Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Unbalanced.
The Association's New Villain
Personableness can carry a lot of weight. Whether or not someone likes a player can determine the trajectory of the player's career. In sports, being likable impacts the athlete's legacy. That is what the great ones are playing for. How guys are remembered, whether fair or unfair, in a lot of cases is determined by things that occur off the field of play.
By Kyle Jordan Ferguson8 years ago in Unbalanced
Analyzing the Henrique/Vatanen Trade
Early season trades involving big name players have that extra level of excitement attached to them. When a trade goes through at the deadline, we're sort of expecting it. We know it's coming. When a trade involving big names comes through in November, it catches us off guard, and carries with it a new wrinkle of expectation.
By Kyle Vandenberg8 years ago in Unbalanced
Rethinking Hitter's Counts, Continued
Last time around, I wrote about the general tendency of pitchers to throw more and more fastballs as they fell down in the count despite the fact that they can throw offspeed pitches for strikes nearly as often as they do fastballs. It's a case where pitchers often see better results throwing their offspeed pitches but there was a lot I couldn't address through xwOBA, Exit Velo, and pitch usage alone.
By Owen McGrattan8 years ago in Unbalanced
An Exercise in Generating Similarity Scores
In the process of writing an article, one of the more frustrating things to do is generate comparisons to a given player. Whether I am trying to figure out who most closely aligns with Rougned Odor or Miguel Sano, it is a time-consuming and inexact process to find good comparisons. So, I tried to simplify the process and make it more exact—using similarity scores.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
First Quarter NHL Award Leaders
The first quarter of the NHL season is behind us, which means that teams and players are beginning to settle in and find their form. Players have set a tone for their play and teams have jostled into early position, hoping to set themselves up for playoff success. At the 20+ game mark, we are able to see the 2017-18 season taking shape, with a few big surprises and some questions left to be answered.
By Kyle Vandenberg8 years ago in Unbalanced
An Apology Letter To The Eastern Conference
Dear Middle of the Pack Eastern Conference Teams, Over the summer, the NBA experienced one of the most intoxicating offseasons in sports history. While the constant movement of stars had us glued us to Twitter to watch the ongoing battle for breaking news dominance between Woj and Shams, it all came at your expense. For each star that left via trade or free agency, your relevance diminished.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Ronald Acuna: The Future of the Atlanta Braves
Ronald Acuna came into the start of the 2017 season with one question to answer: Can he stay healthy and perform at a high level for a full season? That question was soon answered. Acuna had an outstanding 2017, which was his first full pro season since making his pro debut in 2015. The Venezuelan hit .325 with 21 homers, including stops in High A, Double-A, and ending in Triple-A with the Gwinnett Braves, where he tore up AAA pitching, hitting an astounding .344 in 55 games in the International League.
By Quinn Allen8 years ago in Unbalanced
The Best And Worst Sides To Put Out On Thanksgiving
Unless you don’t like your family, Thanksgiving is an enjoyable holiday. The premise is simple: be grateful for all that you have, no matter what. It’s a sweet thesis. Unlike Christmas, which is most people’s favorite holiday, Thanksgiving doesn’t focus on the exchange of presents or anything like that. Nope. It’s all about the food -- the sides, especially.
By Zach Cronin8 years ago in Unbalanced
Unanswered Questions From How to Get Away With Murder's Midseason Finale
The first half of Season 4 of How to Get Away With Murder concluded on Thursday, and there were many shocking revelations. Simon Drake (Behzad Dabu) was the latest victim of the Keating Four's shenanigans, Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) breathtakingly helped deliver the baby of an unconscious Laurel Castillo (Karla Souza) and Michaela Pratt (Aja Naomi King) took over as the authority of the Keating Four.
By Sandy Mui8 years ago in Unbalanced
One and Done
A new college football season has nearly come and gone without a familiar face. Bob Stoops shocked college football fans earlier this summer with his retirement. As a fan and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, I felt a few things: sadness, appreciation, but also uneasiness. It is hard to say a program that saw so much success in an almost 20-year period underachieved.
By Kyle Jordan Ferguson8 years ago in Unbalanced
