Dating back to its release in 2011, Moneyball has widely been considered one of the best sports movies of all time.
Adapted from the 2003 Michael Lewis book by the same name, the film somehow managed to make the inner workings of the Oakland Athletics front office interesting to not only sports fans but audiences at large. The film was both a box office and critical success, earning $110 million at the box office against a $50 million budget, as well as six Academy Award nominations.
But while the movie is undeniably rewatchable — just ask The Ringer — its subject matter has also aged poorly. Look no further than the following social media post from Ani Iyengar, which gained traction on Thursday after the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees to clinch another World Series championship.
Moneyball aged so poorly man. The A’s aren’t in Oakland anymore, the two richest teams are back in the World Series, and Jonah Hill’s real-life character is responsible for the single worst trade in NFL history.
— Ani Iyengar (@aniiyengar) October 31, 2024
Let’s break down Iyengar’s points.
While Moneyball is built on the idea of the little guy competing with league giants, the premise loses some of its luster when the team in question is relocated from the city it’s spent the last 56 years in due to the uglier side of sports business. And that’s exactly what happened with the A’s having played their final game in Oakland as the franchise prepares to move to Sacramento and, ultimately, Las Vegas.
Furthermore, the “Moneyball” method and its impact on lower payroll teams has been mitigated by MLB’s richest clubs also adopting it. And while the Dodgers might have one of the most robust analytics departments in all of sports, the reality is that signing Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts to contracts that combine for more than $1 billion is the antithesis of what Moneyball was all about.
As for the point about the inspiration for Jonah Hill’s character, that would be Paul DePodesta, whose name isn’t actually used in the film. Having served as the Cleveland Browns’ chief strategy officer since 2016, that would make him a part of the front office that decided to trade three first-round picks for Deshaun Watson before signing him to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
While Moneyball might be the best encapsulation of the sports analytics movement, the reality is that many of its specifics are now outdated. Between the A’s departure from Oakland, baseball’s richest teams reigning supreme, and DePodesta’s role in one of the worst trades in sports history, it’s hardly a stretch to say the film has aged poorly — and that’s before factoring in that it conveniently ignored that Oakland also had baseball’s best starting rotation.