Astroball: The New Way to Win It All

by Ben Reiter

In an age in which we are deluged by data, with the specter of job-killing artificial intelligence on the horizon, positive results for the Astros could demonstrate that success is not a matter of man or machine, but of man plus machine—as long as man remains in charge.

“Just because it feels right,” he told himself, “doesn’t mean it is right.”

“Whether you sell insurance or you’re a school teacher, obviously the people you work with can make you more productive or less productive,” James told The Seattle Times. “Baseball would be quite a remarkable activity if it was the one place in the world where your co-workers didn’t have any impact on how productive you were.”

“Just because you can’t quantify it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,”

won Game 2 by the same lopsided score. Though they lost Game 3—the winning pitcher was one the Red Sox had acquired from the Cardinals three years before, a diminutive fireballer named Joe Kelly—the Astros then closed out a three-games-to-one series victory just four days after it started. That clinching win was due to a contribution from a now unlikely source: Carlos Beltrán, who had finished the regular season batting a career-low .231, with just 14 homers and 51 RBIs. By October, the 40-year-old had become not just a designated hitter, but a part-time one. Thirteen