On Tuesday, Seattle Mariners’ manager Scott Servais (seen above laughing with players during pre-game warmups on July 2) got a lot of attention for comments about his team having a “fun differential” metric. That was passed on by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times:
Servais mentioned they had a -9 run differential on the road trip and a plus 90 fun differential
Also @StoneLarry has a pun differential https://t.co/jheKrt4IAF
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) August 24, 2021
If you think that sounds extremely Ted Lasso, you’re probably right:
That's Scott Servais' favorite show. He references it all the time https://t.co/IGEZ29tmVy
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) August 24, 2021
Anyway, this led to the Mariners’ social team posting a screenshot of their Baseball-Reference page with an added “Fun Differential”:
if it's on @baseball_ref it must be official https://t.co/IsdYpdoCDC pic.twitter.com/902a6Aoabi
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 25, 2021
And on Wednesday, Baseball-Reference engaged with this, not just with a joke, but by actually adding that to their 2021 Mariners’ page (with a link to Divish’s tweet):
It's very important to us that we stay on the cutting edge of all the newest developments in baseball statistics https://t.co/ix2FxaryA3 pic.twitter.com/aJyh1zanY7
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 25, 2021
There are obviously many more important things in the baseball world than Scott Servais talking about a “fun differential,” and Baseball-Reference does more important and serious things too. (One example is their expanded coverage of the Negro Leagues following MLB’s long-overdue recognition for those leagues, and the numerous articles they’ve since commissioned on that front.) But it’s also great when baseball media outlets can get in on something lighthearted and enjoyable, and boost their own fun differential in the process. Well played, Baseball-Reference.
[Baseball-Reference on Twitter; photo from Joe Nicholson/USA Today Sports]
