History YMMV / Moneyball

* WTHCastingAgency: The 5'11" Brad Pitt playing the 6'4" Billy Beane.

LowerDeckEpisode: The movie focuses on the role players and a former all-star in the twilight of his career but does not mention the league MVP or the strongest starting pitching in the league. It would be like having a movie about the back-to-back Championship teams of the Miami Heat but focusing the story on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Chalmers Mario Chalmers]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Andersen Chris Andersen]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Allen Ray Allen]] without ever mentioning Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh.

** The Moneyball principle became so widespread in TheNewTens, with more Ivy League grads as general managers and every team having entire departments devoted to analytics, that the sport has come under fire as a result, being perceived as less fun and active as opposed to how it used to play. With sabremetric staples such as working counts, a de-emphasis on bunts and stolen bases ("I pay you to get on first, not get thrown out at second"), and using statistics to "platoon" lineups rather than have a traditional everyday starting eight in the field, people inside the sport and out have lamented computers running the game rather the manager, and baseball devolving as a whole into what is referred to as "Three True Outcomes" baseball, where most at-bats now result in strikeouts, walks, and home runs, resulting in fewer balls in play.

** The Moneyball principle became so widespread in TheNewTens, with more Ivy League grads as general managers and every team having entire departments devoted to analytics, that the sport has come under fire as a result, being perceived as less fun and active as opposed to how it used to play. With Moneyball staples such as working counts, a de-emphasis on bunts and stolen bases ("I pay you to get on first, not get thrown out at second"), and using statistics to "platoon" lineups rather than have a traditional everyday starting eight in the field, people inside the sport and out have lamented computers running the game rather the manager, and baseball devolving as a whole into what is referred to as "Three True Outcomes" baseball, where most at-bats now result in strikeouts, walks, and home runs, resulting in fewer balls in play.

** ""There are [Good X], and there are [Bad X]...then there's fifty feet of crap...and then there's [Y][[labelnote:Explanation]]From a line in which Beane describes how bad exactly is A's financial situation, but turned into an easy-applicable line to just about anything that's below bad option and further burried under 50 feet of crap[[/labelnote]]

** The scene where Beane's got to tell Magnante that he's being sent to the minors. Even worse when you see the associated deleted scene where Beane mentions that Mags is playing scared - constantly worrying that his next pitch will be his last in the Majors. [[note]]Even worse if you've read the book, because it gives critical background details on Magnante that the film omits: specifically, Magnante is desperately trying to hang on for enough days so that he can ''officially'' qualify for ten seasons in the Majors, which is the cut-off for the guaranteed full retirement benefits that a player gets after their career ends. It's not a massive sum, but to have a consistent little bit of money coming in is pretty useful. Sadly, Magnante is designated for assignment (a baseball way of saying "he got cut") before he'd hit that magic number. From a ''technical'' standpoint, he had been in the major leagues for ten years. But from a ''legal'' standpoint (ie., the only standpoint that matters when it comes to the elusive benefits), he did not qualify. And the kicker? He was ''ten days away'' from qualifying.[[/note]]

* EsotericHappyEnding: The film ends with Billy turning down the Red Sox's 12.5-million dollar contract to stay with the A's and his daughter, content to know that he's changed the game for the better. However, as any baseball fan would tell you, in real life things for Beane and the A's would go downhill right after. All of the large market teams would proceed to copy Beane's saber metrics strategy, leaving the A's back where they started and struggling to compete with the richer teams. After years of missing the postseason, Beane would be KickedUpstairs by the A's ownership.

* AmericansHateTingle: Unsurprising, the only market where the film performed well other than the US was Japan and Korea. Anywhere else in the world, ''Moneyball'' was a complete bomb, as it covers baseball, a sport that virtually doesn't exist outside those three countries. In fact, Japanese and Korean revenue made ''over half of total international revenue''. Said all that, it's still [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the best performing baseball movie]] when it comes to non-US markets, carried there almost entirely by the names in the cast.

* HarsherInHindsight: Several of the A's Beane was praised for signing in the book were later implicated in the Mitchell Report. Most notably, Jason Giambi.
** The Moneyball principle became so widespread in TheNewTens, with more Ivy League grads as general managers and every team having entire departments devoted to analytics, that the sport has come under fire as a result, being perceived as less fun and active as opposed to how it used to play. With Moneyball staples such as working counts, a de-emphasis on bunts and stolen bases ("I pay you to get on first, not get thrown out at second"), and using statistics to "platoon" lineups rather than have a traditional everyday starting eight in the field, people inside the sport and out have lamented computers running the game rather the manager, and baseball devolving as a whole into what is referred to as "Three True Outcomes" baseball, where most at-bats now result in strikeouts, walks, and home-runs, resulting in less balls-in-play.

** Beane pumps up rookie Carlos Pena as a future All-Star to Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski in order to get his deal done. Pena actually would go on to be a future All-Star, although it would be ''after'' he flamed out in Detroit and had a CareerResurrection in Tampa Bay.

** During one of the early meetings with the A's scouts, one of them discusses how hard a prospect hits the ball by describing the sound it makes as an example of how outdated their thinking is. As sabremetrics continued to evolve in TheNewTens, Exit Velocity emerged as a widely adopted metric to determine the potential performance of a hitter. Looks like the scout was onto something.

** The scene where Beane's got to tell Magnante that he's being sent to the minors. Even worse when you see the associated deleted scene where Beane mentions that Mags is playing scared - constantly worrying that his next pitch will be his last in the Majors. [[note]]Even worse if you've read the book, because it gives critical background details on Magnante that the film omits: specifically, Magnante is desperately trying to hang on for enough days so that he can ''officially'' qualify for ten seasons in the Majors, which is the cut-off for the guaranteed full retirement benefits that a player gets after their career ends. It's not a massive sum, but to have a consistent little bit of money coming in is pretty useful. Sadly, Magnante is designated for assignment (a baseball way of saying "he got cut") before he'd hit that magic number. From a ''technical'' standpoint, he had been in the major leagues for ten years. But from a ''legal'' standpoint (ie., the only standpoint that matters when it comes to the elusive benefits), he did not qualify. And the kicker? He was ''ten days away'' from qualifying.[[/note]]

* EstorericHappyEnding: The film ends with Billy turning down the Red Sox's 12.5-million dollar contract to stay with the A's and his daughter, content to know that he's changed the game for the better. However, as any baseball fan would tell you, in real life things for Beane and the A's would go downhill right after. All of the large market teams would proceed to copy Beane's saber metrics strategy, leaving the A's back where they started and struggling to compete with the richer teams. After years of missing the postseason, Beane would be KickedUpstairs by the A's ownership.

** Some baseball fans snarked about the movie's timeliness considering the A's had recently fallen into a string of mediocrity [[note]] including the 2011 season when the film was released, the A's had gone five years without a winning record [[/note]] and Billy Beane's roster strategy being called into question. After the film's release, the A's revived their ''Moneyball'' success by winning their division the next two seasons (2012-13), a division that features two rival teams who were among the six highest payrolls in baseball.

** During one of the early meetings with the A's scouts, one of them discusses how hard a prospect hits the ball as an example of how outdated their thinking is. As sabremetrics continued to evolve in TheNewTens, Exit Velocity emerged as a widely adopted metric to determine the potential performance of a hitter. Looks like the scout was onto something.
* MemeticMutation: "He gets on base."[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the film's SignatureScene, Beane sits at a table with his scouts and advisors who disapprove of Beane's roster choices, listing such deficiencies as bad hitting, poor physical health or being "on the weed". Beane defends each choice by [[BunnyEarsLawyer stating that only their on-base percentage matters]] and says "he gets on base a lot" as a retort. Fans and Website/YouTube commenters have thus taken to creating more and more outrageous deficiencies ("But Billy, he stole your wife...", But Billy, he's an axe murderer...", "But Billy, he is ''literally'' dead...") to which Beane still retorts "He gets on base".[[/labelnote]]

** During one of the early meetings with the A's scouts, one of them discusses how hard a prospect hits the ball as an example of how outdated their thinking is. As sabremetrics continued to evolve in TheNewTens, Exit Velocity emerged as a widely adopted metric to determine the potential performance of a hitter.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Scott Hatteberg hitting a walk-off home run that not only saves the A's from losing (the score was tied at 11), but wins them their '''20th consecutive game'''.
** The scene where Beane and Brand successfully negotiate the trade of Ricardo Rincón by means of multiple phone calls, the more so because the phone calls themselves are conducted in a kind of bored monotone but Beane and Brand are silently fist-pumping and high-fiving each about getting such good deals.

* HilariousInHindsight: Some baseball fans snarked about the movie's timeliness considering the A's had recently fallen into a string of mediocrity [[note]] including the 2011 season when the film was released, the A's had gone five years without a winning record [[/note]] and Billy Beane's roster strategy being called into question. After the film's release, the A's revived their ''Moneyball'' success by winning their division the next two seasons (2012-13), a division that features two rival teams who were among the six highest payrolls in baseball.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Scott Hatteberg hitting a walk-off home run that not only saves the A's from losing (the score was tied at 11), but wins them their ''20th consecutive game''.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The combination of music and clips for "The Streak".

** Also, Kerris Dorsey's cover of "The Show".
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Scott Hatteberg hitting a walk-off home run that not only saves the A's from losing (the score was tied at 11), but wins them their 20th consecutive game.
** The Athletics' record-breaking winning streak ('''20 games'''), in and of itself, was pretty damn impressive.

* TearJerker: It's very hard not to get misty-eyed while listening to Beane's daughter sing for him, especially if you're a father.

** The scene where Beane's got to tell Magnante that he's being sent to the minors. Even worse when you see the associated deleted scene where Beane mentions that Mags is playing scared - constantly worrying that his next pitch will be his last in the Majors. [[note]]Even worse if you've read the book, because it gives critical background details on Magnante that the film omits: specifically, Magnante is desperately trying to hang on for enough days so that he can ''officially'' qualify for ten seasons in the Majors, which is the cut-off for the guaranteed full retirement benefits that a player gets after their career ends. It's not a massive sum, but to have a consistent little bit of money coming in is pretty useful. Sadly, Magnante is designated for assignment (a baseball way of saying "he got cut") before he'd hit that magic number. From a ''technical'' standpoint, he had been in the major leagues for ten years. But from a ''legal'' standpoint (ie., the only standpoint that matters when it comes to the elusive benefits), he did not qualify. And the kicker? He was ''ten days away'' from qualifying.[[/note]]
* TheWoobie: Beane trying so hard to put together to win the World Series with so little money [[spoiler: and he still hasn't yet.]]

** The scene where Beane's got to tell Magnante that he's being sent to the minors. Even worse when you see the associated deleted scene where Beane mentions that Mags is playing scared - constantly worrying that his next pitch will be his last in the Majors. [[note]]Even worse if you've read the book, because it gives critical background details on Magnante that the film omits: specifically, Magnante is desperately trying to hang on for enough days so that he can ''officially'' qualify for ten seasons in the Majors, which is the cut-off for the guaranteed veteran's pension that a player gets for the rest of their life. It's not a massive sum, but to have a consistent little bit of money coming in is pretty useful. Sadly, Magnante is designated for assignment (a baseball way of saying "he got cut") before he'd hit that magic number. From a ''technical'' standpoint, he had been in the major leagues for ten years. But from a ''legal'' standpoint (ie., the only standpoint that matters when it comes to the elusive pension), he did not qualify.[[/note]]

** The scene where Beane's got to tell Magnante that he's being sent to the minors. Even worse when you see the associated deleted scene where Beane mentions that Mags is playing scared - constantly worrying that his next pitch will be his last in the Majors. [[note]]Even worse if you've read the book, because it gives critical background details on Magnante that the film omits.[[/note]]

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** [[Series/TwentyFour Blink and you'll miss Aaron Pierce]] as one of the scouts.

** The Mighty Rio Grande's "This Will Destroy You", the film's theme.

** Culminating with Hatteberg's walk-off homer.
** Also Kerris Dorsey's cover of "The Show".