Sports & Stats

What the numbers behind each market actually measure.

It sounds like a measure of how dangerous a player was. It's really a measure of how often they hit the target — and those are different things.

The tallest player doesn't get the most rebounds. The player on court when the most shots miss does. That distinction decides most rebound lines.

Two of the most common tennis lines behave completely differently. One is about conditions, the other about how competitive the match is.

A quarterback's yardage says as much about the scoreboard as about the quarterback. Understanding why is most of the work.

Baseball has more public data than any other sport, and most of it won't help you tonight. Here's the short list that will.