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Here at FiveThirtyEight, we tend to think statistics can add to our understanding of sports. (What a surprise!) From the more mature sabermetric movements of baseball and basketball to growing ones in soccer and hockey, evidence-based examination has led to new thoughts and ideas about the games we love. But there can also be a dark side to analytics. Among other potential pitfalls, interpreting the numbers incorrectly can lead to…

Ken Griffey Jr. is having a good 2016. Earlier in the year, Griffey Jr. was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. On Thursday, Griffey Jr.’s enshrinement into another part of baseball lore became official, as he was announced as the cover athlete for the video game MLB The Show 17. Here’s the official announcement video: Griffey Jr. will be a playable legend in the game, which is set to…

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Hot-hitting Cubs second-baseman Javier Báez. Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images According to Major League Baseball, the league’s namesake object has an objective reality. “The ball shall be a sphere formed by yarn wound around a small core of cork, rubber or similar material, covered with two strips of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together,” the official rulebook reads, and it shall weigh in at about five ounces with a nine-inch…

ANN ARBOR – During his college search, Jordan Nwogu was looking for the right fit athletically, but more importantly, the right fit academically. The Ann Arbor Pioneer senior had received interest from several Division 1 schools during the past year to play either baseball or football. However, when the University of Michigan offered him a scholarship to play baseball, Nwogu’s search quickly ended. He committed to Michigan on Sept. 3…

The public often wants athletes and coaches to stay out of politics. But many sports figures are Americans, too, and in this highly contentious campaign, they’re weighing in with endorsements and donations for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. While Trump has received some money and many endorsements from high-profile sports figures, Clinton dominated the number of donations from people in sports, according to a CBS Sports analysis of data at…

Starting next year, Africans will be able to watch more American sports than ever before. Kwesé TV, a sports website owned by Econet Media, has partnered with American cable TV channel ESPN in a deal which will see Kwesé exclusively air hours of licensed content from ESPN including its iconic SportsCenter show across 19 countries in Africa. Kwesé and ESPN will also collaborate to launch an African edition of the…

Only one professional sports team is named after a 300-year-old devil. When the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey in 1982, they traded mountain peaks for the boggy swamps surrounding the Brendan Byrne Arena, and needed a new nickname. Local newspapers ran a contest, and more than 10,000 fans chose the nickname Devils – named after the state’s most twisted, violent legend. Why would New Jersey, the second-most Catholic state…

USA TODAY Sports’ Lorenzo Reyes looks at the three biggest story lines heading into Week 8.

Anthony Davis offered the basketball-watching world two reminders on Wednesday night. After a 2015-16 season plagued by injuries that wound up knocking him off the gold-medal-winning U.S. squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics, he reminded us exactly what kind of monster he is, beginning the 2016-17 campaign with a historically productive game the likes of which the league had literally never seen. Unfortunately, he also reminded us just how little…

Each Wednesday SB Nation’s NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a mailbag question email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com. I’m glad NASCAR finally realized Cup drivers were ruining the Xfinity Series, this is a long overdue rule. But why only a 10-race limit, why not restrict Cup drivers even more and turn the Xfinity Series into a true developmental series…

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A mistrial has been declared in the case against three men accused of attacking NASCAR driver Mike Wallace and his daughter outside the PNC Pavilion concert venue in Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer. According to WSOC television in Charlotte, as first reported via the Twitter account of reporter Mark Becker, Judge Ronald Chapman ruled for the mistrial because he believed there was merit to the argument from defense attorneys that…

BOSTON –  Harvard University has condemned a sexually explicit document that members of the 2012 men’s soccer team called their “scouting report” of the women’s soccer team. In the nine-page document, which was uncovered this week by The Harvard Crimson student newspaper, a member of the men’s team rated the physical attractiveness of new recruits on the women’s team, and also included their photos and lewd comments about many…

NASCAR issued its weekly post-race penalty and warning report following last Sunday’s Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination race at Talladega Superspeedway — and the big news was that there was no news involving the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team of driver Martin Truex Jr. Truex had said he did not think it was “a big issue” that his car twice flunked Laser Inspection Station scrutiny and had a…

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Chicago Minutes after the Chicago Cubs clinched the National League pennant and their spot in the World Series, ESPN’s SportsCenter tweeted, “71 Years Later, Chicago is finally back in the Fall Classic.” That was news to the White Sox. …

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said before Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday night that “logos are primarily a local matter.” But he’s going to speak with the Indians about Chief Wahoo, planning a meeting with Indians CEO Paul Dolan after the World Series. Confirming his earlier comments in a Wednesday radio interview, Manfred said during a pregame news conference at Progressive Field when…