"Proce s over results" is a mantra of the analytics revolution. In other words, even if the ultimate outcome of a decision is positive, that doesnt mean it was a smart decision.Nationals manager Dave Martinez provided the perfect example of that Friday night in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. With his team up by two runs in the bottom of the Emmanuel Ogbah Jersey ninth inning and Justin Turner on second base with two outs, Martinez chose to intentionally walk slugger Max Muncy putting the tying run on base and bringing the winning run to the plate because Muncy had homered off reliever Sean Doolittle in his previous at-bat.

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Martinez said he preferred to have reliever Daniel Hudson face Will Smith, despite the potential for disaster. It was a cla sic "go with your gut," old-school baseball thought, the kind the analytically inclinedtend to hateand baseballpurists Harrison Butker Jersey tend to love."There was really not much to think about. Muncy hit a ball 400 feet against Doolittle in the seventh . We didn't want that to happen,"Martinez ."He's a fastball hitter, we know that, Hudson throws fastballs, so I liked the other matchup againstSmith ."

But then Hudson walked Smith, too, unintentionally this time, loading the bases and giving Nats fans a collective panic attack.Its definitely Cameron Erving Jersey not conventional to blatantly put your team in a position to lose a critical playoff game. That's the polite way to Joe Montana Jersey say it.ButMartinezsdecision ultimately worked out, though the drama continued until Hudson struck out Corey Seager on a nasty slider to end the game,giving the Nats a 4-2 win and tyingthe series 1-1. That's the honest way to say it.

So, ultimately,Martinezs decision was both a good one and a bad one. Good because it worked out, bad because it was flawed thinking and flawed thinking isn't likely to play out in the positive over the long haul.Baseball can be weird, brutal, forgiving and punishing. Martinez got away with a poor proce s in Game 3, but he might not be so lucky next time.Had Smith cleared the bases with a double or walked it off with Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Jersey a homer, the decision wouldve no doubt gone down as one of the all-time worst in postseason history. One could argue that it should go down that way anyway the logic Chris Jones Jersey behind "proce s over results."But the outcome guarantees it will now become only a footnote that gets attention for a day or so. Nationals fans will see it as genius, while others will see it as colo sally boneheaded.Regardle s, the Nationals now go home for Game 3 with the series tied and, perhaps, with a psychological advantage.Thats a result any team will take.