Mathematics.

"The skid has shaved the Yankees' advantage in the East to a mere 5 1/2 games over the suddenly surging Red Sox, with six more meetings scheduled between the bitter rivals."

What about Cleveland? Are they a "mere" 7 games back of Minnesota? Nope. Their seven-game deficit puts them "out of contention."

"The Indians were just one game behind the Central-leading Minnesota Twins on Aug. 14, but have since dropped seven in a row, including a three-game sweep at the Metrodome over the weekend, to drop seven games back ... continuing its steady slide out of contention ..."


This is a very standard take, by the way. In the exact same article, the exact same author has concluded that 5 1/2 games is small for one team, but 7 games is insurmountable for another team.

Mathematically speaking, this is absurd. If 5 1/2 is really "mere," then 7 is just 1 1/2 games more than "mere." Yet, nobody in Cleveland seems to be printing playoff tickets.

I understand that the Red Sox are better-equipped than the Indians to make a run in September, but realistically speaking, both teams are already sunk in their division races.

Trending is lazy. Eveybody believes what they see with their own eyes. Everybody believes the latest data and it override mounds of contradictory pre-existing data. Everybody extrapolates rather than providing a thoughtful and logical analysis.

This is flawed thinking with the Yankees, however, because the latest data is the worst-possible data you can find.

Consider last week an outlier.