Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, and Opening Day is just around the corner. That means it's time for the advanced stats folks to release their usual round of projections for the upcoming MLB season — and annoy a lot of people in the process.
The official MLB Twitter account shared one set of playoff odds from FanGraphs with an unwise caption: "Let us know what you think." Of course, that just opened the floodgates for fuming fans who wanted to unload some harsh words.
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.@fangraphs has announced their projected postseason odds. 👀
— MLB (@MLB) February 16, 2021
Let us know what you think ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/1itTsNyf3B
While the usual avalanche of anger was expected, the best replies actually came from the MLB teams. A sampling:
Nationals playoff odds: 24.6 percent
What hurts the most... is being so close.
thought we were friends, fangraphs 🥺
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) February 16, 2021
Orioles playoff odds: 0.0 percent
"Just crunch them. Just crunch them, please."
— Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) February 16, 2021
Pirates playoff odds: 0.4 percent
Hey, if SpongeBob is underwater, then how can there be a...
— Pirates (@Pirates) February 16, 2021
Rays playoff odds: 18.6 percent
From a trip to the 2020 World Series to below 20 percent. Squidward doesn't appreciate the disrespect.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) February 16, 2021
FanGraphs heard the criticism, and it turns out there was an easy solution to make everyone happy.
Okay everyone, we’ve heard your feedback on our playoff odds and decided to make some tweaks to the math that should leave everybody happy pic.twitter.com/bBKgKJUd6N
— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) February 16, 2021
Well, except for the Orioles. They still somehow have no shot at reaching the playoffs. Tough break, guys.
— Baltimore Orioles 😷 (@Orioles) February 16, 2021
