4 ms·

I assume there are some baseball fans here on HN ... This is, in my opinion, a watershed moment here for how Baseball is going to deal with technology. After t

I assume there are some baseball fans here on HN ... This is, in my opinion, a watershed moment here for how Baseball is going to deal with technology. After the Moneyball "revolution" lots of people, both in the game and casual fans, talked about how technology would again "revolutionize" the sport[0]. Things like player evaluations and injury prediction + prevention were what was mostly talked about (this was back in ~2014-2015 or so). There really hasn't been much talk about this since then, as far as I can tell, or it's been kept as a trade secret by teams. What's happened with this Astros scandal is something else entirely. This was not the future of the game we wanted, and there will need to be a philosophical discussion had in short order about what we're going to allow in the future (what they did was not). Complicating all of this is that Houston winning the last game of the season in 2017 was largely viewed as a "victory" for the stats nerds over the traditionalists[1], and was predicted in 2014[2]. So the idea that the "technology" they used to do this wasn't just learning things other teams couldn't about their own players, but essentially a gimmick to steal signs not only casts a shadow on the integrity of the game but also calls into question the methodology itself to a certain extent - though to be honest I think the argument is pretty much over at this point on stats vs traditionalists. [0]https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/07/08/billy-beane-technology-will-revolutionize-baseball https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/07/08/billy-beane-technology-wil... [1]https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/24/houston-astros-sports-illustrated-world-series-prediction https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/10/24/houston-astros-sports-illu... [2]https://www.si.com/longform/astros/index.html https://www.si.com/longform/astros/index.html

redis_mlc 7y ago
> casts a shadow on the integrity of the game MLB. FIFA. OOC. ... let me know when you can see a difference, lol.
- remarkEon 7y ago
  Well, the latter two seem institutionally corrupt in a way MLB is not - at least today.
  - LanceH 7y ago
    The feigned shock at steroids. The shakedowns of cities for ballparks while offering a suite to the city council and other politicians. The corruption is just a local flavor.
    - remarkEon 7y ago
      >The feigned shock at steroids. Barry Bonds still isn't in the Hall of Fame. Neither is Roger Clemons. The institution seems to be reacting appropriately in my book. >The shakedowns of cities... Okay, you got me there I guess. Which stadium are you thinking of though? My understanding of the Braves stadium deal(most recent stadium deal that comes to mind) is that the team is required to pay off the county's bonds raised over some period of time (I'm not from Atlanta, so this is just my recollection). I suppose Target Field in Minneapolis was kind of a raw deal. I can meet you half way on thinking that a lot of these projects are in fact crap for local communities, but I think we've seen this phenomenon in the NFL more than MLB. Teams like the Rams and the Chargers basically held their local governments hostage for a new stadium and when they didn't get one they moved. This hasn't happened in MLB for a long time.
      - SamReidHughes 7y ago
        The MLB isn't in charge of who gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
        remarkEon 7y ago
        I’m not sure what you mean. Veteran players are basically the ones who decide. The system works essentially as a check on the institution of Baseball itself. If you mean to say that owners and administrators don’t have much say then, yeah, I guess you’re right. But I wouldn’t change the system as it exists today.
        SamReidHughes 7y ago
        Basically I mean that, yeah, and it's the writers who do the voting -- Bonds and Clemens are on the ballot.
- wolco 7y ago
  IOC

redis_mlc 7y ago

> casts a shadow on the integrity of the game MLB. FIFA. OOC. ... let me know when you can see a difference, lol.

remarkEon 7y ago
Well, the latter two seem institutionally corrupt in a way MLB is not - at least today.
- LanceH 7y ago
  The feigned shock at steroids. The shakedowns of cities for ballparks while offering a suite to the city council and other politicians. The corruption is just a local flavor.
  - remarkEon 7y ago
    >The feigned shock at steroids. Barry Bonds still isn't in the Hall of Fame. Neither is Roger Clemons. The institution seems to be reacting appropriately in my book. >The shakedowns of cities... Okay, you got me there I guess. Which stadium are you thinking of though? My understanding of the Braves stadium deal(most recent stadium deal that comes to mind) is that the team is required to pay off the county's bonds raised over some period of time (I'm not from Atlanta, so this is just my recollection). I suppose Target Field in Minneapolis was kind of a raw deal. I can meet you half way on thinking that a lot of these projects are in fact crap for local communities, but I think we've seen this phenomenon in the NFL more than MLB. Teams like the Rams and the Chargers basically held their local governments hostage for a new stadium and when they didn't get one they moved. This hasn't happened in MLB for a long time.
    - SamReidHughes 7y ago
      The MLB isn't in charge of who gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
      - remarkEon 7y ago
        I’m not sure what you mean. Veteran players are basically the ones who decide. The system works essentially as a check on the institution of Baseball itself. If you mean to say that owners and administrators don’t have much say then, yeah, I guess you’re right. But I wouldn’t change the system as it exists today.
        SamReidHughes 7y ago
        Basically I mean that, yeah, and it's the writers who do the voting -- Bonds and Clemens are on the ballot.
wolco 7y ago
IOC