2017 Predictions in Review

Before the season began, we shared our predictions and asked you to submit yours. Now that the year has ended and awards have been handed out, we can decide who did best and deserves praise and recognition.

As groups, it looks like we all fared about the same...but we did not. Y’all readers kicked out asses, which you’ll see as we hand out accolades. For the purpose of scoring, the Mariners specific predictions were worth 2 points each, and the rest were worth 1 point each.

Writers
First Place: Isabelle (8)
Second Place: Adam (7)
Third Place: Lots o’ Folks (6)

Readers
First Place: btownfritz (13) & sweetloulou (13)
Third Place: JLoLo (12)

Congrats to the winners!

This post serves a second purpose — to announce the end of my days here at Lookout Landing and in the baseball writing world in general. This should not be shocking after be effectively absent this season, but I feel like it’s important to make a clean distinction between absent and “retired.”

I have been doing this a shockingly long time; I started back in 2007 or 2008, just dicking around and doing my own thing, but by 2009 I was at FanGraphs and all of a sudden what I said carried some weight. Over my time many things have become clear. Mainly that the internet is a beautiful place, where any schmuck with good ideas can have them heard. But what also has become all too clear over the past two or three years is that this is no longer a place for hobbyists. To keep up with all the trends and research being done, you have to really commit to baseball analysis as a trade, and not just something you throw together in the evenings. This market has become too widespread and important to support half-assery, and that’s why I am leaving.

I loved my time in the dim spotlight. I got to do some incredible things and meet some great people. The analytical part of my brain will always be clicking when I think about baseball, but now it will get to do so at my own whims, instead of as an assignment. Maybe on one random day I’ll get the itch again and pop up somewhere, but after not missing doing this for almost a full year, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

A big Thank You is in order to LL’ers past and present -- you let me into your internet home and put up with me, which is a tall order. Specifically, thank you to Nathan Bishop for prodding me to come aboard, and thank you to Kate Pruesser for allowing me to continue my jackass brand.

The folks on staff now are good people. We may not always agree on things, but they are quality humans who have the right intentions. Be nice to them. Be thankful for them. And remember me as I was.

Good night, and may the biz bless you as the biz blesses me.