Thread by @BenDuBose, So MLB lied and said they didn’t cheat in 2019, didn’t give [...]

Ben DuBose

BenDuBose

So MLB lied and said they didn’t cheat in 2019, didn’t give them any punishment for it... and yet, under this conspiracy theory, they suddenly stopped in 2020? https://twitter.com/realstanvg/status/1310372031901376512

https://twitter.com/realstanvg/status/1310372031901376512

The whole storyline is dumb, but people can say whatever they want about 2017. The Astros broke the rule, it is what it is.

But trying to distinguish 2019 from 2020, in such a conspiracy theory, is just stupid.

By the way, some fun facts involving 2019 MVP finalists about hitting in 2020:

Cory Bellinger, 2019 No. 1: 1.035 OPS to .789
AL No. 3
Christian Yelich, 2019 No. 2: 1.100 OPS to .786
Marcus Semien, 2019 No. 3: .892 OPS to .679

It's almost like there's a ton of evidence involving lots of teams that statistics from a small-sample pandemic season aren't really representative.

Also, among the Astros, there are 6 hitters left from the 2017 team. Two of them (Altuve and Reddick) basically didn't use the system, as documented by @adams_at. So basically, all of this is about four guys: Springer, Bregman, Gurriel, and Correa.
http://signstealingscandal.com/players/

Springer and Bregman have almost identical OPS numbers in 2020 (.899, .801) to 2017 (.889, .827).

There are a whopping 2 players from 2017 (Gurriel, Correa) whose numbers appreciably declined. One is now 36. The other has a chronic back condition and struggled in 2018, too.

I think those factors, and the obvious sample size issues, are the clear story. Lots of other big names have declined this year, too. And the league said they found no violations in 2019.

But even if you disagree with all of that (and people believe all sorts of conspiracies)...

... We're literally talking about two freaking players. Good lord.

You can follow @BenDuBose.

Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: