Smart baseball: the story behind the old stats that are ruining the game, the new ones that are running it, and the right way to think about baseball

Introduction

Smrt baseball. Below average : the fundamental flaws of batting average ; Pitcher wins : one guy gets the credit for everyone else's work ; RBI : baseball's unreliable narrator ; Holtzman's folly : how the save rule has ruined baseball ; Stolen bases : crime only pays if you never get caught ; Fielding percentage : the absolute worst way to measure defense ; Bulfinch's baseball mythology : clutch hitters, lineup protection, and other things that don't exist

Smart baseball. OBP is life : why on-base percentage is the measure of a hitter ; The power and the glory : slugging percentage and OPS ; wOBA/WRC : the ultimate measure of the hitter (until the next one) ; ERA and the riddle of pitching versus defense ; WPA : measuring clutch, if you must ; The black box : how baseball teams measure defense today ; No puns intended : going to WAR to value the whole player

Smarter baseball. Applied math : looking at Hall of Fame elections using newer stats ; No trouble with the curve : how scouting works, and how the statistical revolution is changing it ; The next big thing is here, the revolution's near : MLB statcast ; The edge of tomorrow : where the future of stats might take us

Epilogue.