Fantasy sports are all about making the right calls—do you trust your gut, or do you trust the data? In fact, sports and data are a powerful combination and nowhere is that more evident than in the world of fantasy sports. Whether it's the excitement of the Premier League or
The world’s largest rugby tournament returns for the knockout stages. This blog post explores how probability and simulation can be used to predict likely winners in each of the knockout stages. Team sports are dynamic, time-varying and complex topics to model. When modeling regular competitions, such as domestic leagues, it
When the NBA’s Orlando Magic opened Amway Center in 2010, the team quickly realized they possessed a wealth of untapped data capabilities. Known as pioneers in introducing AI to the NBA, they’ve since expanded their analytics and data footprint in partnership with SAS. Outside of competing on the court, the
Hace un par de semanas participé en un torneo de fútbol 7 con mis compañeros de SAS. Mientras calentábamos, uno de los más jóvenes se puso las manos en las rodillas, las flexionó, las estiró un par de veces y dijo: "Vamos a hacer un calentamiento noventero". Se partió de
You’re down by 10 points in your NFL fantasy football league, and you need to choose a wide receiver from the free agency pool because your starter was injured. How do you decide to get the 11 points required for a win? What methods will you use to lead you
SAS research statistician Ji Shen reveals how to train a machine to be a batting coach.
The SAS Batting Lab is a six-week program designed to help improve kids’ understanding of data while also helping them improve their baseball and softball swings. Using analytics in an interactive, AI-powered batting cage, kids can compare their swings to batting stars. During the program, the participants also became more
Sports leagues face a difficult task in creating a fair game schedule for their teams. Scheduling dates for sporting events is one of the first things that can go wrong in a season. By using optimization strategies, leagues can maximize their potential and fans can reap the benefits. Sports fans
Industries including sports and entertainment, travel, manufacturing, education and government benefit from analytical insights In the United States and other parts of the world, there are signs. Record automobile traffic. Surging demand for workers. And a continued push to vaccinate. The pandemic and its effects are still very much with
When people think about sports, many things may come to mind: Screaming fans, the intensity of the game and maybe even the food. Data doesn’t usually make the list. But what people may not realize is that data is behind everything people love about sports. It can help determine how
I've got this buddy, Carter Johnson - he's a little bit crazy, but a lot of fun to follow... He holds/held several different long-distance paddling world records, and was one of the coaches for the group that paddled kayaks from Cuba to the US (see my blog post). A few
I previously blogged about the impact drafting offensive linemen has on winning and making the playoffs. Since I wrote that, we have new data points to add to the analysis and an exciting finale to this NFL season. In this blog post, I’ll explore a few more arguments both in
In recent years, we have seen some astronomical contracts given to professional athletes. Major League Baseball (MLB) has certainly had its share. One of its first notable “megadeals” was when Alex Rodriguez, the Seattle Mariners’ power-hitting shortstop, left the team to join the Texas Rangers in 2001. The Rangers committed
In football, five out of the 11 players on offense are on the field to accomplish one goal: keep the defenders as far away from the ball as possible. Sometimes it’s more than five. Teams will bring extra linemen on short-play packages. Tight ends and full backs might check in
A year ago we could not imagine stadiums being empty during the most exciting sports events, but it is a common sight now. The entertainment sector is one of the hardest hit sectors because of the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. Social distancing requirements made it impossible to have viewers in stadiums
When Liverpool clinched the Premier League title with a win on June 25, my household was giddy. We are a family of sports fans, and we especially love baseball (Go, Red Sox!) and soccer. I’m a relative newbie to Liverpool, having cheered for them for the last five years. Having
Critics of sports analytics (and there are some entertaining ones) love to point out that analytics isn’t capable of capturing the things that don’t show up on a box score. A player who dives on the floor to save a loose ball, a quarterback strategically misleading a defender to free
These are incredibly tough times, and fortunately, everyone I know is still healthy, safe and doing everything they can to stay that way. I know I'm lucky -- the worst I've suffered so far under coronavirus stay-at-home orders is sports withdrawal. I'm trying to fill that void in my life
I'm a bit of a boat paddling enthusiast, as you might have guessed from some of my previous paddling blog posts. The amount of exertion in race-paddling is similar to running - the longest race I've paddled in a race so far was 13 miles (half-marathon distance). But in the
I asked Jaimy van Dijk if it's true or false if analytics has huge potential in sport.
In just over six months, football fans across Europe face a logistical maze: how to follow their favourite teams from stadium to stadium as games are played all over the continent. We described the challenge and optimisation approach we took in a separate piece. In this gallery, we walk
Football fans around the world have something exciting to look forward to, with the European Championship scheduled to take place in June and July 2020. Twenty teams out of 24 have already qualified for the tournament, and after last Saturday's draw, the teams and fans are now getting ready to
With all this sitting at a desk writing code, I have to do something to keep in shape. And for me, that something is paddling boats ... as fast as I can - and occasionally trying to race them. This past weekend I entered the race at Hunting Island, SC.
After a marathon of a season, 162 games in each team's schedule to be precise, the stakes for Major League Baseball are higher in October, and postseason play is underway. Whether it's the renewal of an old rivalry, redemption for last year's runners up, or rooting for this season's breakout
Eliud Kipchoge recently ran a marathon in under 2 hours. It was a special marathon where they had set up the best possible conditions to help him achieve this goal (such as swapping in pace-setting runners to block the wind for him), so it won't count as the world record
The SAS Championship golf tournament is happening this week, here in Cary, North Carolina! If you're following along and watching the scores, you might wonder how they're doing compared to past years, and what kind of scores it generally takes to win. Follow along as I plot the data from
What can data tell us about the easiest hole at your favorite golf course? Or which hole contributes the most to mastering the course? A golf instructor once told me golf is not my sport, and that my swing is hopeless, but that didn’t stop me from analyzing golf data!
If you consume NBA content through social media, then you know just how active that online community is. Basketball arguments and ‘hot takes’ on the Internet are about as commonplace as Michael Jordan playing golf instead of running a functional NBA front office. I wondered if NBA fans happened to
SAS is once again organising a global football tournament open to SAS offices around the world, with the event now in its 20th consecutive year. After winning last year’s tournament in a dramatic penalty shootout against the USA, we at SAS Scotland are looking forward to defending our title in
Major European football (soccer) leagues came to an end after an intensive year. Manchester City claimed the Premier League title after a high-intensity title race against Liverpool. It is unbelievable that Liverpool would have won 25 out of the last 27 PL titles with 97 points. Luckily, the Reds
