as complicated. Hitting is a guessing game not a 'chess game'. It's why the change-up pitch exists. Reaction times and hand-eye coordination play their role but no amount of that will help you if you guess wrong and are done with your swing because you guessed fastball and got a change-up. If it was more skill than guess, then guys who only get hits in 3 out of 10 tries wouldn't be considered great hitters.

The sport often compared to "chess" (American football) is primarily based on guessing games (most strategy games actually are). And the way great coaches and players maximize their chances of "guessing right" is by studying hours and hours of film looking for patterns, tendencies, etc. See Malcolm Butler's interception in the Superbowl for example.

Think of a fastball as the "passing game" and off-speed as the "running game."

And just like you can have multiple variations of passing and running plays, you can multiple variations of fastballs and off-speed pitches.

[midnightpulp]

Soccer balance between lefties and righties (guess I'll have to do it myself, per par):

The EPL Champs Leicester:

Defense:

Luis Hernandez: R
Y. BENALOUANE: L
R. DE LAET: B
C. FUCHS: L
R. HUTH: R
L. MOORE: R
W. MORGAN: R
D. SIMPSON: R
M. WASILEWSKI: R

Midfield:

M. ALBRIGHTON: R
D. DRINKWATER: R
D. GRAY: Both
G. İNLER: Both
M. JAMES: R
A. KING: R
N. KANTE: R
T. LAWRENCE: R
N. MENDY: R
A. OLUKANMI: L

Attackers:

R. MAHREZ: L
J. VARDY: R
L. ULLOA: R
J. SCHLUPP: Both
S. OKAZAKI: R
A. MUSA: Both

So 2 out of the starting 10 are left-footed?

20%. 10% of the general pop are left handed.

Now for baseball:



(asterisk denotes left hander; # is a switch hitter)

62% of the starting batting order are lefties or switch.

Pitching staff:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/te...m_pitching::14

9 out of the 25 pitchers are lefties or 36%.

[apalisoc_9]

Equating the balance of left and right through what foot they use.

What an ignorant post.

Ph but hes a left hander and that guy is a right hander...strategy