Buck the analytics Buck!

THOSE who have watched Buck Showalter successfully manage teams hope he was mostly teasing when he said he’ll rely on both analytics as well as his longconditioned instincts to manage the Mets.

In an ongoing epidemic of insanity, analytics have replaced here-and-now common sense as both managers fight it out to determine which one will blow the game. It’s crazy! And if Showalter doesn’t know it and act in its defiance, The Game, at its last breath, is doomed.

I can’t see Showalter removing effective relievers for any spreadsheet-printed reason. Nor can I see him alerting the bullpen because an effective starter is heading into the Kingdom of Evil Analytics Destiny — his third time through the lineup. In 1994, with Showalter at the wheel of the Yankees, Jimmy Key didn’t finish 17-4 by being yanked after six innings — in a 113game, strike-shortened season.

Last year, the Mets’ Edwin Diaz blew six saves and went 5-6 — far too many decisions for a designated closer — due to preseason-scripted analytics.

I can’t see Showalter excuse fundamental failings, starting with running to first base and swinging from the heels on 0-2 pitches.

Perhaps Showalter, with little to lose at age 65, will be the first to institute the no-handshake rule for first base coaches, meaning he expects those who hit home runs to be off and running, past first base when the ball clears the wall — in case what they “thought” to be a home run becomes a double or triple instead of a posing, jogging single.

Consider: A team that can win, say, six more games by playing smart baseball under a manager who insists on such, also loses six fewer games, a swing of 12 games.