It’s the ultimate in fantasy baseball: You get to pick the roster, set the lineup, and decide on strategies—with real players, in a real ballpark, playing in real time. That’s what Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller got to do when the Sonoma Stompers, an independent minor-league team in California, offered them the chance to run the team’s baseball operations according to the most advanced statistics. Their story is unlike any other baseball tale you’ve ever read.