Some Statistics Don’t Add Up (or Shouldn’t)

Sunday smorgasbord: A reminder to any and all media that presenting lists of baseball’s postseason leaders is misleading. Unless you want to extrapolate what the numbers of players who performed in an era when there was only the World Series and not the rounds leading up to the Fall Classic might be. Is it that difficult to differentiate the Division Series from the Championship Series from World Series?

Jennifer England to brighten up your day. Credit: Brian B Hayes

* So the philosophical question of the day becomes: Is a World Series achievement of greater importance than success in earlier rounds? Not being a statistical guru, your humble correspondent would say yes. Someone arguing an opposing view could say: Without those statistical successes in earlier rounds, players would not be performing in the World Series.

* Speaking of the 2014 postseason, the Cubs and White Sox remain undefeated. Also unqualified, but why be picking nits about stuff like that?

* Guessing that Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was less than 100 percent thrilled about his team’s 91-85 victory at Milwaukee, even if the victory vs. the Bucks was the Bulls’ first of the exhibition season. Having one more assist than turnover (22-21 in the Bulls’ case Saturday night) can do that to a coach. Especially one such as Thibodeau.

* Speaking of the Bulls, Pau Gasol did have a team-high 20 points and team-high 11 rebounds in 30 minutes. Oh, and he led the Bulls in turnovers with five.

* Speaking of the 30, that’s how many field-goal attempts the Bulls bench players attempted. The reserves made eight of those. Nikola Mirotic was 1-for-7 and Tony Snell 0-for-5.

* Speaking of Bulls field-goal proficiency, guard Derrick Rose did make 5-of-10 field-goal attemps, including 3-of-4 three-point attempts in scoring 16 points in 22 minutes. So all those folks overly concerned about his shooting can take a step or two away from the edge of the ledge.

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