Opens up the math behind Michael Lewis's bestseller Moneyball, in a way that anyone can read and understand.

Filled with current and historical players, this is the first book that focuses on probability in baseball.

Covers not only the formulas for computing batting average, on base percentage and the like, but also delves into odds and predicting recurring events.

Here is a perfect introduction to the ideas of probability that baseball fans will love. Books on baseball give statistics and use language such as ""odds,"" ""likely"" and ""no chance"" without any explanation. Now professor of mathematics Ken Ross has written a guide to the beautiful and powerful science of probability for baseball fans who love statistics. In the last few years, revolutionaries armed with good old mathematics have changed baseball forever. Managers and coaches have refocused their attention on what statistics really measure and what they indicate about the probable performance of a player or a team. Now Ken Ross, himself a lifelong baseball fan, opens up the math behind Michael Lewis's bestseller Moneyball and shows how anyone can use probability to better understand the future of the game, in the next inning, or in the rest of the season, or in the rest of the World Series. See why the On Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage together are more meaningful than each is by itself (and why they are neither percentages nor averages). See how to calculate the probability that a seven-game series will go four, five, six or seven games. Learn how a mathematician adept in the arithmetic of probability can combine statistics to produce tailor-made analyses in answering questions about specific teams, players, and games. Filled with current and historical players, this is the first book that focuses on probability in baseball. "