neil (Neil Paine, acting sports editor): One of the most hyped MLB trade deadlines in recent memory is in the rearview mirror, and now we get to sift through the fallout. To help with that, I’ve gathered Brian Menéndez and Robert O’Connell, two of our esteemed FiveThirtyEight baseball contributors — guys, welcome! Brian (Brian Menéndez, […]
It is virtually impossible to find a proper comparison for Han Xu, the 6-foot-10, 22-year-old center for the New York Liberty. Not one person I interviewed could do it. A big who can shoot threes? Sure, but there’s big and then there’s big — Han is several inches taller than almost everyone who guards her, […]
Properly measuring the greatness of Bill Russell, the legendary Boston Celtics center who died Sunday at the age of 88, has always been a challenge in our modern, metrics-obsessed era of NBA analysis. Russell’s titles — 11 as a player, two of which also came as a coach — are unparalleled in the history of […]
One recent Saturday afternoon in Seattle, Justin Verlander was protecting a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning when he landed in a jam: runners on second and third, one out. So the Houston Astros’ 39-year-old still-ace turned to his full catalog. Verlander threw sliders at the Mariners’ belt buckles, curveballs over their shoelaces and a […]
This is a week of big decisions for nearly every general manager in baseball. Ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, front offices need to figure out exactly where their teams stand in the playoff race and just how much risk they’re willing to tolerate in the name of making a run this year, versus selling off […]