Editorial: Latest Reports from The Washington Posts ‘Fancy Stats’

Why the Capitals should want to face the Islanders and Rangers

The Washington Capitals clinched their second President’s Trophy in franchise history with their victory over the Blue Jackets on Monday, the earliest a team has clinched home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs in 14 years. Even more impressive is that Washington managed to do it before any other team in the Eastern conference clinched a playoff spot. With home-ice advantage […]

AL Central preview: Royals projected to go from first to worst

The American League Central is a tough division. The reigning World Series champion Kansas City Royals won 95 games last season but will have a tough time repeating. Heck, they may not even be the best team in their own division, with some outlets favoring the Cleveland Indians. Then there are the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota […]

Astros will prove last they’re the real deal

After six straight losing seasons, three of those as the worst team in baseball, the new and improved Houston Astros won 86 games last season, made the playoffs and are now in contention to win the World Series. The Astros were first in the American League for stolen bases (121) and second in home runs (230) […]

Elite NBA teams don’t let up in the season’s final stretch

As Sunday’s slate of NBA games came to a close, there’s much left to be decided— seeding, home-court advantage, whether Chicago’s self-immolation will keep the franchise from the postseason for the first time since 2008 — between now and April 16. ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh wrote in 2012 that momentum, at least what’s generated over the […]

NL East preview: Mets and Nats once again square off for the top spot

The National League East is a two-horse race and that won’t change as the season progresses — only the New York Mets and Washington Nationals have any hope of capturing the division title or a wild-card spot. The Mets, fresh off their first World Series berth in 15 years, boast one of MLB’s best rotations. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, […]

Syracuse had an easy road to the Final Four

Syracuse is living the dream. The Orange, considered a bubble team by most, have punched its ticket to the Final Four, its sixth trip since Jim Boeheim became the coach in 1976, after upsetting No. 1 Virginia on Sunday. Syracuse trailed 54-39 before scoring 25 of the game’s next 29 points, including 15 in a row, making the Orange just the fourth double-digit seed to qualify for the Final […]

Four ACC teams familiar with each other battle for two Final Four berths

Two weeks ago, Sunday’s scenario — four ACC teams competing on the right side of the bracket in the Elite Eight — seemed far-fetched. Yet No. 10 Syracuse overcame low expectations to defeat No. 11 Gonzaga, grossly underseeded by the NCAA selection committee, and Notre Dame, a six-seed, improbably swiped two possessions from Wisconsin. Those […]

Elite Eight power rankings: Kansas most likely to win the NCAA tournament

The NCAA tournament offered many surprises through the second round, but not many since, leaving plenty of big-name programs in the field. Here’s how the Elite Eight teams rank in order of their chances to win the national championship, as calculated by FiveThirtyEight. 4 games away from 1-1-1-1. 14% chance. — Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) March 26, 2016 […]

Five hitters to avoid in your fantasy baseball draft

Spring has sprung and you know what that means: a whole new season of Major League Baseball is right around the corner.  So are all your fantasy league drafts.  Better to be prepared than rely on auto-draft, right? Here are five hitters, all projected to post top 50 fantasy seasons, whom I would caution against taking in […]

The case for selecting Paul Goldschmidt over Bryce Harper in fantasy baseball

Opening day is getting closer and chances are your fantasy draft is looming in the next day or two. If you are lucky enough to snag the No. 1 pick the selection is easy. Mike Trout. Trout, the best player in baseball, hit 41 home runs last season while batting .299 with 104 runs scored, […]

In NCAA tournament, is No. 2 better than No. 1? In one case, yes.

The first night of this NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 play was rife with blowouts, with the No. 2 seeds looking particularly impressive. Villanova used a three-point fueled offense to end Miami’s title hopes. Then there is Oklahoma, who essentially used national player of the year candidate Buddy Hield as a decoy. Texas A&M was so […]

AL East preview: Red Sox poised to go from worst to first

The American League East was supposed to be competitive last season. But instead, the Toronto Blue Jays ran away with the division, winning 93 games with the second-place New York Yankees winning just 87. After finishinglast in 2015 for a second straight year, the Boston Red Sox made a splash in free agency with the signings of Hanley […]

March Madness: Friday’s most likely upsets in the Sweet 16

We are down to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, with all four No. 1 seeds advancing for the first time since 2012. Two double-digit seeds, No. 10 Syracuse and No. 11 Gonzaga also made the cut, but only one can advance to the Elite Eight. No.1 North Carolina, meanwhile, has the easiest path to the […]

The key to the Kansas Jayhawks’ supremacy

Bill Self doesn’t often rely on a deep bench. From 2006-07 — when Ken Pomeroy began to track the percentage of minutes allocated to a team’s reserves — to the present, Self typically depends on his non-starters for about a quarter of Kansas’s playing time. It’s remarkably stable, even for a coach that doesn’t often […]

Robert Griffin III could be worse with the Browns than he was with the Redskins

Robert Griffin III has got a fresh start, signing with the Cleveland Browns on Thursday, giving him a chance to become that franchise’s 25th starting QB since 1999. Only the Dallas Cowboys have seen a higher turnover under center during that time (19). And while he may get a chance to start in Cleveland, don’t expect any […]

Four starting pitchers to avoid in your fantasy baseball draft

It’s fantasy baseball draft season, which means owners are gathering their cheat sheets and hoping to create the perfect team for the season ahead. As you develop your pitching staff, make sure to avoid these four big name starters who have a larger price tag than their abilities merit. Drafting them at their current values may […]

Is Patrick Kane’s season best ever by an American player? Not just yet.

Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, with 92 points and counting, has already eclipsed his personal best of 88 and is on track for a 101-point season, the first in the NHL since Penguins star Sidney Crosby’s 104-point campaign two years ago. Kane is also running away with the NHL scoring race, 10 points ahead of ahead of the […]

NHL goons are evolving … into pests. And that’s a good thing for their teams.

In the Washington Capitals’ matchup against the San Jose Sharks, Mike Richards made a beeline for Justin Braun, nailing him with a thunderous hit. That devastating, but clean, hit could have created assaultive bedlam. Instead, the play is simply marked as a (relatively) serene sidenote. Bare-knuckled punches were not thrown. “Five years ago, anytime there was an […]

Five starting pitchers who show signs of getting injured this season

Injuries plagued a number of high profile starters last season. Yu Darvish, Cliff Lee and Marcus Stroman all had to be sidelined while starting pitchers missed 8,872 total days on the disabled list in 2015. There are warning signs to predict some of the injuries that befall a pitcher, with a prior trip to the disabled list being […]

Alex Rodriguez will pass Babe Ruth in home runs by 2017

New York Yankees’ infielder Alex Rodriguez has told  ESPN’s Andrew Marchand that he will retire after the 2017 season. Rodriguez, who turned 40 years old in July, shocked everyone last year by hitting 33 home runs, his highest total in eight years, after being forced to sit out the entire 2014 season due to his […]

Here’s the perfect fantasy baseball draft

Opening day is almost here, which means your fantasy baseball draft is close at hand. But fear not! Here is what a perfect fantasy baseball snake draft looks like in a 12-team, standard, 5×5 mixed, roto league with the following categories for batters: runs scored, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and batting average. For pitchers the categories are […]

Sweet 16: Kansas has toughest road to Final Four among No. 1 seeds

The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament were filled with upsets and last-minute heroics, but the top-seeded teams all made it through the the Sweet 16. For the 1st time since 2012, all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Sweet 16. pic.twitter.com/NE1T1HGG8k — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 21, 2016 According to the updated Pomeroy […]

The key to the Bulls’ playoff push? Some guy named Doug McDermott.

Bulls forward Doug McDermott entered Monday’s game against the Kings late in the first quarter and promptly buried back-to-back three-pointers. Chicago’s fourth leading scorer since the all-star break finished the quarter with nine points on three shots in less than five minutes. None of this was particularly surprising; the second-year player has blossomed into the […]

Gonzaga will struggle to solve Syracuse’s Rubik’s Cube of a defense

Coach Jim Boeheim’s defensive scheme, an integral part of Syracuse’s 2003 title run and Final Four appearances in 1996 and 2013, has been compared to Mariano Rivera’s cutter and a Rubik’s Cube — stifling opponents who aren’t accustomed to its intricacies. The advantage of Syracuse’s 2-3 zone is how it protects the paint, forcing teams to beat the Orange with outside shooting. If those shots don’t […]

Why Oklahoma should reach Final Four over Oregon, Duke and Texas A&M

There were numerous moments when it appeared as though none of the top four seeds in the West region would advance to the Sweet 16. No. 4 Duke blew a double-digit lead early in the second half and narrowly escaped No. 12 Yale. Buddy Hield carried No. 2 Oklahoma in the game’s final minutes against No. 10 VCU […]

All about the Benjamins: By leaving early for NBA, Ben Simmons doubles future money

Star college player Ben Simmons told ESPN that he will indeed declare for the NBA draft. The 6-foot-10 LSU freshman averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game this past season for the Tigers but failed to be productive away from the rim. The lack of a reliable jump shot hasn’t stopped Simmons from […]

Jose Mourinho will struggle to rebuild Manchester United

Jose Mourinho may be coming back to the English Premier League after less than a season away. According to a report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Mourinho has signed a pre-contract with Manchester United. This agreement requires United to pay the former Chelsea manager $21.6 million if the club does not hire him for […]

Texas A&M pulls off the biggest March Madness miracle ever

Northern Iowa, whose win over No. 6 Texas in the first round required a banked half court shot at the buzzer, appeared poised to punch its tickets to the Sweet 16. Then Texas A&M put together the most unthinkable, seemingly impossible last-minute comebacks in ever. In what is now the biggest comeback in college basketball history during the final […]

There were literally 48 better power metrics than RPI for predicting Sweet 16

The Sweet 16 field is set. Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon and Kansas — all No. 1 seeds — have advanced. Texas A&M is moving on after pulling off the biggest March Madness miracle ever and Maryland made one of 18 three-point shots, but was still able to beat No. 13 Hawaii. Here’s how the rest of the […]

Syracuse presents Gonzaga with best chance at the Bulldogs’ first Final Four

After pulling one of the greatest upsets in NCAA tournament history, No. 15 Middle Tennessee’s high was quickly deflated by No. 10 Syracuse. The Orange, after winning, 75-50, and scoring 1.16 points per possession against a variety of alternating defenses, advances to the Sweet 16. But more so than Jim Boeheim’s squad validating their addition to […]

Villanova buries Iowa, early-round ghosts. Now, how far can the Wildcats go?

No. 2 Villanova’s Round of 32 win over No. 7 Iowa was a rout the moment the ball tipped — the Wildcats scored 1.26 points per possession, and held the Hawkeyes to 0.95 PPP in the 87-68 victory. Since the Wildcats made the Final Four in 2009, Jay Wright’s squad has struggled to surpass the first weekend […]

March Madness picks ATS — Sunday’s Round 2 games

Now that we are getting deeper into the NCAA tournament, the cream will start to rise to the top. That may take the form of mis-seeded underdogs or legitimate favorites, but that’s what March Madness is all about. Using Pomeroy college basketball ratings and Bill James’s log5 formula gives us an idea which upsets are more likely than others, so […]

Gonzaga’s backcourt, an early-season concern, has fueled the Bulldogs’ March

At first glance, the stars of No. 11 Gonzaga’s 82-59 beatdown on three-seeded Utah would be Domantas Sabonis, who posted a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Wiltjer, who continually stretched (and confused) the Utes defense with a trio of three-point field goals. But look a bit deeper, and the backcourt — […]

Indiana Hoosiers’ defensive rebirth has them rolling into the Sweet 16

In what was the most anticipated and hyped game of the NCAA tournament so far, fifth-seeded Indiana defeated No. 4 Kentucky, 73-67, on Saturday evening in Des Moines. This should have been a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight matchup, but since it was the second round, we didn’t get enough of Tyler Ulis’s legerdemain or Jamal […]

The inevitability of Duke’s ceiling

No. 12 Yale’s upset of fifth-seed Baylor should have cleared the West region for Duke, but during Saturday’s matchup between the Elis and the No. 4 seed Blue Devils, which Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad won, 71-64, after (nearly) blowing a double-digit lead, the Ivy League champ instead revealed and exploited some significant deficiencies that could hamper Duke going […]

How Miami withstood Wichita State, the nation’s best defense, to reach the Sweet 16

No. 11 seed Wichita State was in its element. Third-seeded Miami, a team that many expected would fall to the physical and relentless Shockers, had blitzed through the opening of the first half, taking a 25-6 lead. But, as Gregg Marshall’s team had demonstrated throughout 2016, it was unwise to count out WSU. Alternating between a matchup zone […]