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"Baseball is ultimately broken down into a series of 1-on-1 match-ups. A pitcher vs. a hitter, with a defense behind them. It's a team sport but the largest fun
by maw 16y ago
"Baseball is ultimately broken down into a series of 1-on-1 match-ups. A pitcher vs. a hitter, with a defense behind them. It's a team sport but the largest functions of the game are 1-on-1. No other major professional sport is like that."
Cricket is a lot like that, actually. Its dynamics are different, though: whereas in baseball in a given matchup between a pitcher and a batter, the pitcher usually "wins", in cricket, between a bowler and a batsman, the batsman will usually "win" (or, at least, not "lose"). It's this difference that explains why cricket matches that aren't limited in overs or time last so much longer.
- pmccool 16y ago> Cricket is a lot like that, actually. Including the often very dicey performance metrics. My favourite example is batting average(total runs/total dismissals), which is skewed in favour of lower-order batsmen, who are more likely to record not-out scores. I'm more interested in their median score (or better yet, median partnership).
- maw 16y agoAgreed, except on the partnership bit, which I don't understand. Keeping track of partnerships always seemed like trivia to me. Can you explain a bit further?
- pmccool 16y agoBatsmen contribute to partnerships with, e.g. good running between wickets. Things like that aren't reflected in batting averages, or their effect is downplayed.
- maw 16y agoTrue. It still sounds uncomfortably like trivia, but maybe that's because nobody's figured out how to measure it properly yet. It sounds a lot like evaluating fielding, in both cricket and baseball, because in addition to keeping track of whether a player drops the ball (both figuratively and literally) or not, there are many would-haves and should-haves to take into account. But you're right: good running between the wickets, and also shot selection with a view toward getting the better batsman more of the strike, is a real skill which should be measured, even if it is difficult and nobody really knows how yet. :)
- ssharp 16y agoI was coming from an entirely American POV, so my apologies for ignoring cricket!