Why We Watch
Contrary to a narrative that — against all odds — has yet to die, it’s probably fair to say that most people find their way to sabermetrics not as a replacement for baseball, but as a means to appreciating baseball more fully. This, I’m almost positive, is the case for my fellow writers here at FanGraphs*, and also for the largest segment of the readership. It’s a fact: we like watching baseball. The numbers simply enhance our understanding of — and, thus, our capacity to enjoy — the experience.
*Except for Dave Allen, that is, who — as I’ve mentioned before — would like the robots to take over, stat.
Here’s my question today, though: why do we watch? Or, more specifically: all things being equal, what compels us to watch one game and not another?
Obviously, team allegiance is a powerful motivating factor. The popularity of SB Nation’s and other, unaffiliated team-specific sites is evidence enough of this. But when our fave team isn’t playing — or just for those of us without very strong ties to our hometown teams — what is it exactly that we’d like to see?
Below are five criteria that some disgustingly haphazard polling has elicited. Feel very free to provide other suggestions in the comments section.
Pitching Matchups
In any given contest, and assuming about six innings per start, a starting pitcher will be involved in roughly a third of a game’s plays. If a certain, unspecified demigod is pitching for a certain, unspecified team located near or around the Dallas Metro area, the odds of a life-altering (or merely ecstatic) viewing experience are pretty good. Make that two notable starters and, just as with so much mint-flavored gum, the pleasure is doubled.
Statistically Notable (or Otherwise Compelling) Players
If the pitching matchup is no great shakes, it’s still possible that three or four or five players between the game’s two teams offer some sort of intriguing storyline. Very often the players might share some of the traits of the All-Joyer (i.e. underrated by traditional metrics, unlucky in a way that xFIP or BABIP might explain). Also, it could just be as simple as liking the looks of a certain player*.
*Side note: while Jayson Werth’s chances of remaining with Philly have probably taken a hit, I have it on good authority that that Ruben Amaro is very interested in signing Jayson Werth’s beard to a long-term deal.
Rookies (and Debuts)
Hope is a powerful force. If it weren’t, lottery tickets would probably be way less popular. In baseball, nothing embodies hope like the rookie player. Stephen Strasburg, and his imminent arrival in the Majors, is so highly anticipated because of feats we think he might accomplish. It’s smart of us, this instinct: if we’re in the business of witnessing the amazing, it’s smartest to invest in relatively unknown, but promising, commodities.
Seasonal Context
Remember last year’s Game 163 between Detroit and Minnesota? I do. I was cheering for the Twins outta my mind despite the fact that I have almost zero connections to that team/city.
Quality of Broadcast
As I mentioned just yesterday in re CSN’s Ken “The Hawk” Harrelson, there are times when the broadcasting team makes a game less watchable. There are other cases — like when Vin Scully is wrecking the mic — where you couldn’t give two frigs about which teams were playing. (Seriously, Vin Scully is like the Platonic Grandpa. Sabermetrics schmabermetrics: if Scully says something, I accept it as incontrovertible fact, owing to his cadence and obvious capital-W Wisdom.)
Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.
addiction
All very good reasons you’ve posted. Another one that you did not mention was “we have fantasy players playing in a particular game”.
I concur.
Do you concur Dr.? I concur. Who’s not tuning into a Braves game to see the Kracken….
Damn it, why didn’t I concur?
Very true regarding Scully. Sometimes he makes me wish I lived in LA. Then I come to my senses and realize that’s probably the only good thing about LA.
I live in LA. Vin Scully is the only good thing in LA.
The reasons I’d watch a game in which I have no allegiance to would probably be something like this. In no particular order.
Pitching matchups. I just love to watch great pitching.
If I have fantasy players in it. Self explanatory.
If a guy is going for a record(Like is on pace to break the HR record or has a long hit streak)
If I turn it on and it’s close and late I hope to see a walk off homer. As long as it isn’t against my team I still love seeing the excitement from the players and fans.
If the game involves a team that my team is competing with in the standings I like to watch to root for them to lose.
Other than that I really can’t think of any other specific reasons, I just love baseball in general.
I watch Red Sox games because I’m not a fan and love the stolen base as a play.
I watch Cubs games because they have plenty of day games on weekends that are typically readily available on TV and I sneak out of my mom’s basement at night so miss a good amount of primetime games.
I watch Padres games because I love camo uniforms (ok maybe not). Throw back uni games are typically worth a tune in though.
Phiilies-SF game yesterday is why I watch. A game full of improbabilities, human error, and inches.
WHY?!?!?!? Someone should punch Bruce Bochy in the mouth for that game.
Exactly.
I think watching the games sometimes validates what we see statistically. Before advanced statistics became widely known, I remember watching Joe Cowley pitch a no-hitter for the Sox while giving up what seemed like 27 line drives. I remember Leon Durham going from a .312 batting average one year to .258 with no discernible reason why other than he seemed to keep hitting it “right at everybody”. Despite their great play, you always knew Alfonso Soriano and Andre Dawson could have been even better — if they just wouldn’t swing at so many pitches. For any fan who watches the game closely, those factors were already there. They just didn’t have names like BABIP or others, like OBP, took a bat seat to other stats, like batting average.
On the flipside, I like watching the games because these AREN’T robots playing. They are humans and they do have free will (at least we’d like to think so). They can make adjustments. They do develop something new in their arsenal or approach. They do defy projections…or conversely, fail to meet them. Dave Cameron illustrated this element of the game wonderfully in his article on Carlos Silva. Statistics do have predictive value, but sometimes players have us scrambling back to the drawing board to figure out why things didn’t come out as expected. Statistics have come a long way, but the game is still largely unpredictable — and that’s why I watch.
Agreed, John–well said all around.
I’ve always liked the Yankees and since my brother now works for the team, I watch most of their games.
Outside of the Yanks, I find myself increasingly drawn to the Rays and Rangers, simply because both teams are so young and have had only limited success in my lifetime. It helps that, as organizations, they’re pretty well run from top to bottom.
Like Carson, I’ll tune into any game Cobly Lewis starts. Other pitchers that usually draw me in: Lincecum, Halladay, Greinke, and Tommy Hanson and more recently Ubaldo and Liriano.
Finally, I like to watch compelling division games outside of the AL East. The Twins-Tigers matchups of late have been very good, and I’m very much looking forward to the Braves, Marlins, and Mets (?) giving the Phils a run for their money this year.
Tell old Bob Ross there that I don’t criticize him for cutting his afro, so he shouldn’t be criticizing how I choose to enjoy baseball
I’m sorry, am I the only one who finds Vin Scully absolutely boring? Yes, he still knows a lot about baseball since he has seen way more of it than almost any other human alive, but he’s so far past his prime. Listening to him butcher any non-anglo last name and drone on about Brett Tomko’s charcoal drawings makes me mute the television. The downside to that in LA of course is if you mute the TV and turn on the radio, he’s there too.
Yes. You are the only one. He has this on his side; he can glide into his sunset in whatever way he chooses. You always have the option of turning the sound off (which is pretty much mandatory with the Beavis and Butthead broadcast pairings for almost every other team).
I just love baseball. Why would I, an Orioles fan, make two separate trips from Lancaster, PA, to D.C. on back-to-back days last week to watch a pair of Nats-Rockies games? Because there’s nothing like being at the ballpark watching the bad breaks and the highly improbable, the frustration and the heartbreak and the delight, the collective will of the fans and the pulse of a city, the perfect mix of humanity and numbers and utter joy.
I could write pages and pages and pages, but it might start to get a bit dusty in here…
Because it’s a cool Monday evening and you’ve driven 75 minutes under a sky that portends rain to an O’s-A’s game that has no meaning and then it pours, rivulets of water in your shoes, in your hair, on your scorecard. You wait it out and, over an hour later, the game starts back up; the PA announcer says you can move to any seats you like. You sit eight seats down from the Oriole dugout amidst the semi-crazed diehards for the final futile innings. And it’s all worth it. Because there’s no place you would rather be.
Beautiful.
All about the fantasy aspect for me. Without fantasy baseball I’d probably watch 3 or 4 Braves games a week. With fantasy baseball I’m watching multiple games every single night. And not just players on my team, I pay attention to guys who are slumping on other teams that I may want to try and trade for. Knowing that a guy went 0-4 is one thing, but knowing that 2 of those 4 outs were screaming line drives hit directly at somebody can give you a leg up on the competition. Figuring out before everyone else does when a guy is going to turn it around is the foundation of a good trade.
If Scully is the Platonic Grandpa, then Hawk is the Platonic Drunken Uncle. He’s sort of charming, but only in small doses.
Carson is one cool cat.
I especially agree with the pitching matchups point. Even if only one pitcher is really good, say Timmy Lincecum, I want to sit and watch. Buerhle is another one, he works so quick and without crazy velocity, it’s just fun to see overall.
While I’m a Phils fan, I watch many Mets broadcasts for Keith and Ron Darling. Just yesterday I enjoyed a long conversation about the afternoon game of shadows (how all the different arrangements of shadow to mound and plate effect performance) and another about players’ approaches to wind and cold weather. They’re a the best mix of anecdote, baseball knowledge, and in-game commentary in baseball (and I watch a lot of games on MLB.tv).
This point is well-taken. I feel — anecdotally, at least — that players-turned-broadcasters use their expertise too little and use abstract nouns (grit, hustle) too much.
I don’t even know what specific information I’m looking for, but the case of playing in shadows seems excellent. Or another thing: when analysts say a pitcher thrives off deception — as opposed to actual stuff — what does that look like to a hitter? Examples?
In part, this expectation is unfair. Playing baseball well is a very different skill than articulating oneself in a broadcast booth. When you ask JD Drew after a game how he hit a home run, he’d say — if he were being honest — “I’m super athletic, possess superior hand-eye coordination, and have been training basically every single day of my life.”
But it might also be a question of emphasis. I like Jeff Van Gundy’s basketball analysis because he typically does some Xs and Os-type stuff; same thing, more or less, for Cris Collinsowrth in football. That’s certainly one way an ex-player (or -coach) can contribute.
Fernando Perez, who I heard speak before the season began at a Boston SABR meeting (which he drove from Connecticut in a typical New England slush-storm to attend), talked a lot about what you’ve mentioned here with the Drew example. He spoke about how we, as fans, have an unreasonable expectation of intent in baseball, ignoring the fully physical, instinctual aspects. This leads us to assume that the batter felt something on that home run, or did something special in that clutch moment, when in reality he was doing his job, like he does in every game he plays. This in turn leads to the encouragement of meaningless platitudes in interviews (“I was just feeling great today, “”I got a good pitch to hit,” etc.) which lowers the overall viewing experience.
Fernando Perez is a smart guy.
Dominating pitching performances and good movement in pitches.
Lincecum, Felix, Nolasco, Liriano, Jaime Garcia. When they’re on, it is amazing. Hopefully Strasburg too.
Albert Pujols hitting line drives that go over fences.
Adrian Beltre snagging a grounder, slowly winding up, and firing a bullet to first base.
Pitchers with bats, flailing at air.
Games that go into the 19th inning scoreless.
Jeff Clement’s sweet swing.
The smoothness with which major league infielders turn the double play.
Ichiro getting picked off by AJ Burnett twice in a game, and then later in the game hitting a walkoff homer off Mariano Rivera.
Ichiro throwing out anyone who is foolish enough to run on him.
Rafael Palmeiro not attempting to score from 3rd on a sharp single to right, because he is not foolish.
Derek Lowe grounding out to the right fielder.
Sean Casey grounding out to the left fielder.
Bobbleheads for the first 20,000 fans.
Orange Snuggies for the first 20,000 fans.
World Series Game Sevens (haven’t had one of those in a while).
Watching BP.
You can put it on the board…. YES!
^A few of my favorite things about baseball.
I feel like I’ve read this article before… Was something similar written on fangraphs?
Reuben, I wrote something along a similar theme maybe last August or September when I was considering if it might be possible to construct a metric for the most joyful players.
The intention here — while aimed at joy, assuredly — is more to isolate what elements might be important to consider for the One Night Only previews I’ve been writing lately.
So, yeah, it’s similar, but not exactly so.
All of the above reasons – Favorite team, players, pitching plus the fact that I have an interest in watching my fantasy players at work. Learning about Sabermetrics has only increased my enjoyment of the game. Sort of like the first time one eats ice cream on LSD. You’ve always loved it, but now you “get” it on a far deeper level and it’ll never taste the same again.
Forget nationality and religion and ideology. Baseball is that eternal book that just keeps on writing itself. Every game, every at-bat is a narrative. I suppose the pace promotes reflection and analysis, unlike other fast paced sports, which I enjoy. Particularly when it’s handled by a god like Scully or the wonderful crew of Gary, Keith and Ron in Queens. Even when the Mets are playing ugly, those guys are entertaining and informative, unlike most other broadcasters.
I’m curious. With most people playing fantasy baseball (and talking about baseball) online these days, do you fellow baseball lovers actually play the game? I ask because other than a few swings in cages here and there, I had not played for many years before I started playing again last summer. My main fantasy league is composed of local guys (none of whom are particularly athletic). We put together a couple of games with friends and friends of friends and had a blast. Now it’s become a regular thing that we all look forward to.
Like an old Cuban man said in “Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey,”
“As long as I can walk, as long as I can hold a stick, I will play baseball.”
Vin Scully is the main reason I buy the MLB package every year. I watch more Dodgers games than my home team because of him. He is the last great baseball voice. Same breed as Mel Allen. Young guys just can’t imitate it. Maybe they just don’t live the game the way it seems the old guys do/did. Not exactly rocket science to do a little extra research, but weaving the info in smoothly is the real skill I suppose.
I watch more Dodgers games than any team other than the Rangers (my own) for the same reason. A perfect baseball day is a Rangers win followed by getting to watch most of the Dodgers game. And I do it just to listen to Scully.
These articles just make me miss firejoemorgan even more.
I should specify I meant articles like the one linked in the first sentence.
I agree with your list with two changes.
1) I put compelling players at the very bottom. Appreciating every day players is hard unless you’re looking at their seasonal stats or you watch them every day. Pitchers stand out immediately when you’re watching them, but the odds are against seeing even Albert Pujols do something amazing when you tune in to a random Cardinals game. And even Pujols’s best game isn’t necessarily greater to watch than what several other Major League players are able to do (just less often). Now, a great line-up of compelling players, such as the Rays, is more of a pull, but it’s still the least interesting of all these things to me.
2) Quality of teams should be somewhere on the list. This probably fits with seasonal context in a way, but in the absence of a great pitcher on the mound, an elite prospect making his debut or my favorite team playing, I would like to watch two of the best teams in baseball go at it. I would also say seasonal context gets more important as the season goes along. Come September, it probably belongs at the top of the list.
Well… I´m not from the US, don´t have MLB.tv right now, so I´d say my number one reason is this one: Availability. I´ll just watch any ballgame I can lay my eyes on, irregardless of who is playing. If not for that, I think the article more or less nails it on the head.
I’m a simple guy. I watch to be entertained. It’s an enjoyable and relaxing experience.
Pitching matchup is always an attraction. A pitching matchup between two aces is a must see. A pitching matchup between an aging ace and an younger ace is even better. That was the reason I took off work early to brave the traffic and get to Petco Park (a pitching heaven) to watch Clemens v. Peavy one weekday a few seasons back.
White Sox vs. Tigers at Comerica on a sunny day.
What’s the first thing that you notice?
The sun