In recent years, advanced metrics have dominated the game of Major League Baseball. One such metric, the Pythagorean Win-Loss Formula, is commonly used by fans, reporters, analysts and teams alike to use a team’s runs scored and runs allowed to estimate their expected winning percentage. However, this method is not perfect, and shows notable room for improvement. One such area that could be improved is its ability to be affected drastically by a single blowout game, a game in which one team significantly outscores their opponent.<br/>We hypothesize that meaningless runs scored in blowouts are harming the predictive power of Pythagorean Win-Loss and similar win expectancy statistics such as the Linear Formula for Baseball and BaseRuns. We developed a win probability-based cutoff approach that tallied the score of each game once a certain win probability threshold was passed, effectively removing those meaningless runs from a team’s season-long runs scored and runs allowed totals. These truncated totals were then inserted into the Pythagorean Win-Loss and Linear Formulas and tested against the base models.<br/>The preliminary results show that, while certain runs are more meaningful than others depending on the situation in which they are scored, the base models more accurately predicted future record than our truncated versions. For now, there is not enough evidence to either confirm or reject our hypothesis. In this paper, we suggest several potential improvement strategies for the results.<br/>At the end, we address how these results speak to the importance of responsibility and restraint when using advanced statistics within reporting.

Kueth Yul (Nuer) was born in the spring when the nation was in peace talks that very soon collapsed into violence.

“Lost Boys Found” is an ongoing, interdisciplinary project that is collecting, recording and archiving the oral histories of the Lost Boys/Girls of Sudan. The collection is a work-in-progress, seeking to record the oral history of as many Lost Boys/Girls as are willing, and will be used in a future book

Deng Barak (Dinka) was 4 years old in a cattle camp when the war broke out.

“Lost Boys Found” is an ongoing, interdisciplinary project that is collecting, recording and archiving the oral histories of the Lost Boys/Girls of Sudan. The collection is a work-in-progress, seeking to record the oral history of as many Lost Boys/Girls as are willing, and will be used in a future book

Tut is a former Lost Boy of Sudan who reported facing hunger, loss, and fear of uncertain death. Both of Tut's parents were killed by the Muslim government while he was out in a field tending to the cows.

“Lost Boys Found” is an ongoing, interdisciplinary project that is collecting, recording and archiving the oral histories of the Lost Boys/Girls of Sudan. The collection is a work-in-progress, seeking to record the oral history of as many Lost Boys/Girls as are willing, and will be used in a future book.

This thesis examines the current polarization of news media, specifically written journalism, either in newspapers or on news websites. Americans increasingly get their news from polarized sources, and that is leading to a large divide in information. This issue is also exacerbated by political idealogy. Furthermore, I explore how the traditional business model of advertising-based revenue is leading to more polarized news coverage. To combat this, I offer interventions for news organizations, including the importance of journalistic ethics and the possibility of more news organizations transferring to nonprofit status, which has gained traction in recent years. Access to accurate news and information is essential in a functioning democracy, and if polarization and issues in news continue, it will be harmful to America as a whole.