Analyze this: What’s best for Giants?

The Giants want to catch the elite teams, including the Dodgers, and are trying to hire a new boss to make it happen.

But do they want to follow the Dodgers’ blueprint, which is heavily analytics-driven and seemed to backfire in the past two World Series?

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was criticized for his decision-making in the five-game loss to the Red Sox, though the decisions were based largely on data supplied by Andrew Friedman’s front office.

Boston manager Alex Cora wasn’t flawless, but more of his decisions worked. Then again, the Red Sox are a historically outstanding team, so perhaps it was more about his players making him look good.

In any case, the Red Sox, though also heavy into analytics, are said to be more willing than the Dodgers to mix new school with old school, and much of that stems from Dave Dombrowski, an old-school general manager who buys into new-school principles, but not to the Dodgers’ extreme.

At a time when we see a record number of home runs and strikeouts, the Red Sox ranked ninth in the majors in homers and had the fifth-fewest strikeouts. Conversely, the Dodgers had the second-most homers and fanned 183 more times than the Red Sox.

In other words, the Red Sox benefited by putting the ball in play.

Meantime, L.A. fans won’t soon forget Roberts pulling lefty Rich Hill too quickly, not only in Game 4 of the 2018 World Series but Game 2 of the 2017 World Series. Ensuing bullpen meltdowns cost the Dodgers in both games, and who knows? With different decision-making, maybe we’re talking about a two-peat instead of consecutive World Series losses.

Yes, before his final inning, Hill told Roberts to “keep an eye on me.” But World Series history has countless examples of pitchers amping up workloads with the entire offseason to rest, and Roberts played it safe.

Sometimes, especially in a World Series, a manager needs to ditch the intel and go back to using baseball instincts, which is what got him there in the first place. Relievers, after all, can be exposed in postseason series if they’re overused and batters gain familiarity.

Giants CEO Larry Baer said he wants to hire someone to run baseball operations who’ll emphasize both analytics and scouting, but another element is allowing the manager to have a feel for the game. That philosophy worked fine for Bruce Bochy as he oversaw three World Series titles.