Are You Smarter Than ESPN?

I won’t bury the lede here, you’re probably not. I shared a chart in chat earlier showing how each team did compared to the best possible line-up they could have set, as well as comparing to their total points had they set their lineup using ESPN’s projections. I was surprised when glancing a couple weeks how often ESPN’s version of the team outscored the actual. I decided to wrangle all the data and take a peek at how each team did when they went against the ESPN projections.

When people set a lineup different than the ESPNs’ recommendation, they score less points 60% of the time! Only two teams have set a better line-up more often than ESPN (Boomers and Pumaskulls). No surprise here but the Atoms have set a worse lineup than ESPN seven times. Most teams have lost points on the whole, but Shittysaurses have netted at extra 40 points on the season by going against the grain.

Here’s the chart from chat comparing scores in Week 9:

This should be a regular feature for the rest of the season. I’m working on some improvements like pairing up the teams from each matchup so you can more easily see if you would have won/loss, etc.