## Posts

Showing posts from July, 2015

### Power Rankings: Looking at a Very Simple Method

One of the simplest and most common power ranking models is known as the Bradley-Terry-Luce model, which is equivalent to other famous models such the logistic model and the Elo rating system. I'll be referring to "teams" here, but of course the same ideas apply to any two-participant game.

Let me clarify what I mean when I use the term "power ranking". A power ranking supplies not only a ranking of teams, but also provides numbers that may be used to estimate the probabilities of various outcomes were two particular teams to play a match.

In the BTL power ranking system we assume the teams have some latent (hidden/unknown) "strength" $$R_i$$, and that the probability of $$i$$ beating $$j$$ is $$\frac{R_i}{R_i+R_j}$$. Note that each $$R_i$$ is assumed to be strictly positive. Where does this model structure come from?

Here are three reasonable constraints for a power ranking model:
If $$R_i$$ and $$R_j$$ have equal strength, the probability of one b…

### Getting Started Doing Baseball Analysis without Coding

There's lot of confusion about how best to get started doing baseball analysis. It doesn't have to be difficult! You can start doing it right away, even if you don't know anything about R, Python, Ruby, SQL or machine learning (most GMs can't code). Learning these and other tools makes it easier and faster to do analysis, but they're only part of the process of constructing a well-reasoned argument. They're important, of course, because they can turn 2 months of hard work into 10 minutes of typing. Even if you don't like mathematics, statistics, coding or databases, they're mundane necessities that can make your life much easier and your analysis more powerful.

Here are two example problems. You don't have to do these specifically, but they illustrate the general idea. Write up your solutions, then publish them for other people to make some (hopefully) helpful comments and suggestions. This can be on a blog or through a versioning control platform l…