November 7, 2016Article

The Ringer: “The Curious Have Won” On How Cubs Win Shows Data is Now “New Normal” in Baseball

by Rany Jazayerli

2016/

The Great Analytics War ended at 48 minutes after midnight on November 3, 2016. The terms were unconditional surrender. The losing generals were not able to offer their surrender in person; most of them had long since departed the front for the unemployment line. The victors were Theo Epstein, the analytics movement, and the game of baseball.

At the conclusion of the most anticipated game in baseball history and one of the five greatest, Epstein accomplished the mission entrusted to him five years ago, when owner Tom Ricketts handed him the keys to his franchise and asked him to do for his Cubs what Epstein had already done for the Red Sox: bring a championship to fans who mostly had never experienced one in their lifetime.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Mahatma Gandhi, Misattributed

If it wasn’t clear enough when Epstein ended Boston’s title drought 12 years ago, it should be abundantly clear today: An objective, data-driven view can change the world. It can laugh at omens. It can spit in the face of curses. It can whistle past the graveyards of games past, whether it be a Game 6 in 1986 or a Game 6 in 2003. It can beat Cy Young winners in the playoffs. It can get up off the mat after a 3–1 series deficit in the championship round, just like it once did after a 3–0 series deficit in the ALCS. It can overcome lucky bounces, and two-run wild pitches in Game 7 of the World Series. It can do what a previous Cubs team couldn’t, and bounce back after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning.