Northern California Symposium on Statistics and Operations Research in Sports, October 16, 2010

I attended this symposium two years ago, and it’s well worth it. $25 for students, $45 for non-students, registration link is here. There’s one oral presentation on baseball, four poster presentations specific to baseball, plus this rather intriguing poster presentation:

Never Too Late To Win
by Adam Gold
Sports fans can be freed from cheering against their favorite team for a draft pick. Draft orders based on how teams perform after becoming mathematically eliminated from playoff contention trigger highly competitive atmospheres that inspire fans with passion and optimism. The worst teams receive the handicap of playing more games to earn the top draft pick. Using the reverse standings to determine draft order creates the distressing paradox where success and failure become synonymous. Each fan’s right to cheer for their favorite team, from the first game to the last, is more important than the attempt to list teams from the worst to best. Advanced mathematical formulas and rigorous computer algorithms create the demand for professional sports franchises to make the pursuit of winning unlimited.

Be kind of interesting to see how this would play out in practice in baseball.

If you’re in the SF area that weekend, I highly recommend that you check this out.