Fun With Statistics: MVP Edition

I really didn't want to weigh in on this whole Cabrera vs. Trout thing (my two cents, for the record: Trout should've won, but Cabrera had a fantastic year and I in no way take the MVP away from him. It's also silly this has devolved into new school/old school when you don't need sabermetrics to know that Trout positively impacted the game in far more ways than did Cabrera) - but reading some of the reactions from the pro-Cabrera writers forced my hand. Specifically, one Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated. This is to take nothing away from Verducci. He's a great baseball writer. Unfortunately, in the service of writing a good story, sometimes important facts/numbers/statistics get kicked to the curb. Case in point: the following passage from that article. Italics are my own contribution, had I been allowed to edit it.

Fun With Statistics

Numbers are a funny thing. They never lie, provided the ones you're using are accurate and calculated correctly. But they can definitely not tell the whole truth, when not put in the proper context. Here are two examples.

Incontrovertible Fact #1: Albert Pujols had by far the worst season of his career this year. In fact, the past two years have been undoubtedly the two statistically worst of his career.

Incontrovertible Fact #2: Albert Pujols had a season this year - and an average season over the past two years - that, by using fairly common stats, was matched by very few hitters.

The Ebb and Flow of Life

I really don't know what to write, other than this picture may be the saddest thing I've ever seen. 

 

An Apology for Irrational Rooting

Quick bit of housekeeping before I get on to the actual post. Here is the link to the last opinion I wrote for NESN a little more than a month ago - a glowing piece about the historic season of Mike Trout, in which I suggested he had a good shot to win the MVP. And while I agree with Joe Posnanski in thinking that if Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, he'll win the MVP, I also agree with him in thinking that Trout has been the better all-around player this year. Cabrera's season to-date (Triple Crown stats of .332/42/131) has been done or bettered 26 other times in MLB history. Trout's of .323/28/122 runs/46 stolen bases? Once. I'd tell you who it was, but I don't have a subscription to Baseball-Reference - so all I can tell you is the guy had 29 homers. And that's not even mentioning Trout's defense. I rest my case. Did I mention he turned 21 in August? Anyways, the real reason I'm writing...

Abstract Story Concept Album #1: Continuum

A quick note on how this is going to go down - although I've obviously heard the albums before, I'm going to present thoughts on each song as if I were hearing them in order for the first time. That way, I'm not retroactively applying what I know to be a theme on a later track to earlier tracks. Also, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the link to the post wherein I explain what I'm attempting to do.

Without further ado, I give you the first of what will probably be several attempts at seeing if my thought holds up under some level of imagined critical scrutiny - one of my favorite albums of all time, John Mayer's Continuum.

The Abstract Story Concept Album, or How I Made Up a New Thing in Music Because I Was Curious

*Disclaimer: I don't pretend to be either a music critic or a great interpreter of lyrics. Go figure I'm about to try both.*

I've long been fascinated with music. It's always seemed to me to be the most expressive of the art forms, coming far closer to allowing you to experience emotions rather than merely observing them. Plus, a bit less snobbily, I simply really like listening to it. I've been described as having a very eclectic taste in music - although, as has been proven by at least one of my close friends, not eclectic at all compared to some people - or at least, a wide-ranging scope of interests. To prove it to you, here are the first 12 songs to come up on iTunes when I hit Shuffle:

Editor's Note

If you've been playing close attention, you'll notice that two posts just disappeared into thin air. If you were none the wiser about that, well then, now you are.

Anyway, the two posts in question were Parts 1 and 2 of my new attempt at figuring out why fantasy baseball head-to-head standings are the way they are. I was in the middle of finishing off Part 3 when I discovered a rather glaring error - I had been unwittingly been using the wrong standard deviation formula.