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The San Francisco Giants Face Their Biggest Opponent: Regression

The San Francisco Giants have never been an easy team to predict. In the early 2010s, they built a dynasty just a few years after parting ways with maybe the greatest player ever. During that dynastic run, they sandwiched seasons in which they didn’t even make the playoffs between each World Series victory. And just […]

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Chase Utley’s Case For The Hall Of Fame

For a 13-year stretch that ended with Wednesday’s trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chase Utley served as the Philadelphia Phillies’ gritty, hard-nosed, tone-setting leader. He grinded out at-bats and played through pain. He was in the starting lineup for the sixth-most victories in franchise history. But Utley has only modest traditional statistics — a […]

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Chase Utley’s Case For The Hall Of Fame

For a 13-year stretch that ended with Wednesday’s trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chase Utley served as the Philadelphia Phillies’ gritty, hard-nosed, tone-setting leader. He grinded out at-bats and played through pain. He was in the starting lineup for the sixth-most victories in franchise history. But Utley has only modest traditional statistics — a […]

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The Return of MLB’s Youth

A few years ago, Bill James — baseball writer and pagan god of sabermetrics — was asked whether baseball was in the midst of a golden age of great young stars. James created a “young talent inventory” (pay-walled), a somewhat elaborate methodology to measure whether runs were being created or saved by players aged 25 […]

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The Return of MLB’s Youth

A few years ago, Bill James — baseball writer and pagan god of sabermetrics — was asked whether baseball was in the midst of a golden age of great young stars. James created a “young talent inventory” (pay-walled), a somewhat elaborate methodology to measure whether runs were being created or saved by players aged 25 or younger. […]

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