“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke’s oft-quoted third law in part captures how what we observe is often more explainable than it would seem, more measurable. As baseball has evolved there are more efforts than ever to measure the reasons behind the seemingly random. Yet, there are still aspects of it that seem nebulous, that escape measure. There are still those moments of Chaos in the 2022 Seattle Mariners, but even though their 4-2 victory today over the Texas Rangers may have felt like magic, it was far from illusion.
Even the measured can feel magic, or at least feel like some kind of trick we’re unable to decipher the true logic behind.