I told my Mom, "714", as I walked through the room.
"How in the world do you know that?!"
"Same number as Babe Ruth's homers."
And in an instant, in her mind, I had gone from child genius to baseball nerd.
Story of my life.
And I'm not alone. You're here too.
But, what did we do with numbers once we grew up?
Todd Zola made a language of numbers.
Numerish.
Oh, it is not like in 'Fantasy Camp' where he speaks in Numerish tongues.
In real life, It is more like Numerish slang.
In Todd's world, the percentage sign (%)replaces the word 'the'.
In Todd's world, # is an unneeded key on the keyboard.
In Todd's world, the 'Q' and 'Z' in the alphabet is used as much as vowels. He uses the words quantive, quantitative, quantity, quality, and quotient exponentially more than alpha-based mortals.
Even his name is a slap at alpha-based mortals. A sarcastical 'Z to A'.
Todd's route to numbers was not the path followed by most of us.
Some of us continued to appreciate baseball numbers. 714 to 756 and for some, 762.
60 to 61 to well, I didn't follow that group.....
Another group are sabr's.
They seemingly come up with new numbers every week or so. And they like to throw in fancy letters to match.
WAR, BABIP, LIMA, and now, they are even using little letters to accentuate their big letters with things like xERA.
A lot of fantasy players think that sabr's make numbers or letters to better gauge their game.
These fantasy players will shoehorn WAR into their game. Or even oWAR if really fancy.
These players have to be careful.
A guy like KJ can see numbers and letters on an equal plane.
He also does not have a ceiling to numbers and letters as we seem to have.
He sees numbers and letters and works with them.
He molds and manipulates them, sometimes only taking seconds and comes up with yet another offshoot for our game.
He's a mad scientist of our fantasy game.
And every game needs a mad scientist. They make us happy.
When somebody asks if our game can get any better, I'll think of KJ, and say YES.
As for myself, I'm old. So, I lean towards old school numbers.
I am a straightaway fantasy player. Sabrmetrics is used seldom by me. At least as far as following a set of numbers. For instance, I won't look at BABIP and judge players by their BABIP. BUT, if a numbers guy like Todd explains that a player has been effected by BABIP, I'll sure as heck give him a listen.
To me, this is what makes an 'expert'. An expert should show us something we didn't already know.
Ask yourself this, if hearing a fella on SiriusXM tell us that they love Tulo and that Cueto has 'Value', does that really help us?
It doesn't help me.
I already have my opinions. Another person sharing an opinion doesn't make him an 'expert'.
Just another voice.
BUT, if a fella can show me a new way to think about a player, that could be helpful.
People will think I am being sarcastic here, but the last person I would bet on in entering a draft is an 'expert'.
It's not because of their name or the old argument that 'experts' are only experts in name.
To me, 'experts' play at a disadvantage because they are not as self absorbed as needed to win.
I believe in this game that more work is needed on personal agendas and mindsets.
Fellas like Todd, and Shandler, and now even Shawn Childs spend so much time in analysing and helping others with games, that their own game is a little lost in the translation.
The maxim, 'Good people always put others first', may be literal in this case.
Truly, this is a game where not only is the student equal with the teacher, but maybe ahead.
We fantasy folks are driven by 10 sets of numbers. And those are the categories in which our players give us points.
If listening to Bryan Kenny or almost any other sabr, they are in love with one category.
And they love this category for both real baseball and fantasy baseball.
On base percentage.
In real baseball, a good on base percentage represents players obtaining first base more than lesser on base players. This is good because obtaining a base puts a team 25% closer to scoring. There are many more ways to score in a baseball game with a runner on base than there is without a runner.
Simple as that.
And then there are the Tim McCarver-type analysts who will say that a runner puts pressure on the pitcher, catcher, and defense.
What about fantasy baseball?
Some fantasy players love on base percentage too. So much so, that they want to replace batting average as one of the categories with on base percentage. They say that on base percentage is more 'meaningful'.
In the end, they are just replacing one category with another. It neither detracts or adds to our game.
Not to be deterred, some of these fellas will draft on base guys to their teams, thinking an advantage is had.
Is there?
I'm in the opposite camp. I dislike on base percentage players for fantasy purposes.
Especially power hitters.
We draft power hitters for the opportunity for homers and multiple rbi.
A walk, for my tastes, is missed opportunity.
There'll be those that say a possible run scored is afforded with a base on balls.
Do you know how many players score if walked with no outs?
37.blahblah%
That is with no outs!
So, we've given up a chance at helping four categories for a 37.blahblah chance to score a run.
With one and two outs, those chances decrease severely.
It's not worth it for me.
And no, it is right about here that you're expecting me to mention that first baseman for Cincy's name.
I won't do it.
My point is that we all grow up to do different things with different numbers.
Guys like Todd have gone on to create their own universe.
For us, it's a nice place to visit, but we wouldn't want to live there.
For sabrs, they'll keep proclaiming in how their numbers are important.
And they are....in some contexts.
Look how many Forecasters have been sold.
As for me, I've become jaded. My 714 and 56 and 511, etc are all still in the back of my mind. But, the game has changed. And it has changed in that fantasy baseball is following the modern game and had no part of the old game.
The beauty is that nine of the 10 categories are old school stats. WHIP being made up for the game itself.
A fellow like Todd, sabrs, and myself can all join a draft and we all feel like we have a better chance of winning than the other group.
How awesome is that?
It's a hobby that allows millions of enthusiasts use their own guile to win.
No matter the numbers grown up with, no matter where those numbers have taken them.
On one level it is like 'Chutes and Ladders' where anybody can win with ease of the game.
On another level, it is like Chess, where a Chessmaster can be knocked off by a novice even with the difficulty of the game.
And how cool is that?