I forget who brought this statistic up a while back BUT.......The A's are living proof that a high run differential doesn't always = success. Currently they're 4th in the league at +50 and yet there record is only 39-47 As the announcers just pointed out you also need good defense & good pitching. 2 things the A's lack.
...I wonder who would have fared better; Beane, with Cashman's budget?...Or Cashman, with Beane's budget? ...say what you will, but Beane was way ahead of the curve on analytics.
The people I feel for are the A's fans. You know that as soon as anyone on your team becomes good you're not going to see him around much longer.
I guess it cuts down on retiring numbers. With only 5 retired to date, Hunter (91), Fingers (93), Jackson (04), Eckersley (05) & Henderson (09) there's not much chance of another one going up anytime in the near future.
Allow me Rick, my pleasure- I happen to be one of those who recognize and see the connection of having a plus run differential and being a GOOD team. How "good"? Let's pick some cherries...take a look around, how many teams are there in first place with a minus run diff? The year before? The year before? Let's use a nice round number for starters, the past 10 seasons. Not a single team in that period played in the WS with a minus reg season run diff. Only TWICE (past 10 seasons) has a ML team with a minus reg season run differential finished in first place. That's 2 out of 60 teams if you're keeping count. Only ONCE in the past 10 years has a team (2006 Rockies) finished in last place with a plus run differential, by one run. That's ONE out of 60 teams if you're keeping count. Yes, I recall past discussions on this subject and historical teams were also brought up such as the 1969 "Amazing Mets" who happened to have a plus 91 run differential. And the 1960 Pirates who upset the Yanks - actually having a better run differential than those Yankees. I know you couldn't actually believe you were debunking this compelling evidence regarding final regular season plus/minus run differentials by mentioning this current A's team. Nobody ever said there were guarantees....plenty of games played by plenty of teams through many years but as far as being a first place team...and a WS team...the percentages are tremendously favorable for teams with PLUS RUN DIFFERENTIAL, Same goes for the OTHER way down through the years.... if a team finishes in last place, chances are great they also finished with a negative run differential. These A's happen to be a huge flukey abberation..... You'll be hard pressed finding teams who finish in last place and/or 8-9 games under .500 with +50 run differential. Talk about CHERRY PICKING ? Bringing up these A's in the face of obvious past and present overwhelming numbers is one heck of a cherry pick.
Beane kicks Cashman's butt with the same budget. That's not even debatable....the science is settled.
