QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 1, 2011 -> 08:41 PM)
I feel like so many people miss the point of advanced stats so the entire "controversy" for lack of a better word is a misnomer. Baseball has ALWAYS been a game that's heavy into stats so it's not like it's anything new... all the percentages and things that you see are the result of actual games being played and the marking of trends and whatnot. Without them, you'd basically just be pulling stuff out of your ass. Some of the more "mainstream" sabermetric stats are pretty straightforward, not even hard to understand at all. They're not different stats, they're better stats. And yes I understand how stat geeks can really come off as treating stats as gospel, and I roll my eyes too when it's obvious to the world that Player X has sucked hardcore and someone tries to make an excuse for him with his BABIP but that's not what I'm talking about. To just flat-out reject them just because you don't like them so you can just stubbornly go with your "gut" or whatever (the whole "clutch hitting" thing comes to mind) doesn't make any sense at all.
well said. You're right, stats have always been around and always valued. Hell, trading cards with stats are damn near as old as the game itself.