Pete Kozma, St. Louis Cardinals savior, basically attributes his success to BAbip

Pete Kozma, the St. Louis Cardinals' NLDS savior, was not always very popular with sabermetrically inclined Cardinals fans, and by not always I mean until probably 20 hours ago. We could appreciate a good hot streak as much as the next set of guys, but the near-certainty of his return to earth means that he's a little difficult to watch. After he won the NLDS for the Cardinals, of course, that's a moot point—he's made for life. But he won our hearts forever when he—and I'm paraphrasing here—basically suggested that his success in the major leagues might be due to BAbip.

O BAbip—O explainer of randomness, obfuscater of true talent. He didn't actually say the non-word, but he suggested, in a wonderfully deadpan postgame interview, that the difference between his minor- and major-league performance might just be a few balls falling in that didn't before. (Which was, to him, perfectly fine.)

Kozma almost definitely isn't a major league starting shortstop, and he might not even be a backup. But Friday night he made sure he'd be a Cardinals Hero for the rest of his life—for Busch Stadium faithful and us spreadsheet-watchers alike.