Major League Baseball Spring Training is well underway in Florida and Arizona, so it’s time to check in on Clear Thinkers favorite, Bill James (previous posts here, here, here, and here), the father of the statistical analysis of baseball called sabermetrics.
In this paper, the always insightful James addresses his increasing recognition of the limitations of sabermetrics:

I have come to realize, over the last three years, that a wide range of conclusions in sabermetrics may be unfounded, due to the reliance on a commonly accepted method which seems, intuitively, that it ought to work, but which in practice may not actually work at all. The problem has to do with distinguishing between transient and persistent phenomena, . . .

James then goes on to explore eight commonly-held sabermetric beliefs about baseball and explains why a majority of them may not be as well-understood as sabermetricians think. The primary reason? Essentially luck.
Then, to get you in the mood for listening to the radio broadcast of your favorite team, listen to this hilarious NPR spoof of what many radio broadcasts of baseball games — including those of the Stros — have become in the age of ubiquitous commercial endorsements.