The World Series

In professional baseball, the champion is the team that wins 4 games (out of 7) in the World Series. Typically, the first two games are played on the home field of one team, the next three games on the home field of the other, and then back to the initial venue for the final two games (if needed). It’s not rocket science; a precious 6 year old can grasp it.

It is not uncommon for the ‘home team’ to win the first two games. That does not by any means guarantee that that team will win the series. The other team now has ‘home field advantage’ (i.e. 3 out of the 5 remaining games will be played on its home field).  

After the first two games, we still have no idea which team will win the Series but we do know that one team will win it and that it will take no more than 5 additional games to determine that winner. This much is certain. 

Still, after the first two games, our ‘home field winner’ is half way to the goal of 4 wins while their opponent is just getting started…maybe. Does this remind you of anything? How about a certain road race alleged to have taken place in Greece more than 3000 years ago?

According to legend, as reported by the philosopher Zeno, a certain tortoise challenged the great Achilles (the Usain Bolt of his day) to a road race. As expected, Achilles declined; it would be demeaning for him to leave a lowly reptile in the dust. 

So the tortoise upped the ante, “Ok then, how about you give me a head start, say half the distance to the Finish Line?”  Now Achilles was a clever boy; he knew that he could run at least 10 times as fast as the tortoise so catching up should not be a problem. By giving the tortoise a substantial head start, he can blow him away and still preserve his precious classical honor.

Plus, his Saudi friends had put up a sizeable pot of prize money. And then there’s always the chance of making some lucrative side bets with naïve punters in the crowd. So, honor intact, Achilles accepts the challenge!

Gotcha! Not so clever after all, are you, Troy Boy? Achilles has fallen into the tortoise’s trap; he has agreed to a wager he cannot possibly win. But the future hero of Troy positions himself at the Starting Line, brimming with bravado. 

The challenger takes his place half way to the Finish Line; the crowd is surprised, and somewhat disconcerted, by the reptile’s quiet air of sly self-confidence. “Is there something going on here that we’ve missed?” You ‘bet’ there is (pun intended)!

Achilles knows that he can run 100 meters in 10 seconds or less without breaking a sweat. So just 5 seconds after the starting gun is fired, Achilles has caught up to the tortoise; except, of course, he hasn’t. 

While Achilles was busy getting himself to the 50 meter line, the tortoise was also moving forward, albeit at a slower pace. After the same 5 seconds, the tortoise has just 45 meters left to go (vs. Achilles’ 50).

So once again, Achilles needs to catch up and this time he only needs a half second to do so (5 meters); except of course, once again, the tortoise has moved on. Our contestants repeat this process over and over, but Achilles never quite catches his nemesis.

Gradually it dawns on Achilles, the punters, and the fans that Achilles will not catch the tortoise…ever! The tortoise made a lot of money on side bets that day and he used it to build a Jurassic theme park dedicated to the preservation of endangered reptilian species. The world is a better, richer, more diverse place because of Achilles’ blind arrogance.

But why is this result different from the outcome of the World Series (above)? Achilles’ difficulties stem from the fact that we all assume that spacetime is continuous, i.e. that it is infinitely divisible into ever smaller units.

The World Series is not continuous; it is stochastic. It consists of no more than 7 games, and each game is a discrete event with a definite outcome. One game does not bleed into another. A team cannot carry over ‘excess runs’ from one game to jump start the next or use those runs to offset a future scoring deficit.  

Are you posh enough to play golf? Or are you, like me, content to watch Rory on the tube? Either way, you know that a game of golf can be organized in either of two ways:

• Match Play works like the World Series. Every hole stands on its own: you win, you lose, or you tie.

• With Medal Play shots accumulate over 18 holes and the winner is not determined until the last ice cube drops into a glass on the 19th green.

Now, here’s what’s kept us focused on Zeno’s Paradox for more than two millennia: IRL, we all know that Achilles wins easily…even though we’ve proven that he can’t. There must be something wrong with our assumptions… and indeed there is!

Our assumption (above) that spacetime is continuous must be false. In fact, we now know thanks to Einstein & the Quantum Mechanics that spacetime is made up of tiny, Planck size units; it’s not a flowing river, Heraclitus, it’s a post-industrial foam. 

The Planck bubbles are so small that for most purposes we can treat spacetime as though it were a continuum…but it isn’t. And because it isn’t, no slimy reptile stands a chance against our GOAT…and no World Series lasts more than 7 games.

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Marjorie Phillips — Night Baseball (1951) depicts a vivid evening at Griffith Stadium under the glow of newly installed floodlights. The artist captures the tension of the game as players, umpires, and fans are illuminated by artificial light, emphasizing the novelty and spectacle of night sports. Her use of bold color and simplified forms reflects both the excitement of baseball and the mid-century fascination with progress and modern leisure.