It’s been 15 years since Michael Lewis’ “Moneyball” revolutionized baseball and became the best-selling book in the sport’s history. You don’t have to remind Billy Beane that he’s the godfather of analytics or that Brad Pitt was cast to play the A’s general manager in the movie adaptation. Beane marvels at how dated those legacies have become. Even rereading the book, he said, “is like watching an episode of ‘The Flintstones.’ ”
There’s a more immediate plot to Wednesday’s wild-card game at the Stadium and it has nothing to do with Hollywood or sabremetrics. The Yankees are about to run into a mirror image of themselves in the A’s — a home-run hitting, bullpen-reliant powerhouse that has no fear of distilling its season to nine innings on the road.