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This week's guest on Let's Talk Tribe is ESPN.com writer Dan Szymborski, who is also the creator of ZiPS, one of the best player/team projection systems in baseball. He can be found on Twitter (@DSzymborski), and you'd best follow him... ZiPS will come after the Indians if you don't!
Dan and I discussed the AL playoff chase race, and he explained (the short version) what goes into his ZiPS projections (which currently have the Indians at 79 percent to make the Wild Card game). We talked about the trouble some people have accepting computerized projections, and the hate mail they often send Dan in response to perceived slights (I told Dan he should just blame those slights on the cold, heartless computer he shares a loft with). Other topics include which Indians have over-performed this season and just how unexpected the Indians' playoff contention is or isn't. At some point we got onto what kind of losing team is the worst kind to follow.
It was a truly enjoyable conversation, and I hope Dan will come back and talk to me again in March, when I can air LGT's list of grievances about the horrible biases ZiPS obviously has against the Indians.
The audio is embedded below, and can also be found at Let's Go Tribe's Blog Talk Radio page, and also at iTunes, where you can subscribe and listen at your leisure.
Here you go:
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