Moneyball

What a great movie to end the baseball season! It definitely took the sting off the Phillies losing so early in the playoffs. It's always a long off season but I know as soon as the snow starts to melt I will begin to romanticize about baseball again. It's such an amazing game and as a Mickey Mantle was quoted in the movie, "It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing (or watching) all your life."

Just some follow up facts and stats from the movie:

• The A's made the playoffs every year from 2000-2003, every year losing 2 games to 3 in the ALDS.
• The character Peter Brand is actually based on the person Paul DePodesta. In reality DePodesta graduated from Harvard, not Yale, and joined the A's in 1999, not 2001. DePodesta is now the vice-president of player development for the New York Mets.
• Billy Beane continues to be general manager of the Oakland A's. They have only made the playoffs once since 2002. Beane is now focusing more on defense, his club led the league in 2010.
• The Oakland A's 2011 payroll was $66 million, 21st among Major League teams. The New York Yankees payroll was $202 million. The two teams in the World Series, St. Louis and Texas, had payrolls of $105 million and $92 million respectively.