How Cubs fans can enjoy games on web, TV and radio

One of the beauties of baseball is that it can be enjoyed on any level. The casual fan may root for his or her own favorite player and not give a hoot about WHIP or OPS-plus.

At the same time, the student of the game may want to argue that a pitcher with a 12-11 record might have had the better year than the 17-game winner based on his FIP and xFIP.

Whatever your interest level, there are ways to enhance your enjoyment of a Cubs game and maybe even win you a bet at the water cooler.

Let's look at a few of the sights, sites and sounds of the game.

Look away:

It's never a good idea to take your eye off the ball, especially if you're sitting close to the field of play. But before the pitch is thrown, especially when the other team has runners on base, take a quick look at the keystone combo of second baseman Darwin Barney and shortstop Starlin Castro.

Barney can be an expressive communicator on the field. His actions might tell you who will cover second base on a steal or even what kind of pitch is coming, depending on which way he “cheats.”

If you're sitting on the opposite side of the Cubs dugout, you can watch the bench coach move the outfielders or even catch the manager or pitching coach checking out the key matchups the computer spits out.

Get some Prospectus:

Baseball Prospectus, a favorite site of mine, combines two things every knowledgeable baseball fan should want: good statistical analysis and witty writing.

Kevin Goldstein covers the minor leagues like nobody else, and his Top 11 listings are must reads. Larry Granillo comes up with the odd and quirky stuff that will make you smile and think. And John Perrotto is a beat writer's beat writer who has fit in quite nicely at Baseball Prospectus.

There is a charge for premium membership.

Refer to it:

Baseball Reference (baseballreference.com) has just about everything: players, managers, box scores, leaders and minor-league info. The site recently added Negro League stats.

One of my favorites are the “similarity scores,” where you can see to whom any player can be compared statistically. If you think Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame, you can point out he's compared to Bob Gibson, Red Ruffing, Amos Rusie, Burleigh Grimes and Bob Feller, all Hall of Famers.

Graph it:

FanGraphs (fangraphs.com) is another personal favorite. They customize “dashboard” stats for the player of your choosing and provide such advanced numbers such as weighted on-base average (wOBA) and ultimate zone rating (UZR). You can find the various preseason projections on FanGraphs.

The FanGraphs folks also present a full lineup of well-written articles.

Another site that mixes prose and stats is The Hardball Times (hardballtimes.com), which features a nice lineup of writers, including Chris Jaffe, who has a new book, “Evaluating Baseball's Managers.”

Listen up:

Of course, when you're not at the game, TV announcer Len Kasper and analyst Bob Brenly bring the best of both worlds. Len is fully versed in modern statistical thinking and can present it in such a way to satisfy the info-hungry stat-head but not overwhelm Granny in Grand Rapids. And you know an old-schooler like Bob will keep 'em honest on the field.

On the radio side, few paint a better word picture than Pat Hughes. Keith Moreland has grown nicely into his role as analyst. He also has lived some ups and downs of Cubs history, getting in on the ground floor of Dallas Green's “New Tradition” in 1982 and playing for the 1984 division winners.