Dodgers: Using LAD title to criticize analytics is dead wrong

The Dodgers won the World Series BECAUSE of analytics, not in spite of it. The Rays were just, uh, very stupid.

When the Dodgers topped the Rays in Game 6 of the World Series, two distinct groups of people celebrated: Los Angeles residents, and analytics grave-dancers.

Because, you see, this contest specifically was the death knell for the dreaded analytics in the minds of many. Spreadsheets told Kevin Cash to remove his starter, Blake Snell, before he could face the top of the order for a dreaded third time. When Cash got back to the dugout after making the move, he got fist-bumped by a computer. The decision was entirely played on paper, where the game simply should NOT reside.

This is all interesting discourse, except for one small detail: The Dodgers thrive on analytics. They’re run by Andrew Friedman, the ex-Rays disciple who borderline perfected this whole thing.

Oh, and most analytical minds? They freaking hated the pre-planned Snell move.

This game shouldn’t serve as an example of why analytics should be removed from baseball. Rather, it should be a monument to why stupidity has no place in this game.

Friedman and those of his ilk used undervalued metrics and other analytical tools to help the Dodgers uncover players that no one else prioritized, like Justin Turner and converted catcher Kenley Jansen. Analytics isn’t some big, ugly monster forcing the Rays to make poor decisions at gunpoint. It’s an evaluation tool, allowing big-market teams to maximize their resources while thinking like a small-market squad.

Bullpenning games is analytics, too, by the way, which is how the Dodgers won Game 6 despite the clear pitching disadvantage in the series.

Kevin Cash really mucked up this World Series by displaying zero feel for the moment and treating Blake Snell’s two-hit shutout like a run-of-the-mill five-inning outing. That was a mistake.

But nobody really batted an eye as Dave Roberts pulled Clayton Kershaw at similar points during this series, twice in victories, because we’ve seen enough Kershaw over the years to know that the combination of statistics and in-game reflexes were probably meeting in the middle here.

Cash’s nightmare was our dream scenario, but those around the baseball landscape lamenting analytics should realize that they’re the reason the Dodgers were here in the first place, constructed the way they were. It’s also the reason for the team’s meteoric rise in the national league.

The World Champion Dodgers are the models for the damned thing, and the Rays have a lot to learn about situational awareness. Sorry, haters of the metric.

Max Muncy has epic troll for Rob Manfred after Dodgers’ World Series win

Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Max Muncy trolled Rob Manfred on Instagram after the team's World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays.