Just in Time for ‘Play Ball,’ Apps for the Baseball Afflicted

Quick, look around the office. Do people appear to be staring into their iPhones with a bit more intensity than just a few weeks ago? Remember how information technology administrators blocked all the fantasy-baseball Web sites in years past?

Two words: iPhone workaround.

As it has with so many other addictions, the iPhone is about to become the great enabler of Rotisserie baseball and other forms of baseball fanaticism. Here is a roster of impressive new apps for the iPhone, the iPad and other mobile platforms. The bonus is — cue the stadium organist for the obligatory sports metaphor — it’s a lineup that will get only stronger as the season progresses.

FanGraphs ($3) is a nifty iPhone app that crunches almost every conceivable baseball-related statistic, including a team’s probability of winning a game as it proceeds. Take, for instance, last year’s World Series Game 6. When Hideki Matsui homered in the second inning, the Yankees odds of winning the game jumped from 59 percent to 73.9 percent.

The FanGraphs mobile app displays that data in an iPhone-friendly format, but the information is no different from the information on the Web site.

FanGraphs isn’t releasing an iPad app, at least initially, but users won’t need one because they can go to FanGraphs.com through the iPad’s browser.

FanGraphs is one of several polished apps that should appeal to both casual fans and Rotisserie league zealots. One app that doesn’t straddle that line is the 2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit ($4), from RotoWire, the company that provides much of the fantasy-related data used by ESPN, Fox Sports and Yahoo, among others.

The RotoWire app may well save Rotisserie followers from carrying around three-ring binders full of player rankings, stats and inside dirt. Trade that badge of belonging for the chic appeal of an iPhone, though, and you could pay at least a small price.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/technology/personaltech/18appraiser.html