Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/moneyball-and-beyond
If you’re a baseball fan who admires the strategic depth of America’s pastime and has an inclination toward data analysis, then ‘Moneyball and Beyond’ on Coursera is a course you won’t want to miss. Designed to give you an understanding of how data analytics revolutionized the game, this course dives deep into the statistical theories and programming skills that are essential for modern baseball analysis.
**Course Overview**
The phenomenon of ‘Moneyball’, sparked by Michael Lewis’s bestselling book, illustrates how data can redefine strategies in sports. This course builds on that foundation, teaching you to program in Python to investigate and validate the claims in the Moneyball narrative. You’ll learn about performance statistics such as On Base Percentage (OBP) and Slugging Percentage (SLG), through hands-on analysis using publicly available datasets.
**Week-by-Week Breakdown**
1. **Week 1 – Introduction to Moneyball**: The course kicks off with a solid introduction to the Moneyball story, establishing the foundational relationship between team winning percentage and performance statistics like OBP and SLG. It sets the stage for why this analysis is crucial for understanding baseball.
2. **Week 2 – Player Salaries vs. Performance**: This week dives into the relationship between MLB player salaries and their performance statistics. Discover how the perception of OBP and SLG shifted post-publication of ‘Moneyball’, emphasizing the undervaluation of these metrics.
3. **Week 3 – Performance Analysis Over Time**: Building on previous lessons, this week focuses on analyzing OBP and SLG from 1994 to 2015. It takes a closer look at the components of SLG to understand their impact on game performance.
4. **Week 4 – Run Expectancy**: Exploring the concept of run expectancy, this segment teaches you how to derive a run expectancy matrix using 2018 season data—making complex calculations accessible and understandable.
5. **Week 5 – Wins Above Replacement (WAR)**: The final week looks at the cornerstone metric of player evaluation—WAR. You’ll learn how to calculate WAR and understand its implications for team strategies, player valuation, and correlation with winning percentages.
**Why You Should Take This Course**
‘’Moneyball and Beyond’’ is more than just a course about baseball; it’s about learning the sophisticated tools of data analysis in a fun and engaging manner. With a combination of theoretical concepts and practical programming assignments in Python, you walk away not just with knowledge, but actionable skills that you can apply right away. Whether you’re looking to make a career in sports analytics, enhance your analytical skills, or simply understand the game more deeply, this course is an excellent investment of your time.
Overall, if you are eager to explore how data science is reshaping sports, then ‘Moneyball and Beyond’ is a course you should consider enrolling in today. With quality content and an engaging format, it promises to equip you with the knowledge that transcends traditional sports statistics.
Don’t just watch the game; understand it at its core with this transformative course!
Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/moneyball-and-beyond