I took it as a quite entertaining joke, which is most helpful these days. Regarding CoachJon's observations, I think a couple of things might be contributing to the lower "success" rate this year. One is the number of absences of top players related to the World Cup and the build up to it, which could continue with the victory tour. Another is the more radical than expected improvement of Washington and the tanking of Orlando, which have taken a while to adjust to. Another may be the simple operation of chance. It is clear, though, that the robot's poorer performance this year than last means that teams' performances have not been as consistent this year than last year, with their performance over the previous 108 regular season games. So the bottom line may be that it's not the predictors being defective, it's rather the game results being harder to predict, whatever the reasons.
In fact, I think the different pace is mostly a sign of a more unpredictable league this year, compared to the previous one, where basically everything was going according to the most likely outcomes. One of the reason was of course the WWC, with players from all teams going away and coming back (not only USWNT players: NWSL was by far the league with most internationals at the WWC; they were counted literally in dozens). But any other factor could be involved: it's a fact that there were much more unexpected scores this seasons than in the last one, and the ups and downs in the rankings reflect that, with a completly different shape of the top 4 right now compared to the beginning of the season. I guess @cpthomas's performance, being data-based and just statistical, is a very good indicator: if he's a full one point and a half behind his score from last season, this can only mean that this season's matches are less predictable (on a statistical base, by definition of how the robot operates) than last seson's ones. Since humans too take the past data into consideration (despite not being as much "married" with them as the robot), it's only normal that human performances are also lower: the results, in general, are odder that in 2018, and the robot's score is here to show that.
Not sure, but it could very well be. On the other hand, how many 0-0s were there in NWSL this season?
I have a final 0-0 score for: 1. 5/4 NC vs Sky Blue 2. 5/4 WAS vs Reign 3. 6/21 Por vs Utah 4. 6/22 WAS vs Hou
Thanks for doing the count. So since there have been 62 games so far this season, blissett may have about a 4/62 chance of getting 3 points -- roughly about 1/15. blissett, if you're on target with this one, you'll put the robot to shame.
Wow. In the last 108 games, however, there have been three 5-0 games. North Carolina won two of them, against Orlando and Houston. Portland won one of them, against Houston. It's possible, but predicting 5-0? As I wrote, Wow.
I'm sitting out of the rest of the prediction contest this season. I forgot about NWSL games during the World Cup, and life's busyness caused me to miss some midweek game predictions too. As a result, I've fallen too far behind to make it fun anymore. Feel free to remove me from the standings, or keep me to ensure that nobody else has to finish in last place!
Portland just beat Houston 5-0, and I can't see them doing any worse against SBFC. I nearly went 6-0...
You would think so, but SkyBlue has always played the Weeds pretty close. Even last year. The Weeds did win 2 of the 3 matches, but they weren't dominating wins. North Carolina 2, Washington 0 Houston 1, Reign 1 Chicago 2, Utah 0 Weeds 1, SkyBlue 1
You're assuming that POR drubbing HOU that badly is a true sign of strength (for both teams) and not noise; yes, POR is better than HOU, but five goals better? Not on a normal day.
Complaint: When I open the Injury Report on the NWSLsoccer.com web site, it gives me the July 19 Report. I found the info for this weekend on Equalizersoccer.com. Am I looking at the wrong place on NWSLsoccer.com? Predictions 8/2 North Carolina 2 v Washington 1 I gave WAS a goal because I root for Ash Hatch and I like Jordan Dibiasi, Matthews, and Logarzo.8/2 Houston 1 v SeaTac 1 Only because HOU defense is suspect. I had hoped Sophie Schmidt would plug the holes, but.........8/3 Chicago 3 v Utah 0 CHI at home with Kerr.8/3 Thorns 4 v NJNY 0 SkyBlue has historically played POR tough in POR, but not this year not this weekend
Want to gain ground in the prediction contest? You're not gonna do that being conservative picking the similar scores as everyone else. You gotta throw out a unique result or two and hope it works out.
Oops, almost forgot about the games today. Here my predictions: NCC 2 - 1 WAS HOU 1 - 2 RFC CHI 2 - 2 UTA POR 4 - 0 SBFC
Well, Casey Murphy was well set for a 0-0 score, but Jane Campbell wasn't. Anyway, I managed to make one point out of this game, that's the same as the robot.