Tuesday, February 28, 2012

"TRIVIA" QUESTIONS PRECEDING MONEYBALL FUNERAL SERVICE...

Buy the French DVD--reportedly dubbed into Français by Simon,
Theodore, and Alvin...who also reveal just what precisely were
the inducements that got "M'sieur Brad" to play Billy Beane...
Yes, coming soon! To be entitled, in honor of the Oscars getting it right: "Shutting Out Moneyball."

But first, three "trivia questions" that will be semi-germane to the discussion in that oh-so-acrid essay. Both deal with levels of "in-season play," and they are referencing a subset that's one of the lengthier measures of team performance within a season (108 games, or what is now two-thirds of a season--prior to expansion, it worked out to 70%, but who's counting?).

Trivia question 1: From 1901-2011, how many times has the team with the best record in any 108-game segment (in the ranges from 1-108 to 55-162) played over .700 ball during that stretch?

Trivia question 2: How many times has the team that's produced the best record over a 108-game stretch in any individual season NOT wound up as a pennant winner or playoff team? We might call this "dropping the ball."

Trivia question 3: Per #2, what team is the most recent franchise to "drop the ball"?

In case you were wondering: you can't Google these, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way...