Moneyball DID NOT WORK!! Moneyball's True Story

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

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[@PWiz30]

It worked. The problem for the As is that other teams caught on to what they were doing and started to reassess the way they evaluate talent and construct their own rosters. The As had a limited window of opportunity to make it work in the playoffs before the inefficiencies they were trying to exploit disappeared and the MLB playoffs are a crapshoot.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel that!

[@robkordelski5049]

He stole the idea from the previous as gm sandy beans has won nothing since he got the at the end of 1990. He is a scam artist

[@akbarlebowitz8151]

Except it never got them to the World Series.

[@Hatchbasic]

Not only did the A’s not win a World Series, they didn’t even make one

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

This is true!!

[@jimpoole6037]

What is more important is he took people who did not have confidence, gave them a reason, their self esteem met their ability; not the scouts(say teacher in schools) and from that they nearly won it all! That is the story we hear and should push!

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

That’s a nice angle!

[@paulrobinson3213]

That only fits with Hattiberg though. I mean they were going to be really good in 2002 because of Tejada, Eric Chavez, the three stud pitchers etc.

[@gwaptiva]

That the film doesn't follow the book, and that there may be mistakes in the book, does not mean that they are lies. I think that's a very strong accusation against a well-researched and well-written book, and using that sort of language reflects poorly on you. As for the movie: it's movie, not a news report or a documentary. What's next? Moaning that Orcs aren't real?

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thank you!

[@dondajulah4168]

Not quite. There are certain aspects of the game you should be able to leverage in a short series with more days off between games than in the regular season. For example, having a single dominant starting pitcher who can potentially start 43% of your games and account for over one third of your innings pitched should be a large advantage over a more balanced but similarly effective starting rotation. Keep in mind that I stopped following baseball more than a decade ago so I dont even know if pitchers are allowed to throw more than 50 pitches a week anymore. But if you are talking about baseball when a pitcher throwing 200 innings in a season was not considered abusive, this was a differentiating factor. Also having a deep and effective bullpen can be a leverageable asset in the post-season. Baseball IQ (I realize this is an overly broad term, but think Derek Jeter vs Jason Giambi or Vladimir Guerrero) can be more useful where the competition is more closely matched.

[@1who4me]

The book was poorly written. Lewis literally starts his book by saying it was a story he fell in love with. Hardly objective writing if you ask me

[@christianryan9989]

@@1who4me This is as moot of a point as is possible. People do not write about things that do not interest them unless they are forced to, in which case it would by a negative bias. Stories are written by people and are therefore subjective by design.

[@thefantasybaseballshow690]

@@1who4me I disagree that it was poorly written but I want to hear more about why you think so. Was Lewis speaking unfactually?

[@RogerBates7]

It was a great movie, but a work of fiction that was based on real events. They intentionally changed, omitted and dramatized certain aspects to sell the film. People need to watch it in that context.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Well said!

[@v2micca]

This film has aged strangely for me. For example, in the opening sequence we are shown title cards comparing the A's payroll to the Yankee's payroll during the 2001 ALDS. It's designed from the beginning to gain our sympathy for these plucky underdogs. But, on recent views, it makes me despise Oakland just a little. When I see that title card comparing the salaries, now all is see is two organization owned by billionaires that routinely bilk cities for stadium deals, but at least one of them is willing to pay his labor market rates.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Interesting take!!

[@jasonleetaiwan]

Nah, the owner back then wasn’t Fisher who purchased in 2005. This film is just about Beane and his struggles to compete with less money.

[@ebogar42]

I think it can work but doesn't mean you're going to be number one. He did put a team together that could compete. It doesn't mean he was wrong. Their winning seasons proved it worked.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice analysis!

[@jasonleetaiwan]

It works for scoring runs because it emphasizes OBP, but when you ignore defense as a determining factor in selecting players, this can severely hurt the team’s chances in a short playoff series when you are playing the best teams in the league.

[@ebogar42]

@@jasonleetaiwan I don't think you should ignore defense when doing this. Maybe let a couple guys slide on defense, but the majority of your positions should have good fielders who can catch good. Especially spots like Short stop, catcher, 3rd, left field, and center should have someone fast and can catch.

[@earsonlyaudio887]

I remember talking to my friends about this in 2002 and my point was exactly that made in the video. In a regular season of 162 games, assume maybe 4 plate appearances per game for each of the 9 batting spots on average and over the course of a season, you have somewhere in the ball park of 6000 plate appearances to press your posative expected value from high on base percentage. In a 5 game play off series, you have less than 200 plate appearances, so the sample size is far too small to rely on a very small statistical edge in one area, getting on base, where the other team may get people on base just a little less frequently, but they drive in runners at a much higher clip. The only thing that works in today's game is a balance between players who can get on base and players who strike out 150 times, but hit 40 homers with 115RBI. Add solid pitching and defense to that and you win. A team that just gets big hits or strikes out doesn't win, a team that never strikes out, but is all over the base paths doesn't win.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good insight!!

[@getgetoutout]

You guys miss the entire point. The A's can't afford any high number players. They had to use this method. EVERY TEAM in the league since then uses Sabermetrics. Sooooo....YES it did work and it is still working for every team.

[@corysdrumtakes5642]

@@getgetoutout No, pretty sure we didn't. It's not that moneyball doesn't work, and yes, it was the best option for the As. The point is, that it doesn't work alone. No team is going to have a high enough on base percentage to drive in enough runs, playing primarily station to station baseball, especially over a best of 5 short series where you don't have the sample size for the statistics to play out. If you consider any on base, walks, hits, errors, you're still looking at a 65 or so failure percentage. What do you suppose a single standard deviation is on a number like that? I'd have to do the math, but I'll bet you could only have 4 or 5 base runners as you get swept in 3 and easily be within a -1 standard deviation. To your point that everyone is using sabermetrics, you're kinda right. They use it nothing like the Oakland team which used statistics to promote getting on base and advancing runners. Today, it's used almost exclusively for defense, with spray charts and crazy shifts. 2020s offense is the exact opposite of Bill James. Baseball hitting now is all about homeruns and strike outs. That's why the coming rule changes, to ban the shift and promote more singles and doubles. The Oakland team of the early 2000s would never have kept a player with an on base percentage of 0.275, with 200 strike outs, even if he got them 40 homers. Today, this is almost every big league hitter. My point is that statistical analysis is important and should be used to shape a team and you can do a lot better than your payroll might suggest. However, in the movie, they talk about being card counters at the blackjack table. On any given night, a counter can lose his tail because his edge is only a percent or two above the house depending on the size of his bet spread. In a short series, without a difference maker or two, there's simply not enough at bats for a team designed like this to exploit their edge. The best teams, used stats to find guys who could get on base, to position outfielders in the most statistical advantageous way, then got a few bats that are going to have some big swings and misses, and 40 plus upper deck homers, and all the better if they happen to live for October.

[@terrytitus5291]

Timely hitting,good pitching gets the job done in postseason

[@terrytitus5291]

@@getgetoutout Miguel Tejada was one of their best players but he didn't fit into their system.They had someone right in front of tgrir face!

[@stephenwodz7593]

The postseason is basically a crapshoot. It's mostly a matter of who gets hot and who goes cold. The final eight teams have a roughly equal chance of winning it all. Which is why wildcard teams sometimes win the World Series.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yup

[@NJGuy1973]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 In the book Beane specifically says "My sh*t doesn't work in the playoffs, there, it's f*cking luck."

[@kevinfinnerty8414]

You cut down on the crap shoot. If there’s just an ALCS and NLCS. 4 teams total. Like the good ole’ days.

[@edwardcricchio6106]

Which is why MLB has to reduce the number of Wild Card teams in the actual playoffs. They should have a Wild Card round of 4 teams to produce onl1 Wild Card team in the real playoff rounds.

[@JacobsEVAdventures]

I think the point of the book and movie is that the organization found a way to compete with a small budget. Not that it is the best way to make the playoffs and win the world series every year. Obviously if you can spend 250 million you are going to have a better shot at a World Series title than a team that spends 50 million. No matter how genius the people running that 50 million dollar team are.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Pretty much.

[@jwhit3849]

Let's face it. Player's stats are a lagging indicator of their future performance. Kind of like a cyclic stock that gets a bump at Christmas time and is an under performer the rest of the year. IMHO, each pitch is a move on the chess board. Put most of your money in pitching and batting, less on fielding. But I'm a logistician....

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I like your angle on this topic!! Every pitch is a chess move!!

[@mountainbikemayhem1833]

In a sense, money all did work. It allowed a small market team to compete with the big budget teams. Yeah the A’s didn’t win the WS, but they made the playoffs, which given their anemic budget was an accomplishment. I think the concept has been accepted by almost every other team…using advanced metrics to find players, rather than the traditional Avg, Hr, Obp, Hits, etc… The first team to come to mind who won it all, would be the Royals. The 2014-15 teams were built on defense, speed, and bullpen. Other than the bullpen (which was elite) every other player on those teams was “average”. They just played the game using the skill set that they were built for…which was elite Defense to limit runs scored, solid pitching with a shut down pen, and their speed and aggressiveness on the bases to manufacture runs.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Great Analysis!!

[@SamtheBravesFan]

Exactly. Moneyball gave the A's general success but obviously people instinctively measure accomplishment with World Series victories. I think that's a mistake because the playoffs by nature are kind of random, and with the amount of rounds increasing over the years, that increases the possibility for randomness. Still, if problems go away, like with the Braves last year, most teams have a shot if they get there.

[@irishjoe5868]

Agree 100%.

[@dondajulah4168]

How are the Minnesota Twins any different? Last time I checked, they had more World Series rings and probably comparable number of playoff appearances over the past 35 years as Oakland using completely different strategy with same limitations. Atlanta was also considered a small market team during the 90's and they did pretty well for themselves.

[@theinternational397]

They’re small market by choice. In the late 80’s to early 90’s they had the league’s highest payroll and far higher revenue than the Giants. They were the more popular team in the Bay Area by far.

[@rftulie]

In Michael Lewis's book "Moneyball," he admits that advanced metrics can only be used to predict and manage a large sample of games such as a whole regular season, and that in the postseason all bets are off. And the point of the book was not that metrics are all, just that poor clubs could use them to their advantage. Lewis likes to find "market inequalities" -- situations where some trait is undervalued initially. Beane spoke of himself as a player as being unable to find the right headspace during an at-bat so that he could hit well with two strikes; instead, he swung at bad pitches, even though everyone agreed he had the athletic makeup to be a good player. The OBP/slugging was used to find players who were able to find that headspace, and to get around walks being somehow "not cool." I think the "moneyball approach" only worked when nobody was using it. Once rich clubs use the same way of evaluating players, there's no market inequality anymore.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good analysis!

[@chicken29843]

Why in the fuck did Billy beane turned down that Red Sox offer I will never understand for the rest of my life. Better job better team better pay and he'll actually be able to get good players I don't get why he would want to stick around with Oakland

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good points. The world may never know!!

[@brentduanefoster]

If I were Beane, and I'm a Oakland native, I would've told the A's ✌🏾and left to Boston!!

[@hulksmash54]

I'm a basketball guy that grew up watching the A's and the similarities between Beane and Morey are shocking. They found a statistical upperhand (OBP for Beane, 3's and free throws for Morey) and were able to win a lot but the things that they ignored (fielding and base running for Beane, ball/player movement and chemistry for Morey) put a ceiling on what they were able to get done and cost them shots at titles.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good analysis!

[@andu1854]

I hated those Rockets teams, sorry but watching James “three time quitter” Harden dribble the who play clock to draw fouls sucked… but when they missed every three in Game 7, I loved it, the problem With Morey and Beane, is that when the teams strategies don’t Work, they are completely lost

[@hulksmash54]

​@@andu1854 I don’t know who is more unlikable between Harden and Morey.

[@bigapple3870]

Baseball is the only sport where you have layers upon layers of statistics and it makes sense that there are hidden truths to be exploited. Plus baseball is the kind of sport where lesser teams always have at least a chance to beat a better team on any given day. It made a nice story about one particular team in one particular year. However, good analytics cant overcome a 200 million dollar salary discrepincy between 2 teams. Payroll discrepencies are the true indicator that we see year in an year out.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Very true! Good points

[@m-free6121]

Tell that to the the angels. They drop lots of money but spend nothing on analytics. They haven’t been relevant in a decade

[@terryperry6794]

They really don’t. They’re 11th in 26-man payroll and nine of the ten teams ahead of them made the playoffs. It’s literally pay-to-win with no parity between big and small markets. Part of why MLB sucks compared to the other major professional sports leagues.

[@Riley_Mundt]

Moneyball ultimately failed because the A's did not improve after implementing the system. They ended up losing in the ALDS just as they had before. If Moneyball had worked, the Athletics would have gone on to play the Angels in the ALCS.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

My thoughts exactly!!

[@eaglechawks3933]

Moneyball absolutely worked. It kept the stands full of fans rooting for the Oakland A's and it kept the A's at least competitive vs teams that spent millions more on players. If anything the proof that it worked was that the Red Sox started copied the system and went all the way a couple of years later. If the only object is to win the world series, then everybody but 1 team fails every year regardless of budget. If the actual object is to have fans show up, watch you play, and make the team money by keeping the stands filled -- moneyball works like a champ.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice perspective on the matter!

[@waynetables6414]

The Red Sox were more influenced by moneyball doctrines in 2003 than they were in 2004. A lot of the things they experimented with in 03’ like not having a closer was an unmitigated disaster and they gave up on it and traded for BK Kim. In 2004, they signed Keith Foulke to be the closer. They also spent *money* to bring in Curt Schilling. Manny Ramirez was getting paid a lot of money and he was the World Series MVP. Pedro Martinez was getting paid a lot of money as well. To say the Red Sox copied moneyball to win a title is innacurate. They did hire the guy who Billy Beane "copied" it from, Bill James.. but it’s a more accurate statement to say the Red Sox were influenced by sabermetrics, you could say they played Moneyball *with* money.. it was a hybrid of philosophies. Moneyball was not really a major factor in Theo Epstein and the Red Sox winning a World Series. You could say the same for the A's making the playoffs.. the A's were good because they had one of the best rotations in baseball Zico, Mulder, Hudson, they had closer Keith Foulke and had MVP candidate Miguel Tejada, also Eric Chavez, and Jermaine Dye among others. They were not some ragtag island of misfit toys like the movie portrays. The Red Sox had a few "moneyball" type guys I guess you could say Billy Mueller and Kevin Millar fit that mold and they were big parts of the team.. but the Red Sox won because of Shilling, Manny, and Ortiz. It takes great players to win championships.. theres a reason why the Rays have never won a World Series..and it's because they don't have guys like Manny and Pedro playing for them. Nerdy statistical shit is good for regular season law of averages stuff but that will only get you so far. The moves that Theo made that catapulted the Red Sox into becoming champions was trading Nomar Garciaparra for Doug Mienkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera.. then acquiring Dave Roberts. That made the Red Sox a well-rounded team who could pitch, hit, and the deadline trades for Mienkiewicz and Cabrera made the Red Sox a great defensive team. In Dave Roberts they got a guy who could run the bases and steal a bag in a big spot. Ironically, Theo trading the face of the franchise is what put Red Sox over the top.. I don't know how one would classify those moves from an analytical/sabermetrics perspective, I just know it was ballsy.

[@stephaniegormley9982]

Moneyball succeeded...... in making the game boring. Some people like slugfests. Some (like me) appreciate a good pitcher's duel. Moneyball managed to irk both of us.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I see your point!

[@jmathew412]

Loved the movie, but I hate the way that analytics have overtaken and changed the game. Analytics should be tools that help improve the game around the margins, not the end all be all. To be competitive all year you need a good combination of high average guys and a couple power bats. I’m so sick of this 3 true outcomes bs that teams love, I hate the saying that batting average doesn’t mater because it does. It’s so much more difficult to win constantly with a bunch of guys that bat in the low .200 than it is with 270-300. I wish the game would put more value on that approach

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good perspective!!

[@Twhistle]

If you’re just looking at the movie for what it is, I’d say it’s a solid movie. But as far as historical accuracy and for baseball fans who remember that era, it leaves a lot to be desired. Tejada I don’t think was even mentioned. Hudson was mentioned briefly and I don’t think Mulder or Zito were mentioned at all. It’s a good movie if you’re just judging it as a movie. But it was disappointing as far as what you’d want as a baseball fan.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Exactly my views!

[@dondajulah4168]

Yeah, and the fact that the glory years of the A's were when they had actual superstars on the roster (Canseco, McGwire) and then the MoneyBall era success was mostly due to three great starting pitchers that scouts had very highly rated and their best player Tejeda was a big time steroid abuser. Those marginally talented players that were the essence of MoneyBall may have been undervalued, but they were not going to take anyone into the playoffs without the real talent, let alone deep into the playoffs where Beane never managed to get the A's.

[@travisrlel2]

@@dondajulah4168 Also, Tejada won MVP that year.

[@getgetoutout]

At this time, since 1970, the A's had played in more playoff games than any other team in baseball except the Yankees. So I think something was working.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

They should’ve highlighted the past success a bit more!

[@angelicalynn1259]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 I disagree. While Finley was cheap the rules were incredibly different at that stage (early 70's). There was no free agency so all teams could actually compete. Once you got into the later 90's Oakland could not afford to compete against the high salary teams. At that stage the past was completely meaningless as the game had in many ways changed, especially for them.

[@terrytitus5291]

Yeah,before moneyball,players named Eckersley,McGwire,Canseco,Catfish,Reggie,Rollie!

[@NJGuy1973]

@@angelicalynn1259 When free agency hit, the A's got broken up because Pinley was a cheapskate and the players hated him. Then in 1980 he sold to the Levi-Strauss CEO who did have money, and he paid for talent. Then in 1995 that CEO died and the new owners were under 50 feet of crap.

[@getgetoutout]

You missed the entire point. The A's can't afford any high number players. They had to come up with and employ this method. EVERY TEAM in the league since then uses Sabermetrics. Sooooo....YES it did work and it is still working for every team now except the Oakland Triple A's. They are still forced to develop players, and there is no team better at it, just to have their top prospects sent to the Yankees 4 years later. Baseball champions are engineered by MLB. It's all fake. They let the teams in HUGE cities overpay and the little ones get screwed.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel you!

[@jasonleetaiwan]

I always felt the film ignored the best players on the team like they were nobodies. I guess it helped the film be more dramatic.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yea I agree with you!

[@luishumbertovega3900]

I loved the movie as it is, no intention to be a documentary but to tell an entertaining story concentrating on a part of what made that team successful. As a baseball fan and movie lover I don't expect a baseball movie to match Citizen Kane's brilliance, I simply want to enjoy the film.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

It was a good film!

[@georgesouthwick7000]

Hollywood never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

This is true

[@colejoseph8072]

It’s ver convenient of Hollywood to ignore the excellent seasons of Zito, Mulder, Hudson, and Tejada. Don’t forget, Eric Chavez had a great year too.Jermaine Dye and Billy Koch were also very good.The team had plenty of muscle.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yes they did!

[@Devin1996]

Glad you this point was brought up as baseball is a team sport and they a lot of loaded talent that year, especially on the pitching. I was rooting for them to win it all that year but sadly it didn’t happen:

[@jdmrchem5]

That trio of Zito, Mulder, and Hudson was pretty deep. That A's team was loaded for a low budget team. I am still baffled why the A's did not make it far, but the Angels won the World Series in 2002. The A's won 20 straight games while the Angels kept it close. The AL West for the top 3 teams were pretty competitive. I remembered the money ball talk by the media when I was watching baseball back in 2002 as a kid. That season was my favorite because the Angels won it all, but the A's play during that season was a sight to behold, not gonna lie. Team depth triumphs over sabermetrics as shown in the 2002 season. I think using mathematical predicting models and analytics are very overrated and I am saying this as a math guy. Sometimes, a postseason hero (e.g., Francisco Rodriguez in 2002 who posted a 5-1 record in the postseason) will show up out of nowhere and analytics will not see that. It's mainly how the managers and team personnel that evaluate the players by scouting them that gets the job done. Teams win championships as the result. Well, a story like Billy Beane is quite marketable in Hollywood story writing, but that doesn't match reality. Reality is not that entertaining in the grand scheme of things. Zito won the Cy Young Award in 2002 and won 23 games. The movie does not want us to know that. I know since I watched Saturday baseball in the afternoon and I watched games on TV when the A's and the Angels play against each other. TWIB showed a segment of the trio pitchers in Zito, Mulder, and Hudson. Those were the nostalgic stuff of legends.

[@tonyspadaCATDAD]

Exactly. 3 great pitchers all finding their groove and peak at the same time. It’s never talked about in the movie but they sure focus on the winning streak.

[@jongthedasher]

It's unfair to call out that the movie paints the A's as unwinnable. They never implied that Oakland didn't win a WS before Bean. They are telling the truth, which is that the owner is cheap and refuses to provide investment into homegrown stars or FA talent. It is funny you call out that Moneyball did not work, but using the same concept, Oakland broke ground with in 2003-04; Boston used to win the title, as you mentioned. Moneyball itself isn't going to win you the WS every year; it is about being objective to find the best possible outcome, aka win and for Oakland that is winning within your constraints. Oakland has constraints in what they can and can't do to win. Boston doesn't. Boston can afford to say, "We prefer an on-base guy who is also above average defender, and we can pay him what it takes to get him on our roster," Oakland can't do that.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good analysis and the title has to grab ya.

[@1who4me]

So how do you explain the Twins, who for a decade reached the playoffs almost every year, and they didn’t do any moneyball tactics whatsoever?

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I believe that’s called regular baseball organization building haha

[@theDiReW0lf]

What I also learned from the movie, which is insane, is that they did all that with zero starting pitchers. Crazy.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

That is a wild stat!

[@dennismathias6520]

No starting pitching? They had three almost acres. Thats what people miss. They also had an MVP candidate. This team was not made up of a bunch of throw aways. And number four was Joe Blanton who was decent 4. Check the stats of that years team.

[@j.tshark3313]

one whinge. Art Howe was not against the money ball theory, At the time he was on board. The conflict started when Bean and co started in game managing him and that is a problem any manager would have. He would get phone calls to the dug out telling him to switch player X for Y and he grew frustrated with that.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thank you for your insight!!

[@j.tshark3313]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 Art Howe was nothing like in the movie. The book he was little more favourable but it down played his willingness to adapt. Beans responded "it was not like I wrote the book or movie"

[@Paul-vf2wl]

None of the scouts were opposed to it either

[@DrWatson2798]

I wouldn't claim he dramatically changed the way of baseball but he did influence it. I think teams do take other things into account now they didn't in the past-I think the newer stats like WAR, FIP and others are indicators that show different metrics are used in evaluating talent which were influenced by the A's

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel you!

[@brianschwartz7937]

Moneyball DID work, but you have to be more realistic about how it works and the expectations to be able to accomplish its goals. True, the Moneyball A's didn't ultimately win the World Series in any of those years, but it generally kept them highly competitive on a payroll that put them at a severe disadvantage. THAT was the real goal. With the A's payroll, by all accounts, they should have lost 90+ games every season. Instead they were competitive, fun, exciting, and made the playoffs 5 times in 7 years (better results than many other teams). Ask any Baltimore Orioles or Pittsburgh Pirates fan of the last 20 years if they would've preferred having a team that gets to a 2-0 lead in the ALDS/NLDS every year over the way their teams usually performed, and I bet every single one of them would take it. The A's attracted more fans, more attention, and were more competitive than they had any expectation of being, using only draft picks and players who weren't valued enough to command a higher salary from anybody else. And they did it fairly consistently, year after year, with a system that allowed them to retool with new players when the older ones left, yet still remain competitive (most years). They may have lost in the playoffs, but they got to the dance each year with teams that had no business getting anywhere close. That says something about their system. It wasn't everything, no, but it was something.

[@brianschwartz7937]

Also, the real key to the Moneyball strategy was just identifying and exploiting inefficiencies in the way other teams were playing and trying to find ways to eke out competitive market advantages in areas others had overlooked. Obviously 5-tool players are a great asset to have if you can afford them, but the A's couldn't afford them, so they had to look elsewhere for value. They took advantage of the fact that teams did not properly value OBP and ran with it. There is a key line in the book but not the movie where someone on the A's (I forget if it was Beane, and I forget the exact quote) says that if the league ever starts significantly undervaluing base stealers, then we'll sign a bunch of base stealers. Moneyball is just really about trying to squeeze the most value you can via for bargain deals that others may have overlooked, and optimizing your final results when you don't start out with a lot of room to work with. They did that.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thanks for your input!

[@elijahjosue17]

To be honest, I think moneyball ruined baseball because now everything is driven on analytics, taking autonomy from pitchers and managers. You won't see pitchers retired with 300 wins or hitter finishing with 500 homerusn due to limited innings a pitcher can pitch and hitting based on matchups/analytics.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice analysis!

[@andu1854]

Also it’s made baseball boring and unfun, And a pitching clock, does speed game up, but it is still homerun or bust

[@de132]

I'd argue that the Oakland Athletics weren't even the first team to utilize sabermetrics for "moneyball". Earl Weaver and the Orioles did a lot of the same things and were far more successful. Weaver utilized statistical matchups and comparisons on models as part of his decision making between 1970 until his managerial career ended in 1986. In that span, his Orioles won the 1970 World Series, lost the 1971 World Series, lost the 1979 World Series, made the ALCS twice in 1973 and 1974.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good insight!!

[@mikehergenroether6160]

Also overlooked in the movie was Eric Chavez.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good point!

[@jayoakes7874]

He appears a few times brad Pitt calls him "chavi"

[@mazzith]

The reason money ball did not work for the As is because big payroll teams like Red Soxs started to value the undervalued assets. It’s like how 3-4 defense is a great defense to run whe. All the other teams use 4-3 becuSe the 3 defensive linemen you’d use are not typical 4-3 defensive lineman. But once more teams started to use the 3-4 defense those players became more valuable and desirable.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good points!

[@rolyrod69]

The reason “MoneyBall” didn’t work was because other GM’s started copying and mimicking their own versions of it with higher payrolls and more talented players.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Usually what happens

[@michaelhenry1872]

With much more money than Oakland had.

[@terrytitus5291]

Other teams were better,they could have been,see 2015 Royals!

[@TK-mf5in]

So… if it isn’t work, why would people copy it?

[@rolyrod69]

@@TK-mf5in it does work- the only difference is now the higher payroll teams are using it and with that much more talent they’re able to win.

[@elcastorgrande]

Oakland used sabermetrics to defeat low-budget teams who followed outdated methods. They could win enough regular-season games against other low-budget teams to lead their division. But when they came up against the best (most expensive) players, in league championship playoffs and the Series, they folded.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Facts

[@nco_gets_it]

sabermetrics has the same flaw in sports that the metrics driven performance measures have in all of business. It cannot measure the ability of humans both outperform "norms" and underperform on any given day, week, or month. It also provides a gamification opportunity for the players, workers, or managers. Working as a production manager, it took me only about two seconds to realize that the "measurers and analysts" don't actually know how to make anything, and in their quest to measure everything, they created an opportunity for everyone to "meet" the data gates while producing nothing of value. So what happened? Well, the key performance indicator for my production lines was that products crossed a certain imaginary line for "delivery". Not delivery against customer orders, not against actual sales or market projections, just push products across a line. So we did. Thousands of products easy to produce, but without real profit capacity for the company. Everyone made fat bonuses, but the company suffered. So when the big suits came to figure out what was wrong, all of us "muscle brained" managers at the point of production outlined the problem, and the suits would not buy it. smh...glad I left as soon as I realized that these Harvard Biz grads were morons as the company no longer exists. All humans will find ways to adjust their behavior to what they perceive as their incentives. People act, data doesn't.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good analysis!

[@stormthedesert1162]

MoneyBall can help round out a roster to help your core but you can't build a team with it. This team only had 7 guys that were Allstars within 3 years of this, the MVP, Cy Young, 2 SIlver Sluggers etc. Hypothetical numbers could possibly help, but it can't replace talent. Good players are always better than Hypotheticals.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Agree!!

[@michaelmartz8426]

The movie didn't touch on a large portion of the book. "Moneyball" isn't intended to work in the short term. The movie was ok, but it was Hollywood. I prefer documentaries for something with so many facets.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yes! Lots of nuance left bout

[@michaelmartz8426]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 the movie mentioned nothing about the draft picks and how they were used to fortify the franchise for the future.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

@@michaelmartz8426 Great insight!

[@michaelmartz8426]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 thank you.

[@dondajulah4168]

One of the requirements of making a non-small budget film is that it appeal to a broad audience. Brad Pitt was cast as Billy Beane because how the hell else are you going to get a guy to convince his girl to see a movie about baseball. With this as your basis, do not expect any other than vague references to events with factual accuracy to be contained within the two hours of the movie. If you are an actual baseball fan, it is probably better watching the movie with the mindset that you are watching a comedic version of a baseball story.

[@HockeyNationHD]

moneyball just means exploiting market inefficiencies, and it absolutely works. if you find something that is undervalued, you can get it for less than it's worth. how does that not work? getting something for less than it's worth always works, as far as it goes.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good point!

[@dondajulah4168]

you can make a lot more money in the stock market buying "overvalued" stocks than "undervalued" stocks.

[@HockeyNationHD]

​@@dondajulah4168 No one said anything about the stock market. These aren't stocks. Nor does every use of the word market have to do w stocks. Do you also walk into the supermarket and try to trade stocks?

[@nmarbletoe8210]

@@HockeyNationHD I thought your point was broad and insightful, about market inefficiencies in general. This idea can work in any field even stocks! There was an experiment to pick stocks with women CEOs and they did better than average, maybe because women had been undervalued so only the best of the best women could get as high as a CEO

[@8beazy]

The 72, 73 and 74 A’s were one of the greatest teams in Major League history. The 88 team that lost to the Dodgers was ridiculously talented as they went on to win it all the next year. I mean how many titles do the A’s have since the money ball era started? That sums it all up for me.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

The movie didn’t touch on it that much!

[@mjwbulich]

Bro, the money ball era didn't start until the early 2000s. How many titles have they won in the money ball era? Zero. The best they did was a trip to the ALCS in '06. They were swept by Detroit.

[@demonkingbadger6689]

Somewhat interesting. Always bugged me, the team's lack of interest in defense. Personally, i have found most of the overacheiving teams in history who went anywhere were built on good defense with a staff who had good control and kept the ball in the park. Also the whole nobody respected walks until Moneyball is also aggravating. At the turn of the 20th century managers John McGraw and Fielder Jones most certainly used as part of the arsenal. Of course, it does need to be said, as players, those 2 drew lot of walks.

[@zenmar84]

Their pitching staff was crazy back then.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

They had some dudes

[@M1tch_S]

The backing track in the beginning gave me anxiety

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Haha

[@nmarbletoe8210]

yeah me too, fast forwarded

[@chrislewis5069]

Three words: Mulder, Hudson, Zito

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Bang!

[@newsieboys1171]

It does work.....in a long regular 162-game season. But in a limited 3, 5, or 7-game series, it's a different story where in the small number of games anything can go. A seasonal player hitting .300 with 30 homers/100 RBIs, can end up doing subpar in a limited series while someone .200 and 20 homers for the whole season could hit .500 with more relative homers and RBls post-season. It happens all the time. With pitchers' performances, too. Sabrmetrics is good for measuring the outcome of players' performances in a long season. But playoffs is another matter. Also, sabremetrics is a commodity that other franchises have adopted. So, Oakland doesn't have a monopoly in it.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice analysis!

[@kikilynn1167]

I couldn't watch it all. The background music is too loud and distracting.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Ya win some ya lose some.

[@adrianfigueredo278]

I’m not gonna lie. I have yet to see a “moneyball” team win a World Series

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I believe the Red Sox were a team that did so.

[@mrmacross]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 I don't think the Red Sox count. After all, Moneyball isn't just using statistical analysis to identify good players. It's about finding those good players for cheap. You can't have a team of expensive free agency signings like Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, and Johnny Damon (who was done dirty in the movie, BTW), or trading prospects for Curt Schilling, and say this team was built on Moneyball principles. The 2004 Red Sox had the second highest payroll in MLB that year. You can credit them for acquiring the right talent, but that's not a roster built on Moneyball.

[@shanaeverowe9626]

Moneyball "worked" but the problem is the movie doesn't show the value the team got from Zito/Hudson/Mulder

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

True

[@dragonboy141]

MoneyBall worked well enough for the As to be a playoff contender instead of a doormat. But not a legitimate championship team.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Agreed!

[@54raynor]

I can only assume this video was done by someone who has not actually read Moneyball, because not only is changing the game by winning the World Series never mentioned as a goal, but it is specified that Beane’s methods struggle with the postseason. The book was about how the team was going to replace the production of Giambi/Damon/Isringhausen at a fraction of the cost by getting production from multiple undervalued players, with the ultimate goal of reaching 95 wins in the regular season . The lack of postseason success is also covered. They refer to the MLB Playoffs as a crapshoot, which it mostly is as every team that makes it is good enough to win it. And perhaps the most famous quote in the entire book is when Beane states “My shit doesn’t work in the playoffs.”

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel ya!

[@chadjackson4761]

Dude turn the music down. I can hardly hear you

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Got it!

[@wewin03]

Moneyball does not work. It works over 162 games. But in the playoffs with tighter sample sizes you need great players and great players cost money.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I agree!

[@lespaul1968]

Stupid pitch clock has been the best thing for baseball. Moneyball is a snoozefest for fans. Players you get attached to constantly get traded to the Yankees or Dodgers if they get good.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

The pitch clock has been a dodge edged sword!

[@SaebHalbouni]

What is the point of baseball or any sport if big market teams can spend more money. How the hell is that anything even close to fair competition? What a stupid governing system. Makes baseball meaningless

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Money makes the world go round!

[@nozrep]

it did work to a certain extent and then everybody else started doing it and or the secret was figured out and adapted to so the advantage went away. A’s I don’t think they won a series but Boston did break their supposed “curse” using some moneyball tactics.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Boston did win using money all tactics!

[@dondajulah4168]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 Yes, and with the help of the man who should be getting the credit - Bill James

[@travisrlel2]

FWIW A's won a division series against the Twins in '06

[@abelardoruiz5544]

It was a machine to scout good talent and make competitive teams, but......... the problem was the owner that sells the player all the time and the other team lean about this...

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Valid point!

[@7864cwebb]

Look no further than the Rays or the Twins. Metrics did revolutionize not only baseball but all sports. The way professional sports teams evaluate players has been changed forever

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

The A’s came up short when they blazed the trail tho. But you make a valid point!

[@violabeaumont3758]

It totally worked as this was the direction Boston went with their team and they quickly became a Dynasty and broke the Curse. The reason it did not work for the A's is because the A's have shit ownership. When teams like Boston are using the same advanced Metrics as Billy Beane is, Boston will win because there is just a flat out better organization executing Moneyball. This is what you missed in the final scene of the movie. When Billy Beane feels its a failure because the A's got eliminated.. but then his buddy uses the analogy of the guy scared to run to second base to basically tell Billy.. yeah you lost the game.. but you hit a Home run because you have forever changed the game of baseball... different teams win the world series.. but few have such a massive impact as to change the way an entire league operates.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thanks for your input!!

[@maxstone9999]

The music is too loud. It’s tough to follow your voice.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thanks!

[@ZombiZohm]

I'm not even going to watch this because of that clickbait title. Sabremetrics worked so well that every other ballclub started doing it and with their bigger budgets they did it better and the A's couldn't really capitalize. It's still how ball clubs are run today.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Lol okay don’t watch. 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@ryanmcgoldrick8499]

The movie barely addresses the A’s pitching. It also made DePodesta a fictional comedic character. Baseball is vastly different due to these ideas than it was 20 years ago. Between this and Cleveland experimenting with the shift are why I think that is. I think it’s unfair to claim that it was completely wrong though. Just ask my dad who barely understands baseball though.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Don’t believe it was completely wrong but doesn’t necessarily give you an edge for championships

[@Paul-ew5st]

The biggest fiction is that it's hard to play first base. There's not a MLB level catcher alive who couldn't play fist base in his sleep.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Hot take!

[@DanielSong39]

Sabermetrics and advanced stats have been around since the early 1900's

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yea

[@tristatefullautoshootandtr5676]

I think Sabermetrics gave teams something to think about in terms of small dollar markets vs big dollar markets. However, if it was as successful as the movie (and I do enjoy the movie) depicts, then EVERY team would use it and there would be no 'All Stars' in the game anymore. It would be teams full of what the movie calls "undervalued" players who play small ball against small ball. While I do believe that fundamentals are extremely important, and thats what got these guys to the Majors, there still has to be that balance of guys who arent the best fielders, but power hitters or guys who arent power hitters but solid shortstops. Its a give and take. So, while I think the whole concept of moneyball might have given some teams pause, I dont think that it necessarily changed the game as much as Hollywood would like you to believe.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good analysis!!!

[@tristatefullautoshootandtr5676]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 Thank you

[@NWAWskeptic]

Analytics has destroyed baseball as entertainment. What works for building rosters is terrible for managing games. Today’s game is the absolute worst product the game has ever seen. There is no heart. No risk so therefor no drama or truly heroic finishes. Just sterile, emotionless game pieces moved around by the results of an algorithm.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I agree. It’s unfortunate!!

[@DanielSong39]

Moneyball did work... for the Angels and the Twins who were using the exact same principles except with greater success Believe it or not the Yankees were using Moneyball too. That's how they remained perennial contenders, always finding pieces to complement their expensive free agents and superstars

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Just not as good for the A’s that would’ve produced a championship

[@CarharttCowboy]

I agree Sabermetrics doesn't work but most MLB teams use it today

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yea I can see that.

[@EnderSword]

But sabermetrics does include a lot of the fielding and base running etc... stats he's implying it doesn't in this video. It's super reductionist to only talk about the OBP, there's many other stats they don't focus on in the movie but did focus on in real life

[@brentduanefoster]

All Moneyball did for the A's was give them an excuse to NOT PAY THEIR STAR PLAYERS!!!!! They got to the playoffs, but didn't not produce ONE World Series championship (Post '89, that is). Since then, the Oakland A's have continued their cheapskate ways, and now wants to move to Vegas, where they will more than likely continue their cheapskate ways in a city that will cater to them!!!!

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thanks what I am saying!!

[@gk5891]

Defense is important but that's not the point. The point is that if two players combined give you a higher on base percentage for less money that's the two you chose (all else being equal). One great player amd one mediocre player might cost more than.two average players that give the same result. It sure seemed to work after Boston threw more money at the system. The problem was not the system but the lack of funding. If he truly did not care about defense (which I doubt) that's a flaw that needs fixed but it doesn't invalidate the idea.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good Points!

[@jorgecallico9177]

Weaker and less affluent teams can use sabemetrics pretty well during the regular season. However wealthy teams are filled with ultra talented stars much motivated to win a World Series. It is under these circumstances that their star players will break down their opponents. It is well known that these stars are oftentimes clutch players. Unlike the sabemetrics teams they're not waiting out a count to pull off a walk. Instead? They're attempting to win the game with one swing of the bat. Or by striking a batter out. It is this "clutch phenomenon" that tends to dilute the value of sabermetrics during postseason play.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thank you for your insight!!

[@PJames70]

The music isn’t loud enough.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Can’t please everyone

[@carseye1219]

How do you explain the Cleveland Guardians this year? With probably only one everyday player a big market team would want (Jose Ramirez) and a team that is younger than every other team's AAA club, they finished with the 3rd best record in the AL. They were invisible on the national stage. They hit very few homers. But they played exciting, interesting baseball all year. They make contact. They run out all ground balls. They go 1st to 3rd more than anyone else. They steal. They'll probably lose in the playoffs to one of those "Wait for the 3 run homer. Don't take any chances" big market teams. But I'd much rather watch Cleveland than any other team.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Good input!

[@EM-fg2wg]

For sure movies take many liberties but i think in essence the concept works there is a similar story of a soccer coach in Mexico that took a bunch of old soccer players and a few young players no one believed in and created a team that made it to the finals they didn't win but gave one hell of a game and the whole stadium cheered and clapped for more than 5 minutes as they left the stadium the final score was 4 to 3 and and the wining team struggle to the last minute to win 8 years later people that saw the game still talking about it

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

The essence is there from the movie yes

[@TheGame1079islive]

i like the movie. the problem oakland has is billy bean, if we could trade him it would make the team so much better. its like having arthritis. it never really goes away and you kind of have to live with it.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Lolol that’s funny

[@user-sb1vz9pv5y]

Hard to listen to the narration with the constant pinging noise in the background.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Older video! Some people don’t mind it some people do

[@peronist]

I tried watching but the annoying sonar sound made it impossible to get through, respectfully please remove

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I see!

[@Edo9River]

The concept of MoneyBall, was the use of previous ignored or subverted mathematical analysis of reality. Whether or not the movie or the book said this or that is irreverent to the concept of appreciation of statically analysis.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yes

[@SatansSimgma]

What always amazes me is how the majors will just do stuff because that's the way it's always been done. A bunch of followers and fake tough guys.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

HAhahah they mask it as “tradition”

[@maxstone9999]

Anyone who knows statistics knows that winning 20 in a row is many standard deviations away from the mean winning streak. The Oakland A’s either got extremely lucky like winning the lottery kind of luck or moneyball is the reason. If other teams didn’t use sabermetrics in following years, the Oakland A’s would be the new Uber Yankees of all time. They would be the absolute Gods of baseball. It’s like an army of m16 equipped soldiers dominating every other army equipped with single shot muskets.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice!

[@dondajulah4168]

Uh, no. The players that form the core of a championship team will always demand a high salary. You can extract a marginal amount of value by utilizing players with a higher WARP than perceived, but that has its limits and the limit is far below achieving dynasty level. The other potential path to success is on the scouting side in not missing on high upside talent. This is much easier said than done, but I would say that this is the model that the Twins were able to utilize to achieve their success around the same time as MoneyBall. You could also point to the pre-Beane era A's here as well. Hell, you could even say this is what propelled the MoneyBall A's with Hudson, Zito and Mulder all being high level talent when drafted.

[@maxstone9999]

@@dondajulah4168 then why didn’t the highest paid team win 20 in a row? If on average, you get on base more often, there is a higher probability you win. That higher win probability was manifest in a 20 win streak which is way too many standard deviations away from the average winning streak to be attributable to luck. It’s not luck. It’s money ball.

[@maxstone9999]

@@dondajulah4168 like did opening monalougues with scouts actually happen that way in real life? Did scouts really judge players on the attractiveness of their girlfriends??? “An ugly girlfriend means no confidence”. Am I concerned with a players ability to get on base or their ability to bang the prom Queen? If I wanted Fabio I would run a modeling agency not a baseball club.

[@dondajulah4168]

@@maxstone9999 winning 20 consecutive games is nowhere close to the penultimate achievement in baseball. In fact, I would say that is close to irrelevant in comparison to the ability to sustain a dynasty like the Yankees have done in numerous times through their history. The A's of the mid 70's accomplishments were much greater than anything Beane accomplished. You could make a case for the A's of the late 80's as well being placed ahead of MoneyBall A's. I really do not understand your obsession with a long winning streak as the metric of success, let alone how this validates MoneyBall as the optimal path towards this outcome.

[@scout3058]

I liked the movie, but I am not naive enough to think that Hollywood *ever* tells the truth or the whole story. I cite the movie "Megan Leavy" as a prime example. Megan is a good person, but the movie rewrote a great many facts to make her appear as a picture perfect Marine who got screwed by the system, and makes MWD Rex out to be some sort of impossibly unhandleable working dog. Those things are simply not true, but Megan and Rex's story is not nearly as interesting, in fact. Moneyball, both book and film, were subject to the same victimization at the altar of the almighty dollar. Far fewer people would pay to reada book about, or see a movie about a baseball manager who got duped by an outsiders fringe hypothesis (as it corellates to baseball). Billy would look a fool, the team owner would look a fool, and the teams fans would look like fools. Not a good strategy with which to make people part from their money. To those that wrote the book, and those that made the movie, it wasn't about a Moneyball...it was about a Cashcow.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Solid analysis

[@patricktalbot8980]

This entire argument is moot considering literally all baseball teams admitted they followed his lead. So yes he did change baseball

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

No championships tho.

[@leejoelbeasley5005]

isnt small bayy is equal to playing small ball and Platooning players

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I see

[@DanielSong39]

Also Stratomatic baseball was around decades before Moneyball

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Gotta look into that!

[@NickyDiamond44]

Analytics can’t predict a lot of things, especially T dubya T dubya. The Will To Win. - Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yessir!

[@mjwbulich]

Money ball worked. It just didn't win championships. Look at similarly sized markets with comparable payrolls in the 2000s. Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, they all absolutely sucked. Oakland managed to field competitive teams that regularly made the playoffs. When you're a MLB bottom feeder just being relevant is a win.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

This is true! Relevancy is profit still!

[@slayerde440]

It did work. The As were never supposed to be a world series champ....they made the most of what they had and that was a success

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel that!!

[@slayerde440]

@@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217 now if we're talking about building championship teams, definitely a different story. By the way, I miss the hell out of San Diego. Was there for 6 years. Beautiful place.

[@petesovich2665]

The movie sucks in comparison to the book. The book is light years better. As for an adamant die hard Ace van during this time, the reason why there was good as they were is because of the big three. Mukder, zito, and the ace himself Hudson, rivaled any other three pictures. That was a 123 combo that was insanely unbelievable.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yea they were GOOD!

[@Haroldbeavis1969]

Loved the movie but I laugh my ass off at the idea of how they make it seem that those A’s won all those games without mentioning their all start third baseman, SS, or starting pitching. It was all because of Chad Bradford throwing funny Scott Hatteberg and David Justice getting on base LOL😊

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

The land of misfit toys they portrayed 😂

[@rufuspipemos]

Money ball DID work. When money was put behind it the Red Sox used it to win 3 titles. The Cubs also did that.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Yup!!

[@Paul-ew5st]

Red Sox won because of rental pitchers and a huge payroll

[@sagepark7193]

Moneyball failed cause A's couldn't get their way with trades after few years of success, since everybody began using sabermetrics. Also, sabermetrics works poorly in the playoffs.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Thank you for your perspective!

[@glennc100]

the music needs to go...this video seems good but the music makes it unlistenable

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I see!

[@eddieharcourt6049]

FU. The movie totally worked. It was awesome.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Lololol okay

[@CHman712]

I hate moneyball because now john Henry follows its concept to a ridiculous extent and has destroyed my team for yesrs to come.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

I feel you!!

[@tomray4139]

Baseball is entertainment. A's were an entertaining team and did it with less money than other teams. Those are the only facts that matter.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Pro sports is entertainment firstly I agree with that

[@draneym2003]

By your logic the Yankees were one of the worst teams in baseball since 2009, since they didn't win a World Series

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Haha

[@raylopez99]

Wow, I don't know much about baseball but this video gets it all wrong in criticizing Moneyball. "Small ball"? Not really relevant these days, as every team, due to Sabermetrics, has switched to the long ball (in fact baseball higher ups are tinkering with how to bring back small ball baseball, but that's not the reality of today). "Not clinching the playoffs, post-season"? Two problems with this argument. First, small sample size as they say in statistics. Second, the "big city" teams are favored in the playoffs, implicitly, by umpires making the strike zone to favor the bigger city team, which is better for ad revenue. This "big city teams win during playoffs effect" is well documented in many pro sports leagues. Nuff said. And I'm not even a pro sports fan and I know this much.

[@thesportsvault-espnenemy1217]

Nice!