Back to the Washington Wizards Newsfeed

'Moneyball' revolution changes landscape of Washington-area teams

The Baltimore Orioles finished with a 54-108 record in Mike Elias’ first year as general manager, but that hardly meant the season was a failure.

Orioles fans know the former Houston Astros executive and Yale alumnus has a multiyear plan to rebuild the woeful franchise; they believe in the gospel of “Astroball.”

Forty years after statistician Bill James began to popularize advanced analytics in sports, and 16 years after the baseball book “Moneyball” entered the American consciousness, the analytical revolution has crash-landed in the Washington-Baltimore sports landscape.

Often called sabermetrics in baseball parlance, the idea includes minute analyses of players’ performances and aiding in-game coaching decisions based on historical data.