by mesquiton » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:18 pm
Marcus, much as I enjoy (and usually agree with) your deep analyses, I suspect you might agree that at the level of competition of this league, everybody has mastered this simple game sufficiently to have a roughly equal shot at the title, regardless of whether they are "eyeballers" or "sabremetricians".
I'm mainly an eyeballer myself, although I might force myself to count card chances on occasion.
Your results speak for themselves, but I bet they'd not be significantly worse if you relied on eyeballing alone...except perhaps over very large samples, e.g., dozens or hundreds of leagues.
For a small sample like this one league, the most sophisticated number crunching, even if valid for large samples, will have a marginal effect if at all. Anybody here is obviously a good manager, and great manager is a great manager, regardless of method, no?
The most significant, well documented and least appreciated statistic, IMHO, even if I do repeat myself: Over a sample of 10 leagues, the same team using the same lineups and settings against the same competition, eliminating all variables but luck, will typically have 15-20 more wins during its best of the 10 seasons versus the worst, due to dice rolls alone.
In this game, a little luck with the dice can wipe out a whole lot of deep thinking in a hurry!
So take heart, simpletons (I include myself)...we might not be able to match the luckyman's razor-sharp analytical methods, but we can still beat his sorry arse! :P