Out of Left Field

Last week we learned about the people behind the math, now we learn about the stats. Sound smart around other baseball fans when you talk about things like BABIP, wRC+, pythagorean winning %, WPA, range factor and more. Who are you calling a dummy?

Bill James, Voros McCracken and Tom Tango are all awesome math wizards who helped to revolutionize the way we analyze baseball. Before we look at how advanced stats are calculated, we look at the people who created them. Bonus: Taryn has never seen a baseball card in her life.

Tommy John and Dr. Frank Jobe took a huge risk in performing the first ever UCL reconstruction surgery, but its success made it a common performance. So what exactly is a Tommy John surgery, and how does it make a pitcher come back from what was once a career-ending injury?

Many baseball fans know the name Tommy John because of the surgery that countless pitchers have undergone, but who was the man behind the ligament replacement procedure? We look at the career of the man who today is better known for the arm fixing surgery that bears his name.

In light of last week's two PED suspensions, we take a look at how performance enhancing drugs make you better at sports, why people take them, and ask "are they really that bad?" If our solution for how to make everything completely equal disturbs you, remember, the ancient Greeks thought of it first!