In the midst of its Postseason, and probably unbeknownst to most of its fans, MLB has taken its next steps in using an automated ball-strike system or “Robo Umps” as I like to call them. This was first tested in
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Category: Analytics
Checking the Fundamentals of WAR – Part 1 – A 1000 wins above replacement
My day job is in the world of data science and in it I build evaluation and prediction models. All of these models are built on certain assumptions that I hold to be true and although I update the models
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Don’t Bring Me Down – Using Elo Ratings to help determine fan satisfaction.
Off the back of the trade deadline I have been wondering what is best for fans, a team that wins a singular World Series championship and is bad for 20+ years or a team that is close most of the
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The Worst Called Strike of the First Half
As I mentioned in my first piece of this series, I miss the semi-season articles that Jeff Sullivan used to do for FanGraphs on the worst called balls and strikes. In the last piece we looked at called balls and
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The Worst Called Ball of the First Half
We are a few weeks beyond the half point of the season and on the weekend I went in search for one of my favourite articles of each season. But after a few minutes of searching I realised that it
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The London Olympic Stadium – Hitter or Pitcher Dream
A few weeks ago we learned the dimensions of the ballpark for the upcoming London Series. The all-purpose London Olympic Stadium is going be set at the following dimensions: Home plate to the foul poles – 330 feet (100 m)
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Jake Arrieta’s Looking ‘Ace’ Again
Welcome to BFN, Sean Guest… It’s easy to forget just how good Jake Arrieta was in 2015. In 33 starts, he won a career-best 22 games, with an ERA of 1.77 en route to the National League Cy Young. He
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Can We Play You Every Week
“Can we play you, can we play you, can we play you every week. Can we play you every week.” Those of you more familiar with British football will recognise this chant. It is one that the fans will sing
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Best Of British – AJ Pollock: 2019’s Best Free Agent Signing
Joel is one half of Four Bases, a British Baseball website that has recently produced a fantastic (and FREE) guide for the 2019 MLB season. The Landscape With the benefit of a couple of years of hindsight, the winter of
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A four-man outfield: last positioning gambit or the new norm?
With the 2019 MLB season about to start, a whirlwind of uncertainty surrounds the game. Firstly, the second year of cold ‘hot stove season’ with limited free agency signings happening has lead to open discussion of action by the players’
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