but I see why you thought I was... I stated it badly. I'm only using the Yankess because in their framework, (no analytics), they were AS successful as today's teams with analytics... so my point is: and I don't really know the answer... are todays analytics the reason today's teams are keeping pace because without they'd lose every game? It's SOP, using analytics... can we not question it's actual 'worth'?

Comparisons: We have no comparison, obviously... BUT... success rates are the same - so this NOT as ANALYTICS AGAINST NO ANALYTICS... you're right, that's impossible. It's speculation about if it WERE that way.

A bad analogy.. all teams today wear blue.. but they used to wear green... teams today wearing blue win 'this much'... teams of old wearing green won 'this much'... about the same. So what happens if someone today were to wear green and play against others wearing blue? I don't think you can say 'blue wins'... anymore than you can say 'analytics win'. You CAN say that when everyone is the same nothing much changes.

I'm not trying to say we can compare... who is going to give up their analytics? WHICH... brings up this question:

How often today does the manager say, on the the spur of the moment, "to hell with the analytics"?