Optimal Sports Math, Statistics, and Fantasy

Optimal Sports, Math, Statistics, and Fantasy provides the entire sports community-students, professionals, and casual sports fans alike-with the essential mathematics and statistics required to objectively analyze sports teams, evaluate player ability and performance, predict game outcomes, and create strategies for recreational activities, such as fantasy sports gaming and team management. Additionally, the book provides the theoretical techniques and applications used to decode and demystify ranking schemes, such as the BCS computer rankings system used in college football, the elusive RPI college basketball rankings, FIFA national team rankings, and sports betting lines. Currently, these methodologies are hidden, non-transparent approaches, not verifiable, and often lead to a lack of confidence in the process. This book teaches readers how to rank sports teams, compute the probability of victory, calculate expected win/loss margin and total points, and determine the set statistics that are most predictive of team strength (offensively & defensively) and player success. Covers methods on the modeling of team rankingsDiscusses how mathematics and statistics are used in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, and baseballExplains advanced applications, fantasy sports leagues, and hall of fame player evaluation