statistics Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Baseball Prospectus' 2024 projections have fan bases losing their minds
It’s easy to tell when there will be leather popping and maple and ash cracking on some distant Florida or Arizona field. No, it’s not the fact that it doesn’t quite get dark at 4 pm anymore. Not even Valentine’s Day or President’s Day. Nope, spring training is always around the corner when the PECO...
Steve Kerr officiating complaints come across as sour grapes to some
Not everyone seems to be as “disgusted” with NBA officiating as Golden State head coach Steve Kerr....
What if there was a Mendoza Line for other baseball stats?
Mario Mendoza put together nine nondescript major league seasons from 1974-1982 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. He was good for -2.7 WAR and finished with a career .215 batting average....
World Cup Day 9: England wins and loses at the same time
Doing the bare minimum to win seems to be England’s way in this World Cup. The Three Lionesses have a pair of 1-0 wins in the tournament, including the win over Denmark early Friday morning. Already without Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, and Fran Kirby for the global showcase, Keira Walsh was taken off...
Latest NHL marathon game should’ve barely lasted past regulation
You know that NHL playoff game that ended right before 2 a.m. Eastern? The one where Carolina and Florida still looked composed after nearly 140 minutes on the Raleigh ice and a Matthew Tkachuk goal with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime, saving those brave souls who didn’t pass out from more...
Hey NBA— stop allowing players to 'defend' with bogus charge calls
I was born decades after the Great Depression, so I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. James Naismith. I know that he wanted a game without contact but to make an honest attempt at that goal, players on defense should not be allowed to slide in front of players on offense whose feet are at most o...
Nobody in the NBA ever told Giannis about Ricky Davis?
Giannis Antetokounmpo was nine years old in Greece in March 2003, so it’s likely that he didn’t watch too many Cleveland Cavaliers games before the Franchise selected LeBron James with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft that June. Still, a veteran should have told him the story about Ricky Davi...
Tuesday night was the newest episode of the 'Lake Show'
Anybody with a pulse could see the tension following LeBron James’ record-breaking basket passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The two men, who have scored more buckets than anyone in association history, came off as extremely awkward next to one another during the cerem...
How far can LeBron James stretch the limits of the NBA scoring record?
On Tuesday night, LeBron James became the NBA’s Vitruvian Scorer, a divine manifestation of athlete and bucket generator. The constant progression of statistical landmarks makes them even tougher to attain for the next generation. The higher records climb, the tougher the gravity becomes to reach. I...
A ninth win in 10 games would mean it’s time to start taking the Vikings seriously
The Minnesota Vikings have been the most disrespected winning team in the NFL this season. Despite an 8-1 record, very few outside the state of Minnesota believe the Vikings are a “real” contender in the NFC. Even after surprisingly pulling out an overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills last week, m...
Chris Paul has another NBA rule change to get used to
At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and James Harden were just a few stars to sound off about the changes, but as the season ...
So here’s this year’s Champions League group of death
The group-stage draw for the UEFA Champions League is always a strange, exciting, but mostly strange day. The path to European glory becomes more in focus with a straightforward goal: finish in the top half of your group and you make it to the knockout stage that begins next year. If you don’t you’r...
Long live Nikola Jokić, the NBA’s Most VORPable Player
The impending news that Nikola Jokić will be awarded his second-consecutive MVP award has sent the NBA community into a border war formation between respect for analytics and the eye test. Jokic’s back-to-back wins is a resounding victory for the NBA’s mathlete contingency. This isn’t a diatribe aga...
The Dallas Stars, the piss in the cereal
The NHL playoffs haven’t had the most amount of drama so far. There’s only been two overtime games in the eight series combined, and not too many more that have been all that close or in doubt in the closing minutes of the third period. Some scores have been blown up by multiple empty-net goals, but...
Please stay healthy, Byron Buxton
It’s become part of the rhythm of a baseball season. Mike Trout will tweak something, or leave a game early, and every baseball fan will sigh, and wonder why they can’t have nice things. We all feel deprived of something when Trout misses a large chunk of time. This will also happen whenever Shohei ...
USMNT in the knockout round! An Argentina-Brazil semifinal! Oh, Canada! (and more World Cup predictions)
Instead of a World Cup taking place in the summer, we’re waiting until the late fall for the festivities to start to get to a manageable playing temperature in Qatar. The 2022 FIFA World Cup draw took place a few weeks ago, giving a path to the 37 teams still in contention to lift the trophy. Four w...
Since the NBA gave Grayson Allen a slap on the wrist for his violent behavior, what do you think the Bulls will do to him?
Alex Caruso’s wrist is broken. He is going to miss the next 6-8 weeks of action for the Bulls. Grayson Allen, the person who knocked Caruso out of the air and caused his injury, has been suspended by the NBA for one game. If this seems a bit imbalanced to you, it’s because you have common sense....
Let’s try to understand the NBA’s defensive player rating and all its absurdity
Analytics can be misleading. Over the last decade, we’ve seen an influx of statistics take over the sports world, and basketball hasn’t been exempt from this revolution — just look at all the three-point attempts we see now across the NBA. But one stat in particular can be even dangerously misleadin...
Nikola Jokić's performance brings up the age-old question: ‘How good must your team be in order to win MVP?’
The Denver Nuggets are currently 12-13, tied with the Dallas Mavericks for seventh in the Western Conference. Despite having Aaron Gordon for the entirety of this season, the Nuggets just can’t seem to get going. After starting the season 9-4, the Nuggets dropped six straight games and fell below .5...