Sports analytics

Sports analytics are a collection of relevant, historical, statistics that when properly applied can provide a competitive advantage to a team or individual. Through the collection and analyzation of these data, sports analytics inform players, coaches and other staff in order to facilitate decision making both during and prior to sporting events. The term "sports analytics" was popularized in mainstream sports culture following the release of the 2011 film, Moneyball, where Oakland Athletics General Manager, Billy Beane relied heavily on the use of analytics to build a competitive team on a minimal budget.

As technology has advanced over the last number of years data collection has become more in-depth and can be conducted with relative ease. Advancements in data collection have allowed for sports analytics to grow as well, leading to the development of advanced statistics as well sport specific technologies that allow for things like game simulations to be conducted by teams prior to play.

Another significant impact sports analytics have had on professional sports is in relation to sport gambling. In depth sports analytics have taken sports gambling to new levels, whether it be fantasy sports leagues or nightly wagers, betters now have more information than ever at their disposal to help aid decision making. A number of companies and webpages have been developed to help provide fans with up to the minute information for their betting needs.

The MLB has set the benchmark in sports analytics for a number of years, with some of the games brightest minds having never stepped foot into the heat of a major or minor league baseball game. Theo Epstein of the Chicago Cubs is one of those minds who has never suited up in a professional baseball game, instead Epstein relies on his Yale University education and the numbers behind the game to make many of his decisions. Epstein, known for his role in ending two of baseballs most historic streaks, the Boston Red Sox curse of the Great Bambino in 2004 and as recently as the 2016 World Series, helping end the 108-year drought between World Series wins for the Chicago Cubs, is a member of a growing community of brilliant minds in major league baseball who do not rely on years of major league playing experience. This community has been able to grow in thanks to the in depth collection of statistics that has existed in baseball for decades. With analytics being relatively common in the MLB, there are a breadth of statistics that have become vital in the analyzation of the game, these include;

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