Quick! Without cheating – how many home runs has Edwin Díaz given up this season?
#SportsLawSimplified: Washington’s Trademark Fumble
On July 13, 2020, the Washington NFL Team formally announced that, following the team’s internal review of the “appropriateness” of the team name, they will be retiring the Redskins name. It seems NEVER (team owner Dan Snyder told us to use caps) changing the name really just meant seven years.
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Tanking is Over, Long Live the Process
Tanking has been a pest for the NBA for over a decade, but no team embraced tanking as blatantly as the Philadelphia 76ers. 47 wins over 246 games, winning one out of every five games over three years, was rewarded with four young players with very cheap rookie contracts: Joel Embiid (4 years / $20M), Jahlil Okafor (4 years / $21M), Ben Simmons (4 years / $27M), and Markelle Fultz (4 years / $37M).
Optimizing the Best NBA Expansion Team
Assuming league recovery post-COVID-19, an expansion team (or more) in the NBA feels like more of a “when” than an “if”. Growing team valuations, marketable superstars, and worldwide interest has turned basketball into the sport of the future, and there are plenty of places that could use a squad (looking at you, Seattle).
Making the Switch: Which Starters Should Come Out of the Bullpen?
All MLB pitchers were starters at one point in their careers.
Growing up through Little League, college, and the Minor Leagues, anyone who is eventually good enough to pitch in the majors was likely the superstar ace of most of their previous teams. However, at the highest of levels, many pitchers have to make concessions to their new reality – the fact that they may be better served – and better serve their teams – coming out of the bullpen as relievers.
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Modeling the Mets’ Attendance
Even before the Pandemic, baseball attendance was declining.
Visualizing the NBA’s Trend Toward Positionless Basketball
The NBA has transitioned into a somewhat positionless sport. As the years have gone by, more and more teams have continued to employ lineups that don’t contain centers, or utilize point forwards that guard the paint but facilitate the offense. Players have been thought of less and less as “shooting guards” or “power forwards” and more and more as “wings” or “bigs”. We wanted to visualize this massive change in play style by using data science methods to compare the play style of the current NBA to that of the NBA in the 1980s. Through unsupervised learning, we were able to see how the clustering of player data by position has changed over time, and what that says about how the play style of the league has evolved.
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Left Side, Strong Side – JD Davis & Jeff McNeil
Jeff McNeil and JD Davis are two of the best hitters in baseball.
Hyperbole? You say maybe. I say no.
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An Ode to Mook
Raise a glass.
An ode. A toast, if you will. To Marcus Morris, one of the most respectable yet disrespectable, elating yet frustrating players that have ever played a half-season for the New York Knicks.
The (Mostly Positive) Early Returns for RJ Barrett
After such a humilating offseason, the New York Knicks need any semblance of hope. They’re currently 1-6 and battling a slew of concerns for this season and beyond. However, they’ve taken solace in the early returns from their #3 overall draft pick in RJ Barrett.
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