Mystery MLB Team That Purchased $500,000 Supercomputer Remains Unknown

by
March 4, 2015

ESPN released their “Great Analytics Rankings” last week, placing the Houston Astros second behind the Philadelphia 76ers as the most analytically-minded pro sports organization. In their profile of the Astros, ESPN speculated that the Astros were the mystery MLB team that purchased a Cray supercomputer last year, but the company responded on their blog this week that the team that bought it won more games than the Astros, declining to what team purchased for confidentiality reasons.

Nick Davis, PR manager for Cray, wrote on their blog, “While I’m not going tell you here who the team is, I can tell you that it’s not the Astros. We think it’s great the Astros are ‘all-in’ on analytics according to ESPN, but unfortunately they are not all in with Cray. At least, not yet. I will say this — we applaud the Astros for their adoption of analytics, but the team with a Cray won more games last year.

According to The Economist, 95 percent of all MLB data has been created in the last five years.  With MLB’s award winning Statcast system projected to be installed at all 30 MLB parks, this kind of computing power may become necessity for analytics departments to process mountains of data quickly.

For any sleuths out there trying to find the mystery team, Pete Ungaro, Cray’s CEO, said that the team who purchased the supercomputer is an organisation that five years ago people would not have guessed would want one.

(Image via clockwerks)





 

Michael Tunney is a managing editor at Contently. He has also worked on marketing campaigns for bestselling authors like Robert Greene, Ryan Holiday, and James Altucher. Follow him on Twitter @mike_tunney.

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McNulty
9 years ago

My money is on the Dodgers

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fothead
9 years ago
Reply to  McNulty

Mine’s on the Yanks. They must be spending money on something and I know they’ve moved forward alot in the last 2-3 yrs in analytics. And 5yrs ago, who in their wildest dreams would think the Yanks would do something forward thinking like that!

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Anon
9 years ago

“the team with a Cray won more games last year”
The Twins, Rangers, Rockies, and Diamondbacks won the same or less than the Astros.

“the team who purchased the supercomputer is an organisation that five years ago people would not have guessed would want one”
I would eliminate at least the Rays, Red Sox, As, and Cardinals based on this statement. I would also lean toward teams with a change in strategy and/or ownership (ex. Cubs, Dodgers).

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Lenard
9 years ago

The Yanks have pulled some surprisingly decent records out of what look like pretty mediocre teams overall the past couple years.

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AC
9 years ago

Cubs.
Plenty of financial weight to throw around on “fringe” ideas, analytically-minded front office, and new strategies within the last five years.

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YankeesYankeesYankeesYankeesAdInfinitum
9 years ago

Article with ambiguity about baseball.

MUST BE THE YANKEES.

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Lucille
9 years ago

If you don’t like a Robert Cray supercomputer, you’ve got a hole in your soul!

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channelclemente
9 years ago

It was the Giants.

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Scott
9 years ago

my guess is it’s the other NY team. Mets.

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Anaheim
9 years ago

I think it was the Angels. Five years ago they had little interest in analytics. Scioscia was hostile to it. DiPoto changed all that. when he came aboard in 2011.

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