Weekend in New England; The 2013 Sloan Sports Conference

During his time as head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Forrest Gregg one summer reported to training camp newly married. During a press conference, he was engaged in small talk with reporters when he was asked how he enjoyed the honeymoon. Ever the head coach, Gregg replied, “I won’t know until I review the film.” After having given a thirty minute presentation at the Sloan Analytics Sports Conference this past weekend, I know just how he feels.

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2013 Preview: New York Yankees

Boy, I haven’t seen this much grave dancing since Seal Team Six accomplished its mission. Just about everyone is throwing dirt on the 2013 prospects of the New York Yankees with most accounts citing the decline of the Yankees lineup. On ESPN.com, Andrew Marchand opined it’s the worst Yankees lineup since 1991. C’mon. First of all, let’s consider the baseline. If I look at the SI Swimsuit Issue and tell you that’s the worst Kate Upton has looked since 2010, I’m not really saying much, am I?

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2013 Preview: Tampa Bay Rays

After reviewing the 2011 season, I concluded that the Boston Red Sox were the unluckiest team in the major leagues. Not because they tasted improbable defeat in game 162 resulting in a missed postseason berth, but because they were even in a position to blow an all-but-certain playoff berth in historic fashion. The beneficiaries of that bad luck were, of course, the Tampa Bay Rays. So perhaps it’s evidence of a universe in balance that, in 2012, the Rays were the unluckiest team in Major League Baseball.

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2013 Preview: Houston Astros

For each of the last nine years the AL has outplayed its NL counterparts in interleague play – often in dominating fashion. Therefore, the thinking is, if the Astros lost 107 games in 2012 (and 106 in 2011) playing in the NL they’d have been a lock to lose at the barest minimum 110 games – and possibly many more – playing in the AL.

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2013 Preview: Seattle Mariners

Led most visibly by ESPN.com’s fantasy baseball guru, Eric Karabell, the Seattle Mariners have become this year’s sexy Spring Training pick to reach the playoffs. In a piece written last week, Karabell laid out the reasons Seattle could be this year’s Baltimore or Oakland and, in truth, he simply expressed what a number of people have said to me as well. The Mariners, you will hear, will score a lot more runs this year because they’ve acquired legitimate power threats in Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse. Additionally – and I swear you’re going to read this in every Seattle preview as if it’s a breathless revelation – the Mariners have moved in the fences at Safeco! (Sometimes I think people forget that, unlike the domes in America’s newest stadiums, the fences aren’t going to be retractable. They will also be closer when opposing teams are on offense as well.)

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