Travis Sawchik’s new book Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak is wonderful. Even though its primary subject is the Pittsburgh Pirates (Sawchik covers the Pirates and MLB for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) it is must reading for anyone interested in modern major league baseball, regardless of which baseball cap you wear when you’re cheering.
Big Data Baseball tells the story of how the Pittsburgh Pirates used advanced data and modern thinking to end 20 years of frustration.
But the book is about much more than that. What separates it from most writing about this topic is that Sawchik does a masterful job of storytelling.