Why the Best Teams Don’t Always Win

ABOUT THE EPISODE If the best team does not always win, how much of sports success comes down to skill, strategy, or randomness?

Eric Eager, Vice President of Football Analytics for the Carolina Panthers, explains how analytics can help make sense of unpredictable outcomes. The conversation examines the Home Run Derby, tournament design, World Cup win probabilities, competitive balance, and the outsized influence of superstar players.

The discussion also explores how salary caps shape roster construction, why baseball may be approaching the end of the 200-game winner, and whether momentum can explain the performance cycles of elite golfers.

ABOUT THE PODCAST Sports is a game of numbers. Wharton experts Eric Bradlow, Shane Jensen, Cade Massey, and Adi Wyner team up to tackle the world of sports, from current events to longstanding issues such as: What sports streaks are the most impressive? How do you rank the best players? Can athletes be compared across sports? Moneyball Highlights explains how decision-makers in the game can avoid the common mistakes and embrace the data. Episodes are recorded at the Wharton School.

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