Leonhard Euler
Moneyball
Recai Efe Sunay
Moneyball is a sports movie that revolves around the American baseball team Oakland Athletics and their historical baseball run in the 2002 season. This movie is particularly related to Mathematics from a point of Statistics and specifically Data Analysis. In the movie, the general manager Billy Beane and the assistant general manager Peter Brand are played by Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill respectively.
The character Peter Brand and his approach towards statistics changes the perspective towards baseball and how a baseball team should be formed. The main argument behind the movie is that players are a representation of statistics. In this sense, Peter Brand argues that Oakland Athletics can compile players with high statistical achievements but low images, old ages, uncharismatic playing styles, etc., and formulate a successful baseball team. This sole objective and math-oriented approach towards baseball comes up as a radical shift from the
approach of choosing players with good images, that can sell tickets, have signature baseball moves, and are known more for their image than their statistical achievements. In this sense Peter Brand raises a question towards Peter Brand: Do you want to look good as a general manager or win games? The latter answer requires a full commitment to Mathematics. Through this commitment, Peter Brand calculates that Oakland Athletics would have to win 99/162 or 61.1% of the games.
Furthermore, to calculate how many home runs should be scored and how many home runs could be allowed, the Oakland Athletics use the Pythagorean expectation equation. Even though more tough math was involved, near the end of the movie, it all works out. With a home run by one of the newly added players, Hatteberg, the Oakland Athletics achieved a record of 20 consecutive wins. This amount of consecutive wins is one of the highest in major league baseball history. Furthermore, in accordance with the number of wins, it turns out that the Oakland A’s managed to get $200,000 worth of players to achieve as much success and wins as players with $3,000,000 worth would. This is especially important because the Oakland A’s was a team that had far less capital than many of the teams competing in major league baseball such as the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Hence, being untraditional and in this case math-oriented was the only way they could compete with these teams.
Even though the Athletics won the American League West, they sadly fell short of the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series. However, the Oakland Athletics’ unexpected success didn’t go unnoticed. The Boston Red Sox ended up offering Billy Beane a $12.500.000 dollar salary to become the general manager. Even though Beane denied the Red Sox’ offer, his legacy lives on. Because the Boston Red Sox used Beane and Brand’s mathematical approach and won the World Series two years afterward.
From a general standpoint, the movie Moneyball demonstrated how holistic Math is in every aspect of our lives. It ranges far beyond classrooms and significantly impacts even the most unexpected places such as the baseball field. This grand impact of math creates an exciting epiphany about how many other industries, sports, and areas math could influence in the future.
References
“Moneyball.” IMDb, 23 Sept. 2011, www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/.
“The Math Behind Moneyball: True Story.” Mathnasium, www.mathnasium.com/waco/news/the-math-behind-moneyball-true-story. Accessed 29 May 2023.