It’s Still a Game of Inches

I am not a sports writer. Far from it. I do know a trick of the trade, however. A little inside baseball, if you will. Sports writers, especially sports deadline writers, write two versions of their article before and as the game goes on. This way, no matter which team wins, they get to run their story. Well played.

The two story approach is the one I took when (very unsolicitedly and very unofficially) agreeing to be the (very unofficial) sports writer for Game Seven of the 2025 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers for the Education Notes section of CMS Notes. Recognizing that “CMS Notes is the official newsletter of the Canadian Mathematical Society and is an important medium of communication between the Society and its members, and the Canadian mathematical community” (noted here: https://notes.math.ca/en/about-cms-notes/), I took the responsibility that I thrust upon myself quite seriously. 

In full disclosure, as a Canadian, as a status only professor at the University of Toronto, as a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, I’m clearly biased. For example, before the game, I spent way more time working on the ‘JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN! JAYS WIN!’ version of my article. Also in full disclosure, the angle that I was taking was going to highlight the recent consternation that Canadians are still feely regarding their neighbour(s) to the South. 

Based on what happened, however, the ‘Jays Win! Jays Win! Jays Win!’ version of my article will never get published. I can’t even look at it at this point, and I know exactly where it “sits” on my computer. My homage to Harry Caray, my musings on the Montreal Expos, a recounting the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, all of it, will never see the light of day. I’m not sure which stage of grief that equates to but it captures the stage I’m in at the time of this writing. Can’t. Even. Look. At. It.

For those of you wondering what any of this has to do with Education Notes or CMS Notes, the heart of the article I wanted to write had a lovely (in my opinion) take on America’s Pastime having changed from a game of inches to a game of centimetres. Metric versus Imperial, exchange rates, the Toronto Raptors (and Vancouver Grizzlies), game seven (versus a game nine), Loonies buried at centre ice, all of it was going to feed back into a narrative about America’s Pastime, baseball, having gone from a game of inches to a game of centimetres. A historical conversion rate conversation, yes, would then follow. The dimensions of the diamond, the number of innings, the number nine, the number three, all of it was ripe for some contemporary, celebratory Canadian critique.

Alas, two outs away from the Toronto Blue Jays winning the World Series, just like that, the article that I was writing, the article that I wanted to write, was tentatively shelved. Why? Well, if I’m being true to what I was writing, a pitch was thrown in the top of the ninth inning that was misplaced, by mere centimetres, and the game was suddenly, devastatingly tied. (With that said, two other pitches, in previous innings were also missed by mere centimetres, which led to the tie.) What seemed liked seconds later, a video review at home plate almost confirmed that baseball was going to become a game of centimetres just like I had conjured up in my head so well. Seconds after that, making matters worse, two humans, running at full speed, running into each other, somehow navigated a bunch of centimetres and Game Seven is headed into a tenth, a decimal inning.

How good my game of centimetres article could have been, especially based on what happened in the tenth and eleventh innings. More hits to the warning track, more bases loaded, more forcing the runner out at home plate, more walks, more home runs, and all of it happening, from my perspective, from the perspective of Canadians, by mere centimetres. However, it was in the eleventh and final inning that I went from tentatively to permanently shelving the ‘Jays Win!? Jays Win!? Jays Win!?’ version of my article because the Toronto Blue Jays, in the end, sadly, did not win Game Seven of the 2025 World Series. The minutiae associated with pinch runners, leads off of third base, hits to the warning track, as it turns out, was still going to be measured, at least in 2025, according to a familiar standardized metric for the game of baseball: inches. Inches, thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sure, the Blue Jays and their organization were rightly devastated by the loss. The fans of the Blue Jays, of course, were similarly devasted. Me, I, too, was devastated. 

Amidst all the devastation, as I had alluded to early, I realized that I had accepted a responsibility as the (very unofficial) sports writer for Game Seven for the Education Notes section of CMS Notes. So, not only had the Jays lost, but I was now without an article. Look, I lied, I didn’t write two stories. There’s no way that I would start an article where the Jays would lose Game Seven before the beginning of Game Seven. Sure, I knew the little trick of the trade, the inside baseball move, but that doesn’t mean that I did it!? The Jays were going to win the World Series. The big problem now, was that I was without an article I had promised and dealing with the loss. 

I’m not sure how you felt or what you did in the immediate aftermath after the Jays lost the World Series in spectacular fashion. I am sure, however, that it was worse for me than it was for you (as long as “you” are not Jack Michaels). Look, I’m not saying that I’m a bigger fan, for example. There is no “I” in “We want it all” which was the Jays slogan for the season. Ok, sure, there’s one “I” in “We want it all”. It’s just that I, too, experienced the loss, but I had also committed to writing an article about the experience, and I went from almost having it all to having nothing. With cold chicken wings and a now warm beer in front me, I turned to the internet for solace.

Only taking 9 or 10 or 11 clicks of the mouse, I was transported back in time and was watching Game 6 of the 1993 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies on YouTube. For those of you getting ahead of me, the end of this article might not be going where you think it’s going. It’s not about being ahead three games to two in the series back then and now. It’s not about trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth back then and now. It’s not about back to back championships on the line. All of that struck me, sure, but there was something else that really struck me when watching the sixth games of the 1992 and 1993 World Series which I was doing to deal with losing the 2025 World Series.

I began to pay particular attention to the differences between the infographics displayed in the television broadcasts of the 1993 and 2025 World Series. Shocked, the infographics, three decades later, were almost identical when information about the hitter was displayed on television: Average (AVG), Home Runs (HR) and Runs Batted In (RBIs). All the advanced analytics, all the advanced metrics and, still, AVG, HR and RBIS was the main information being shown to television viewers. The glaring difference, however, is that OPS, which is an acronym for On Base Plus Slugging was/is the new stat on the block. I decided, as a way to further distract myself from what had just happened, to dig deeper into OPS. 

Sure, I knew that it was a sum of percentages, On Base (OBP) and Slugging (SLG). I also knew that getting on base is important and “slugging” is important. I started to look it up further because I didn’t really pay attention to or know about the base line (pun – no pun), that is, why is 0.800 a marker. Concurrently, as I doom scrolled the internet for OPS information, as I dealt with the Jays losing the 2025 World Series, as I watched the Jays winning the 1993 Word Series on YouTube, I learned that OPS gained prominence as a television infographic because, get this, in ae world of advanced analytics and sabermetrics, and technology as advanced as ever, OPS is widely adopted for television because it is deemed, by some, as the easiest and most straightforward to calculate. 

Yes, I was sad when I learned that the Jays lost the World Series. I’m even more sad, however, to learn that the sabermetrics is letting the tail wag the dog. To have, of all the advanced metrics, OPS gain television prominence because it’s easy to calculate is sad. Maybe it’s not sad and I’m just clouded by the loss. Either way, as my Father in Law always said at the end of each of NFL season, especially when the San Francisco 49ers don’t win the Super Bowl, there’s always next year. He’s right, and I’m looking forward to following the Toronto Blue Jays, advanced analytics, and sabermetrics next years. Go Jays!