Of the four games the Pirates have played since the All-Star Game, 3 have been victories. Interestingly, two of the three victories have been won by a single run. More interesting, however, is the pattern of wins and losses in the 2nd half compared to the first half.
In my studies thus far I’ve taken a couple of classes on symmetry primarily as it applies to crystallography. This exposure to symmetry has enabled me to recognize it in everyday life as well: like in the Pirates’ record. Take a look at the Pirates’ record in the 4 games before and the 4 games after the All-Star Break:
There is a symmetry operator known as a mirror plane that reflects an object on one side of it to the other side and simultaneously changes the object’s handedness. This is what a mirror appears to do when you look at it. If, instead of wins and losses we drew the above diagram labeling handedness instead, we would have:
L-R-L-L-ASG-R-R-L-R
So, it’s clear that the All-Star Break functions as a mirror plane with respect to the outcome of Pirates’ games. If the Pirates are able to keep this pattern intact for the rest of the season, they will get a win for every 1st half loss, and a loss for every 1st half win, putting them at .500 for the year. Let’s hope they can pull it off, though I wouldn’t mind if they broke the symmetry a little and wound up above .500, but that might be too much to ask for.
