My very first season is missing from the sheet because at that time it didn’t occur to me I might want that information, and several seasons’ worth of statistics are less reliable than the others because they were tracked by league scorekeepers and I transcribed them later. But this is also precisely the kind of low-stakes record-keeping that matches the effort required to do it well enough to provide actionable information.
Generally, I’m a rules-follower. I don’t cut lines. I use crosswalks. I pay transit fares even when I know no one’s checking. Abiding by agreements is valuable because when fewer people honor just agreements — which is what most rules boil down to — then trust degrades and that way lies disorder, chaos, and misery. Which brings me to Yankees utility player Jose Caballero and MLB’s pitch clock.
I wasn’t there to pass judgment on whether Portland and Seattle are “good,” but my experiences did prompt me to think a lot about San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, and the anxieties about my city that apparently motivate a good chunk of its leadership, which in turn get transferred to media members and everyday people who take their cues from those leaders.
The topline takeaway: Teams are starting catchers at DH at higher rates than they have in recent years, and at a higher rate than any other season for which I’ve checked the numbers.
This is a brief story about a piece of art I made 20 years ago.
This week, I wrote about my wild NBA Draft Lottery idea, my wild MLB roster construction idea, my super-easy lentils preparation, and more. LFG.
GO DIRECTLY TO
- Improving the NBA Draft Lottery
- The San Francisco Giants Have Been a Boring Kind of Bad
- Do Not Ever Let the Casino Into Your Pocket
- I Almost Hit a Home Run
- The Root of Anti-AI Rage
- Lentils: Hell, Yeah
- What Makes a “Top 15 TV Show”
- “The Ten Year Affair”
This week, I wrote about Donald Trump’s pro wrestling persona, one’s dominant eye, “Project Hail Mary”, a great baseball book from the 1970s, my recent trip to Ireland, and more. LFG.
GO DIRECTLY TO
- Trump’s Pro Wrestling Logic
- “The Summer Game” by Roger Angell
- Do You Know Your Dominant Eye? What About Baseball Players?
- MLBGuessr
- The Helen DeWitt Drama
- Slop Is Not Inevitable; You Don’t Have to Use It
- “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
- Ireland
GO DIRECTLY TO:
- I Want to Know if AI Is a Washing Machine
- Rich People Are Not Necessarily Smart: Exhibit Bajillion
- “A Miraculous Escape”
- The Climate Apocalypse Continues
- It’s Time For Baseball
- My Home Page Is a Motherfucking Website
This month, I’ve written about a cool philosophy book, how I've been radicalized against cars, a critically-acclaimed TV show I’m finally watching, Barack Obama’s opinion on aliens, our gambling dystopia, and more. LFG.
GO DIRECTLY TO:
- Are You Competitive? Know “The Score”
- Which MLB Teams Are Trying to Win?
- American Gambling Culture Is Bad
- “Halt and Catch Fire”
- Driving Like a Maniac Should Have Consequences
- The Worst Class I Took in College
- Barack Obama Got Asked About Aliens…
- Sam Altman Doesn’t Value Humanity
- A Good Toilet Seat
- More About My Next Book
January is hard. Find joy and hope where we can. LFG.
GO DIRECTLY TO:
- “Heated Rivalry” and “Heartstopper”
- Don’t Let Anyone Tell You MLB “Needs a Salary Cap”
- More of What I’ve Learned From Playing Immaculate Grid
- Compelling Darts
- How to Win at Monopoly and Lose All Your Friends
- You Should Talk to Friends
- In Case You Needed Another Reason to Watch “Taskmaster”
- Remember Martin Prince? He’s Back, in Tattoo Form
- Greenland
- Occupation of Minnesota
- An Example of Journalism That Doesn’t Call Things What They Are
- The Most Electric Movie Experiences
- My Next Book