LOFF56 on PL's: "WHY I STILL LOVE BASEBALL!"

Here's LOFF56:

Excellent thought, PL.

I'm in complete agreement with you on this one. Not to get too philosophical, but I think perhaps it's the complete statistical nature of the sport that makes it so akin to the way the universe works. It's all statistical. In the universe small anomalies in statistical patterns work out into something organized over cosmic time scales. Just like the way a manager's ability to manipulate small statistical anomalies over a very long season can win the team a pennant. Think about it, if a manager puts in a hitter that's hitting .340 against a particular pitcher versus a guy that's hitting .280, he's only increasing the odds by a mere 6 percent for that single at bat. But over the course of a season, those odds add up. But, ultimately you're at the mercy of the statistics. You can "execute" your game perfectly (by baseball statistical standards) and still lose. This is unlike any other sport. Football for example does use a ton of strategy, (probably much more than baseball), and yet perfectly executing a perfect strategy in Football will almost always lead to a win, whereas doing the same in baseball may only increase your odds of winning by 15, maybe 20 percent or so.

Baseball also relates to life in a much more complex way than any other sport. I mean, what a lesson to be learned that continuing to persevere despite a 70+ percent failure rate is the only route to success. And it's the only sport where failure can actually lead to a direct positive gain. A sacrifice bunt or a sacrifice fly are actually intentional failures designed to advance the overall chances of winning the game. In certain instances you can actually strike out, (a complete failure), and still make it to first base and ultimately maybe score a run and win the game. How deliciously odd is that?