Analytics in Baseball and Its Effects on the Game




Baseball was once the most popular sport in our country, back in the 1920’s when we had only radios to listen to, and not mobile apps that would update us every second of the scores or the high-definition televisions that we have today. When TVs came into existence, this popularity shifted over to football and basketball, which was faster paced and much more exciting to watch on a TV screen. And it’s been that way ever since, with these two sports leading as the number one and number two sports in the US.

But sports analytics are becoming increasingly popular, and baseball is a game of stats and numbers. It's very interesting to see the type of analytics that can be applied to baseball, which may take it to another level as part of the fan experience. In the present day, we can take massive amounts of data, up to millions or billions of data values, structured or unstructured, and organize it to pick out detailed information and generate statistics. With all the data at our hands, all we must do is figure out what we want to do with it, and how to utilize it to better the fan experience and help out players and scouts/managers.

Athletes are able to train with sensors that monitor heart rate, distance traveled, among other stats. In the NBA, officials use technology that can track millions of data points each game, allowing analysts to see the exact movements of each player, and to replay the same clip from different angles. One author describes “Print let us read about a past game. Radio let us hear it live. TV lets us see it. And data? It will let us understand it. We’ll be able to see and manipulate its insides. It will be the difference between seeing a house from the curb and living in it”. Google Glass may be able to do just that - glasses designed to allow fans to wear it and see all the stats and live game data through the lenses.

The consumer can benefit from something like Google Glass and increased knowledge of the game. They can reap the benefits of fantasy sports, and more and more software has tried to create a game/manager game that allows the fan to experience what it's like as a player/manager, through simulating the game using stats and real players. For the players, they can benefit from using data to improve their game and work on where they tend to be weaker. For scouts, data helps to pick out players that fit according to what the team is looking for. For the owners and organizations, it is a way to strengthen their organization and a different way of gaining revenue. Following the playbook of Billy Beane's A's, a small market team that relied on big data to finish with the best record in MLB history, pro sports teams are now increasingly using analytics to boost their organizations and find the winning combination.

 https://thesportsmarketingplaybook.com/2016/08/31/moneyball-how-big-data-analytics-turned-the-oakland-as-into-the-best-team-in-baseball/

cloudtweaks.com/2014/09/big-data-big-sports-data-changing-future-sports/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Did Nutella Take Over the Breakfast World?

Image
Everyone has heard of it, the delicious creamy breakfast spread, Nutella. However, what no one questions is how it became an overnight sensation that still continues to hold unwavering popularity. Nutella was originally created by Pietro Ferrero around 1946 and only did his son really help to bring it to the market in Europe eventually creating a craze in the United States. At Colombia University the undergrad students were so enamored with the spread that they were swiping tubs full from the dining hall costing the university as much as $5,000. Sales only truly started to pick up in the states when advertising began, making the sales triple to $240 million. Focusing its branding on a breakfast market by becoming one of the typical spread such as jam and butter to put on your bread. Then they were able to even reach a family status, that Nutella was a spread that could be enjoyed by your entire family, something that can be shared, but more importantly something that is sp
Read more

The Opportunity Costs of College

Image
The concept of opportunity costs has much more applications in the real world than I first imagined. The opportunity cost of one thing is the value of that which is sacrificed to obtain it. When I began to research I was stunned by the number of examples and situations, but the one that interested me the most was the opportunity cost of college. We are all about to go to college in just a couple months, so of course, I wanted to see if this upcoming journey is going to be worth it. The first cost of college: tuition. College is not cheap and according to the College Board, during the 2017-18 school year, the average cost of tuition and fees was $34,740 at private colleges. Now assume it takes you four years to graduate and that is approximately $140,000 that you spend on a college education. Thus, by deciding to go to a private college, the money spent is an opportunity cost as it is something that you did not have to spend if you didn't go to college. In addition, by going to
Read more

Movie Theater Popcorn

Image
The experience of watching a movie in theaters isn't replicable. There's the large screen, the comfy chairs, surround-sound systems, and most importantly, the popcorn. Yet, movie theater concession are notoriously overpriced. Why? A study conducted by Stanford and UC Santa Cruz found that the strategy of pricing concessions high and keeping tickets low attracts more customers within a larger income range. By charging less to allow consumers to watch movies on a big screen, more people (especially those that are price-sensitive) are able to enjoy this experience. The movie ticket is a primary product in relation to a theater's profit model, and the snacks are secondary products: you don't have to buy concessions to enjoy a movie, but it certainly ups the overall experience. Most theaters rely heavily on concession sales to keep themselves afloat. Due to low revenues from tickets (a portion of the profits go to movie distributers), profits from the sales of popcorn an
Read more