mjkluger said:
This SDQL is addictive...
Washington is 18-0 at pickem or favored when they are off a win in which they drew four-plus walks and it is not a series opener.
Off a win in which they drew four plus walks and is not a series opener?
What does this have to do with anything? What is the significance (for future performance) of getting four plus walks? And how is a game being a non-series opener important? All of your stats are data mined to find streaks. If you tried hard enough, you could find just as many of these trends supporting Colorado as you could with Washington.
[/quote]
You are making statements for which you have no support. When you say, "If you tried hard enough, you could find just as many of these trends supporting Colorado as you could with Washington." You have no evidence for this.
I, in fact, ran 500,000 handicapping situations last night and in fact, there is VERY LITTLE to support any play on Colorado here. Here is the best I could find on Colorado:
The Rockies are 22-15 since June 15, 2012 after a loss in which they allowed 5+ walks and it is not the last game of a series.
And they are 3-5 their last eight and all eight are from this season.
Some people would rather be ignorant of trends in past performance and others want to know. It's as simple as that.
Note that I did not say anything like "Washington is a sure thing tonight because of these past results." All I said was maybe minus 160 is not enough.
If you actually stop and think, it is easy to imagine that a team like the Nationals would be an excellent play after a win in which they drew four-plus walks. It means that they are being patient at the plate. They are confident, they are "seeing the ball well."
You're attitude seems to be, "there's no sense in looking at previous results because you can always find trends to support either side." What do you think people do who are trying to forecast things like: weather, marketing trends, fashion trends, real estate trends, stocks, bonds, t-bills. They analyze the past results.
Yes, it's not easy. Yes, you can be fooled. OF COURSE if you look hard enough you can find trends to support either side. However, this is no reason to stop looking.
Dr M.