Tag: predictive modeling

A Prediction Model for Sports Match Results – Part 5

Introduction

I am quite happy to have arrived at the final post of the series – not because I disliked writing the previous posts, but because I have worked for four years with the models presented in this series. I have become accustomed to their weaknesses and strengths, as well as those of the methods used for comparison. This post, however, is new and fresh. Finally, I have the change to put on paper (sort of) all the ideas I have had over the years on how to improve the model.

I don’t think it will surprise anyone reading this to know that I love modeling data. One of the reasons I love it is that modeling is not an exact science, as one might expect it to be. Modeling is just as much an art as a science; there are no certainties when we work with Probability Theory. Dealing with probabilities means making your peace with the fact that you will always be uncertain about your conclusions.

Continue reading “A Prediction Model for Sports Match Results – Part 5” →
 

A Prediction Model for Sports Match Results – Part 2

Introduction

As outlined in the first post, this installment of the series will be about the model’s estimates and predictions. I will also touch on how to compare predictions between models. For all that to work, I will have to introduce a few mathematical definitions. In a similar way to the first post, I will give both an intuitive explanation of every concept and a mathematical explanation.


The Estimates section will begin with an explanation of how the model fits the data (with a few graphs to show the process of finding the estimates for last season’s NBA), followed by a brief introduction on Bayesian inference. Next, the Model Comparisons section will define the predictive likelihood of a model, and how to calculate it. I will also discuss a few different ways to compare predictions. Finally, in the Discussion section, I will offer critiques of the work presented in this post.

Continue reading “A Prediction Model for Sports Match Results – Part 2” →