Articles

Reviving (sort of) an old project, creating our own version of March Madness, and you'll be invited to submit a bracket in a later segment of the series.

Post 3 17 2016

By Bill James (Mar 17, 2016)

Six short pieces about various things.

Underrated is Overrated

By Steven Goldleaf (Mar 12, 2016)

Do we have any followers of the American League here? Excellent!

By John Dewan (Mar 08, 2016)

Which teams will flash the most leather this year?

Hold the Artichoke

By Daniel Marks (Mar 06, 2016)

Because a writer writes, and I can't believe I had this conversation

By John Dewan (Mar 03, 2016)

Time to gaze into the crystal ball.

Which Team Will Surprise in 2016?

By Dave Fleming (Mar 02, 2016)

Looking for a surprise team in 2016.

Arguing with the Readers

By Bill James (Feb 29, 2016)

Just trying to explain...

"Heroes Get Remembered but Legends Never Die"

By Daniel Marks (Feb 29, 2016)

An Oscar-night reflection on a classic baseball-themed movie

Trump. As in Rump.

By Bill James (Feb 23, 2016)

What has $4.5 Billion and worse hair than a two-year-old onion?

The Most Improved Pitch Framers

By John Dewan (Feb 22, 2016)

Catching that extra edge.

Men of a Certain Age (Bracket)

By Daniel Marks (Feb 20, 2016)

Taking a look back at position players and their values in various age brackets

Does Pitching Matter?

By Dave Fleming (Feb 18, 2016)

On the shifting correlation between quality pitching and the World Series.

The Laughing Devil's Final Tag

By Steven Goldleaf (Feb 12, 2016)

A short piece of fiction (not all that short) taken from an anecdote that Bill once told.

Cespedes' Twin

By Dave Fleming (Feb 09, 2016)

Finding a parallel for the Mets outfielder.

Baseball Hall of Fame Tournament Project - Part 3 - Reviewing the Mockup

By Daniel Marks (Feb 06, 2016)

The Finality of the Finished Finale. Finally.

Is Segura An Improvement Over Ahmed?

By John Dewan (Feb 05, 2016)

Let's look at the total performance.

By Steven Goldleaf (Feb 04, 2016)

Small Sample-Size Theater: Part One of a Look at Families of Pitchers

3 RFs

By Bill James (Feb 03, 2016)

Random Observations about three right fielders.

2015 National League Game Scores

By John Dewan (Jan 31, 2016)

The highs and lows

The Ray Searage Effect

By John Dewan (Jan 27, 2016)

Magic in Pittsburgh

By Bill James (Jan 21, 2016)

The Game it Is a'changin'

God Is Not Great

By Steven Goldleaf (Jan 20, 2016)

(apologies to Christopher Hitchens)

Anatomy of a Classic

By Bill James (Jan 14, 2016)

The KU/Oklahoma Triple Overtime Game

By Bill James (Jan 12, 2016)

Trying to think through when we can vote for a Reliever for the Hall of Fame.

Estimating the Closer Leverage Index by Simulation

By Bill James (Jan 11, 2016)

Research.

Baseball Hall of Fame Tournament Project-Part 2-Review of Cooperstown Inductees

By Daniel Marks (Jan 09, 2016)

Part 2 of 3. Taking a look back at the actual Hall of Fame election history. Facts, figures, and trends

Relief Pitcher Leaderboards

By John Dewan (Jan 08, 2016)

Going beyond Saves.

2016 BJOL HOF Results

By Dave Fleming (Jan 06, 2016)

The results of our eighth annual effort to parallel the BBWAA.

Relief Pitchers and the Hall

By Dave Fleming (Jan 05, 2016)

Trying to evaluate the careers of relief pitchers.

Baseball Hall of Fame Tournament Project - Historical Recap & Review - Part 1

By Daniel Marks (Jan 02, 2016)

Part 1 reviews the results of the 7 prior tournaments. Part 2 (later) will focus on the process. Also in Part 1 - "O Biggio, Where Art Thou?"

Good Luck!

By Steven Goldleaf (Jan 01, 2016)

All's Well That Ends Well

Veeck as in Dreck

By Steven Goldleaf (Dec 26, 2015)

In which we strap a beloved baseball autobiography to a polygraph machine for Christmas.

Finding Balance

By Daniel Marks (Dec 26, 2015)

In life, and baseball, there must be balance. Lessons from Mr. Miyagi, and a tribute to "El Come Dulce"

2021 Baseball Hall of Fame Election Tournament - Final Results

By Daniel Marks (Dec 24, 2015)

And the 4 winners are.......

2021 Baseball Hall of Fame Election Tournament - Final Round

By Daniel Marks (Dec 21, 2015)

Second round results and final round matchups. Who will be the "Final 4" that will be inducted?

Luke and Duke Montz

By Bill James (Dec 21, 2015)

Working toward a Question.

Luke and Duke Montz

By Bill James (Dec 21, 2015)

Explaining the Montz Brothers.

2021 Baseball Hall of Fame Election Tournament - Round 2

By Daniel Marks (Dec 17, 2015)

First round results and second round matchups

Looking for J-Hey

By Dave Fleming (Dec 15, 2015)

Trying to find comparables to the newest Cub OF.

Ender Inciarte Was Not A Throw In

By John Dewan (Dec 15, 2015)

The Braves picked up a good one.

2021 Baseball Hall of Fame Election Tournament

By Daniel Marks (Dec 14, 2015)

We've got a new name......and it's time to vote

More Log5 stuff

By Bill James (Dec 14, 2015)

Article responds to an off-site publication.

Small Announcement

By Bill James (Dec 12, 2015)

Just a little thing. . .

The Log5 Method, Etc, Etc, Etc.

By Bill James (Dec 11, 2015)

A long, long theoretical article.

The Hall of Fame Vote Will Not Be Mocked!

By Daniel Marks (Dec 09, 2015)

It's more of a "mock-up", if you will. Reviving an old Bill James Online Project....

High Schools and Hometowns

By Daniel Marks (Dec 06, 2015)

A review of high schools that have been exceptionally good at producing Major Leaguers.....and other hometown observations.

On Raffy and Consistency

By Dave Fleming (Dec 04, 2015)

Some musings on Rafael Palmeiro.

Digit Counts

By Bill James (Dec 03, 2015)

Just messing around with the numbers.

By Daniel Marks (Dec 02, 2015)

A historical look at MLB franchises by position to find the cream of the crop. And who is "Catcher U."?

The Royals’ Low Strikeout Rate

By John Dewan (Dec 02, 2015)

When less is more.

Followup to "Eddie Gaedel v. MLB"

By Steven Goldleaf (Nov 30, 2015)

A short tale fleshing out my previous piece about little people in MLB

Strong Franchises and Weak

By Bill James (Nov 30, 2015)

Introduces a method to mark periods of strength and weakness in the history of each franchise.

“Who Created All the Stars?” (part 3)

By Steven Goldleaf (Nov 24, 2015)

Finally, the long-awaited conclusion to the series!

The Three Man Starting Rotation

By Bill James (Nov 20, 2015)

Article advocates an alternative to the currently dominant method of running a pitching staff.

2016 BJOL HOF Ballot

By Dave Fleming (Nov 20, 2015)

Get your vote on.

By Daniel Marks (Nov 19, 2015)

Try saying that three times fast....

Kansas City Then and Now

By Bill James (Nov 18, 2015)

Eventually this article relates to the present. . .

The Andrelton Simmons Trade

By John Dewan (Nov 17, 2015)

You don't often see an elite defender traded.

“Who Created All The Stars?” (part 2)

By Steven Goldleaf (Nov 10, 2015)

A somewhat more objective and systematic approach to All-Star game selections and mis-selections than Part 1 took

Eight Men Above

By Daniel Marks (Nov 10, 2015)

Examining teams that were able to field 8 positions above the median

Stolen Base Times Revisited

By John Dewan (Nov 09, 2015)

A little explanation.

By Dave Fleming (Nov 09, 2015)

A (second) apology to Paul Simon for this.

Royal Revolution

By Dave Fleming (Nov 05, 2015)

What makes the Royals so good?

The 2015 Fielding Bible Awards

By John Dewan (Nov 01, 2015)

The envelope please.

Goal Achievement

By Daniel Marks (Oct 27, 2015)

A Soccer Tale of a Different Kind of Winner

Stolen Base Times

By John Dewan (Oct 26, 2015)

A new feature in the next Bill James Handbook

A Season of Tournaments

By Bill James (Oct 26, 2015)

What If (2)?

Round Court Basketball

By Bill James (Oct 24, 2015)

What If?

By John Dewan (Oct 22, 2015)

Some players are just shiftless

Balance of Trade

By Daniel Marks (Oct 21, 2015)

A look at baseball trades....the bad, the big, and the balanced (mostly the balanced)

By Steven Goldleaf (Oct 09, 2015)

Inquiries into how All-Star teams have been chosen and mis-chosen, how that process might be improved, and how the Game itself could be made more watchable.

Rules of Enshrinement

By Daniel Marks (Oct 07, 2015)

Reviewing and comparing various Halls of Fame, their processes, and their results...along with other random thoughts

Tinkering with The Favorite Toy

By Bill James (Oct 02, 2015)

Method Research

By John Dewan (Sep 29, 2015)

Kevin Kiermaier, anyone?

The First Major League Game I Ever Saw

By Bill James (Sep 28, 2015)

Nostalgia.

By John Dewan (Sep 25, 2015)

There could be some changes in who gets called up to the podium.

A Sense of Relief

By Daniel Marks (Sep 24, 2015)

Taking a look at some of the great relief pitcher seasons

NO MORE FAKE IGNMENT! WE WANT REAL IGNMENT!

By Steven Goldleaf (Sep 19, 2015)

A proposal so reasonable that maybe Maui Mike will keep his finger off the ejector-seat button until I finish making it.

By John Dewan (Sep 14, 2015)

At least from 2003.

A Weird and Petty Beauty

By Bill James (Sep 11, 2015)

About Politics, and Hair.

Musical Chairs Playoffs

By Steven Goldleaf (Sep 10, 2015)

All the tension of the kindergartners’ game combined with all the dignity of professional baseball.

Washington's Nuclear Option

By Dave Fleming (Sep 09, 2015)

What can the Nats do to salvage a disappointing season?

The New Originals

By Daniel Marks (Sep 09, 2015)

A look at franchise rosters in a trade-free, non-free agent, expansion era universe

DH for Defense

By John Carter (Sep 09, 2015)

See if you can spot the pattern.

By Bill James (Sep 04, 2015)

COmmentary on the Tom Brady case.

By Bill James (Sep 01, 2015)

A short research piece about the predictive significance of recent starts by pitchers.

Who Are The 2015 MVP Candidates?

By John Dewan (Aug 31, 2015)

Let us count the runs.

By Dave Fleming (Aug 31, 2015)

Another pitcher underrated by traditional metrics, and the big issue facing baseball.

That Sure Was One Utley Career, Huh?

By Daniel Marks (Aug 30, 2015)

Let's cut to the "Chase" when evaluating his Hall of Fame chances

Willfulness At Work

By Steven Goldleaf (Aug 28, 2015)

A twenty-five-year-old book review, requested by many BJOL subscribers (well, two), with a little note about how it came to get written.

Cannon Arms in 2015

By John Dewan (Aug 28, 2015)

It's been a good year for throwing out runners.

Offensive Efficiency from Consistency

By Bill James (Aug 28, 2015)

The hidden advantage of the Royals' style offense.

Percentile Players

By Bill James (Aug 25, 2015)

Who is that guy in the 95th percentile?

What if We Sent the Players Back to College?

By Daniel Marks (Aug 24, 2015)

A retro look at constructing all-time college baseball rosters....and a faithful nod to a cult classic

A Gigantic Conundrum for the Commissioner to Solve

By Steven Goldleaf (Aug 23, 2015)

A brief digression, before we turn to other ludicrous scenarios, on the long and short of some issues raised by my last column

Midgets' Class-Action Suit vs. MLB

By Steven Goldleaf (Aug 14, 2015)

A legal grievance against MLB, pending for 64 years this week, and larger issues (though nearly any issue is bound to be larger than Eddie Gaedel) regarding roster size.

The Ballad of Billy the Kid (featuring Vincent Van Go, Zamboni and the Schnozz)

By Daniel Marks (Aug 12, 2015)

A look at baserunners and how often they do (or don’t) score

What a Month for the White Sox

By John Dewan (Aug 07, 2015)

At the bat and in the field...

Discontinuing Continuation

By Bill James (Aug 07, 2015)

Essay arguing for limits on "continuation" rules in baseball.

Back to School Notes

By Bill James (Aug 07, 2015)

Six unrelated notes about pickoffs, Monopolies, and Continuation Rules.

Thrown From a Moving Vehicle

By Steven Goldleaf (Aug 06, 2015)

This is the first in a series of articles about radical changes to MLB guaranteed to get the traditionalist fan's blood boiling and other fans' blood merely simmering.

OK…You Can Play……But Can You Manage?

By Daniel Marks (Aug 06, 2015)

Taking a look at the individuals who were the best at blending the dual careers of playing and managing through a new (but familiar) tool: Manager-Player Number

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