The Sunday Read: ‘How Analytics Marginalized Baseball’s Superstar Pitchers’
The Daily20 Apr 2025

The Sunday Read: ‘How Analytics Marginalized Baseball’s Superstar Pitchers’

One day at Wrigley Field in Chicago last May, Paul Skenes was pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, carving out a small piece of baseball history in his second big-league game. He struck out the first seven batters he faced. By the end of the fifth inning, he had increased his strikeout total to 10. More impressive, he hadn’t allowed a hit.

Over the past two decades, analysts have identified a treasure trove of competitive advantages for teams willing to question baseball’s established practices.

Perhaps the most significant of competitive advantages was hidden in plain sight, at the center of the diamond. Starting pitchers were traditionally taught to conserve strength so they could last deep into games. Throwing 300 innings in a season was once commonplace; in 1969 alone, nine pitchers did it. But at some definable point in each game, the data came to reveal, a relief pitcher becomes a more effective option than the starter, even if that starter is Sandy Koufax or Tom Seaver — or Paul Skenes.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Episoder(2752)

Is Congress About to Kill This Local Radio Station?

Is Congress About to Kill This Local Radio Station?

From the moment President Trump and Republicans took control of Washington this year, they set out to turn their longtime threats against public media, which they see as biased, into action.Now, a pie...

11 Jul 202532min

What to Expect From Trump’s New Trade Drama

What to Expect From Trump’s New Trade Drama

After months of delaying his most extreme tariffs, President Trump is now threatening to revive the most aggressive version of his global trade war.America’s trading partners, investors and consumers ...

10 Jul 202531min

Trump’s Top Aides Spread the Epstein Conspiracy. Now They Are Trying to Kill It.

Trump’s Top Aides Spread the Epstein Conspiracy. Now They Are Trying to Kill It.

For months, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that they would expose the hidden, potentially sinister truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019.But over the past few days, the...

9 Jul 202521min

A Love Letter to Camp Mystic

A Love Letter to Camp Mystic

On Monday evening, the death toll from the flooding in Central Texas rose past 100. A single place accounted for 27 of those deaths: Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian summer camp for girls.Erin Pai...

8 Jul 202525min

A Dark Moment for Journalism — and Devastation in Texas

A Dark Moment for Journalism — and Devastation in Texas

Last week, when Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, announced a $16 million settlement with President Trump over editing of a segment of “60 Minutes,” many of the network’s journalists were fur...

7 Jul 202534min

‘Modern Love’: To Share or Not To Share? How Location Sharing Is Changing Our Relationships

‘Modern Love’: To Share or Not To Share? How Location Sharing Is Changing Our Relationships

When the Modern Love podcast asked listeners how location sharing is affecting their relationships, the responses they got were all over the map. Some people love this technology. Some hate it. But ei...

6 Jul 202532min

'The Interview': The Head of NATO Thinks President Trump 'Deserves All the Praise'

'The Interview': The Head of NATO Thinks President Trump 'Deserves All the Praise'

Secretary general Mark Rutte has only good things to say about the mercurial U.S. leader and his impact on the world stage. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Y...

5 Jul 202538min

How The Megabill Will Change America

How The Megabill Will Change America

After months of debate, weeks of tense negotiations and 24 hours of Republican arm-twisting, President Trump has muscled his giant domestic-policy bill through both chambers of Congress.It’s a major l...

4 Jul 202530min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-gukild-johaug
bt-dokumentar-2
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
hanna-de-heldige
fotballpodden-2
nokon-ma-ga
e24-podden
frokostshowet-pa-p5
aftenbla-bla
rss-ness
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-dannet-uten-piano