Astroball - Ben Reiter

A "superb narrative" of the Houston Astros' unexpected rise to win the 2017 World Series, providing "powerful insights into how organizationsnot just baseball clubswork best" (Wall Street Journal).
When Sports Illustrated writer Ben Reiter declared, on the cover of the magazine in 2014, that the Houston Astros would win the World Series in 2017, people thought he was crazy. The team, which had just finished up a three-year losing streak of terrible performances, were widely considered underdogs, and the cover story met instant and nearly universal derision. But three years later, the critics were proved improbably, astonishingly wrong. ASTROBALL is more than just the story of an underdog team, and more than just a baseball book. Using a character-driven narrative that follows everyone from the players to the general manager, Reiter "delivers the goods," (Bloomberg Businessweek), offering a deep-dive first look into an analytics system that will soon become an industry standard. Sitting at the nexus of sports, business, and ideas, ASTROBALL takes readers into the world of the Astros with unprecedented access, offering an inside look at a new way to think about the sport, from the mathematical to the human.