Moneyball

PLOT

Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is hurt by the team's loss to the New York Yankees in the 2001 American League Division Series. With the impending departure of star players Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen to free agency, Beane needs to assemble a competitive team for 2002 with Oakland's limited budget.

During a scouting visit to the Cleveland Indians, Beane meets Peter Brand, a young Yale economics graduate with radical ideas about how to assess player value. Beane tests Brand's theory by asking whether he would have drafted Beane out of high school; though scouts considered Beane promising, his career in the major leagues was disappointing. Brand admits that, based on his method of assessing player value, he would not have drafted him until the ninth round. Impressed, Beane hires Brand as his assistant general manager.

Rather than relying on the Oakland scouts' experience and intuition, Brand uses sabermetrics, selecting players based on their on-base percentage. Brand and Beane use this methodology to acquire undervalued players such as unorthodox submarine pitcher Chad Bradford, aging outfielder David Justice, and injured catcher Scott Hatteberg.

The scouts are hostile toward the strategy, and Beane fires head scout Grady Fuson after he accuses Beane of destroying the team. Beane also faces opposition from Art Howe, the Athletics' manager. With tensions already high between them due to a contract dispute, Howe disregards Beane's and Brand's strategy and plays a more traditional lineup that he prefers.

Early in the season, the Athletics are already 10 games behind first, leading critics to dismiss the new method as a failure. Brand argues their sample size is too small to conclude the method does not work, and Beane convinces team owner Stephen Schott to stay the course. He trades away the lone traditional first baseman, Carlos Peña, to force Howe to use Hatteberg, making similar deals so Howe has no choice but to play the team Beane and Brand have designed. Three weeks later, the Athletics are only four games behind first.

Two months later, the team starts a winning streak. Beane, superstitiously, does not watch games, but when they tie the American League record of 19 consecutive wins, his daughter persuades him to attend the next game, against the Kansas City Royals. Oakland is leading 11–0 when Beane arrives in the fourth inning, only to watch the Royals even the score. Thanks to a walk-off home run by Hatteberg, the Athletics achieve a record-breaking 20th consecutive win. Beane tells Brand he will not be satisfied until they have changed baseball by winning the World Series using their system.

The Athletics eventually clinch the 2002 American League West title, but lose to the Minnesota Twins in the 2002 American League Division Series. Beane is contacted by the owner of the Boston Red Sox, John W. Henry, who realizes that sabermetrics is the future of baseball. Beane declines an offer to become the Red Sox general manager, despite the $12.5 million salary, which would have made him the highest-paid general manager in professional sports history. He returns to Oakland, and two years later the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series using the model the Athletics pioneered.

CAST

Brad Pitt as Billy Beane

Jonah Hill as Peter Brand

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe

Robin Wright as Sharon Beane

Chris Pratt as Scott Hatteberg

Stephen Bishop as David Justice

Reed Diamond as Mark Shapiro

Brent Jennings as Ron Washington

Ken Medlock as Grady Fuson

Tammy Blanchard as Elizabeth Hatteberg

Jack McGee as John Poloni

Vyto Ruginis as Chris Pittaro

Nick Searcy as Matt Keough

Glenn Morshower as Ron Hopkins

Casey Bond as Chad Bradford

Nick Porrazzo as Jeremy Giambi

Kerris Dorsey as Casey Beane

Arliss Howard as John Henry

Takayo Fischer as Suzanne

Derrin Ebert as Mike Magnante

Miguel Mendoza as Ricardo Rincón

Adrian Bellani as Carlos Peña

Art Ortiz as Eric Chavez

Royce Clayton as Miguel Tejada

Marvin Horn as Terrence Long

Brent Dohling as Mark Ellis

Film director Spike Jonze has a small uncredited role as Alán, Sharon's spouse. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick appeared as Athletics co-owner Stephen Schott.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

based on Michael Lewis's 2003 nonfiction book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to assemble a competitive team.