Handbook of Statistical Methods and Analyses in Sports

This handbook will provide both overviews of statistical methods in sports and in-depth treatment of critical problems and challenges confronting statistical research in sports. The material in the handbook will be organized by major sport (baseball, football, hockey, basketball, and soccer) followed by a section on other sports and general statistical design and analysis issues that are common to all sports. This handbook has the potential to become the standard reference for obtaining the necessary background to conduct serious statistical analyses for sports applications and to appreciate scholarly work in this expanding area.

Jim Albert is Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at Bowling Green State University; Mark E. Glickman is Senior Lecturer on Statistics at Harvard University; Ruud H. Koning is Professor of Sports Economics at the University of Groningen; and Tim Swartz is Professor of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University.

Statistical Issues in Baseball. Overview of statistical analysis in baseball. Evaluation of batters and base runners. Evaluation of fielding. Pitching expertise and evaluation. Situational effects, clutch ability, and streakiness. Statistical Issues in Basketball. Overview of statistical analysis in basketball. Player performance evaluation through scoring margins. Evaluating player performance using spatio-temporal information. Modeling within-game progress in basketball. Experimental design in basketball Referee effects in basketball. Statistical Issues in Hockey. Overview of statistical analysis in hockey. Referee effects in ice hockey. Improvements of plus-minus systems for measuring player performance. Modeling and prediction of game results. Evaluating goaltenders. Statistical Issues in Soccer. Overview of statistical analysis in soccer. Measuring players' abilities. Measuring team abilities. Rating models to measure home advantage, team quality, and national team quality. Modeling game outcomes. Effectiveness of rough play (incidence of yellow/red cards, the effect of red cards and player expulsion). Statistical Issues in American Football. Overview of statistical analysis in American football. Measuring performance of quarterbacks and kickers. Predicting career success of players. Optimal strategies in kickoffs and 4th downs. In-game win probabilities and prediction of game results. Statistical Issues in Other Sports. Cricket: modeling individual performance. Golf: using ShotLink data to develop better measures of performance, fairness of various competitions. Olympics: determining the best Olympic performances and measuring the gender gap in performance improvement, development of records. Tennis: relation of player performance and ranking. Common Statistical Issues in Many Sports. Designing conference and playoff schedules in professional sports leagues. Developing better systems for ranking players in golf and tennis. Statistical considerations for constructing round-robin and double-elimination. Aging effects in sports. Effects of coach dismissal in different sports. Betting markets and information of those markets related to outcomes in different sports.