I want to take this week to introduce a fantasy football service I have been building. This will kick off a series of posts centered around the fantasy football season. Between now and the start of the season, I will have a new post every week. If you are only looking for that analysis, check back next week, but I suspect those that are will also be interested in the personalized league analysis available at fantasyleaguereport.com
When I started this blog, I really thought about it as a way to practice my data science and to try to answer common questions I have debated for years amongst my friends. Through that, I have written a lot of code that collects and analyzes fantasy football information from individual leagues. So last year I decided to turn that into a web app, allowing anyone to look at their own leagues, see who had the best team, what their head-to-head record is with their league-mates, and start to evaluate if they are actually a good fantasy football manager. That is what Fantasy League Report is. So today, I just want to detail what it offers and what my plans are for the future. If you have ideas of features you would like to see added, please let me know!
What is Fantasy League Report?
Fantasy League Report is a combination of a web app and email service. The web app provides historical information about your league while the email service provides reports such as a predraft scouting report, matchup recaps, power rankings, end-of-year superlatives, and more!
What platforms does Fantasy League Report support?
Right now, I only have support for ESPN leagues, though I expect to have support for sleeper before the start of the 2022 season. If you want to be notified when sleeper is supported, please fill out this form.
What is included in the web app?
The web app is separated into a number of different areas. once set up and you have selected which league you want to view there are the following pages:
League History
On the league history page, you can see a record of the last 5 champions, the top five scoring teams of all time, and the top 5 strongest teams based on ELO.
Season Rankings
Want details from a specific season? The season rankings page allows you to see the final standings, records, points, and ELO for each team in a given season. It also introduces Draft Score, GM Vorp, and Coach Score and an overall owner ranking. This is a score of how well a fantasy manager managed their team. The Draft Score is an estimate of how well they drafted, GM Vorp is an estimate of how well they played the waivers and the trade market, and Coach Score is an estimate of how successful their start sit decisions were each week.
Team Details
Want to remember a specific team? The team rankings page allows you to look back at specific teams. Along with the team's record and the strength of the team, it includes the team's Pythagorean expected win total, a comparison of their scores vs the league average, Owner scores, Team MVP, positional breakdown, and the entire final roster with how each player ranked and how they were required.
Owner Details
Want to see overall stats about an owner? On the owner's details page, you can see their average performance as an owner, their average draft, gm, and coaching abilities, and a record of every team they have had in the league.
Head To Head
Let's be honest, while remembering is nice, what we want is to argue that we are better than our friends. On the head-to-head page, you can directly compare how you have performed vs your league mates. Who has more wins, losses, and points? As well as a record of every game played between the two owners.
Download Data
Want to do even more? The download data page allows you to download all the data associated with your league as CSV files. So all of you data analysts out there can use your preferred means of analyzing your league to glean your own insights without having to understand your platform's API.
What Reports are included in the email service
There are a number of email reports available through the service. Some are sent out weekly during the season while others are sent before or after each season. The reports are roughly listed in order of when they will be received during the season. Complete examples of all reports are available here: Report Examples (fantasyleaguereport.com).
Pre-draft scouting report
New this year, I have added a pre-draft scouting report. Ever feel like one of your league mates always takes a QB early? Or maybe feel like your league as a whole takes WRs late? With the pre-draft scouting report, you will receive information specific to your league to help with your draft. Who tends to reach or draft for value? How does your league value different positions and which positions can you realistically stream throughout the year? Finally, this report includes a team-by-team breakdown of how they value different positions based on each owner's historical drafts. Note this will be sent on sign up after your league history is collected. If you already are set up, you should be receiving your pre-draft scouting report this weekend.
Post Draft Team Recap
Also new this year I am adding a post draft recap. Following the draft, you can receive a recap that judges how your picks aligned with expectations. Who were the best and worst picks of the draft? Finally, the post-draft recap includes a team-by-team breakdown of how well they drafted, how they constructed their team. where are positions of strength and weakness, and a score for each pick made. NOTE This report will be available to be triggered through the web app starting 8/13/22.
Weekly Matchup Recap
Each week, you will receive a recap of your matchup, including an automated writeup, MVP for the winning team, LVP for the losing team, and how each team would have fared against the rest of the league. You will also receive a coaching grade including each team's best possible score and how they would have done if they just followed ESPN's suggested lineup. It also includes a preview of the next week with your odds of winning.
Weekly League Recap
Each week, you will receive a league-wide recap as well. Who was the best and worst coach, the luckiest or unluckiest teams, League-wide MVP and LVP, and who was the underdog of the week? Finally, see a quick list of how every team scored and coached.
Weekly Power Rankings
Each week, get a power ranking of your league. The power ranking includes an overall rank as well as individual scores for past performance, future expected power, coaching rank, past and future strength of schedules, and odds of making the playoffs for each team.
End of Year Team Recap
At the end of the season, get a recap of how you and your team did. This includes your record, expected win total, coaching, and luck ranking. It also includes a chart of each week's performance, your team MVP, and a positional breakdown of the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
End of Year Superlatives
Also at the end of the season, ~30 different awards and superlatives will be awarded to your league. Who was the best coach, which team was espn's darling or aged like a fine wine? With the end-of-year superlatives, you will have endless debates to have with your friends.
How much does Fantasy League Report Cost?
I offer 2 tiers for Fantasy League Report.
In the free tier, you get to view the league history for one of your leagues in the web app and the weekly matchup report. Additionally, for this year I am including both draft reports as part of the free tier.
In the fantasy junkie tier, you will receive the ability to add multiple leagues to your account and download your league's historical data. You will also gain access to the weekly league recap and power rankings along with the end-of-year team recap and Superlatives reports. the fantasy junkie tier costs $6/month.
What's Next?
I have lots of plans to continue to expand Fantasy League Report including adding support for more platforms (sleeper should be coming soon) and introducing more in-season resources like weekly updates to the web app, a trade analyzer, and a schedule generator.
How do I sign up?
If all of that sounds good and you want to give it a try, you can sign up at fantasyleaguereport.com
Questions? Comments? Let me know at ac@alexcates.com. Want to read more from me? sign up for my newsletter here. Finally, like what I do? Consider supporting me on buy me a coffee.
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