The Big List of Baseball-Related Project Ideas

I have lots of baseball ideas. More than I could possibly work on, and I work on too many already.

Maybe you would be interesting in working with me on one of these ideas? Let me know.

Computer-Generated Player News

RotoWire and RotoWorld / NBC Sports EDGE hire people to watch games and write short updates about each player. However, the blurbs are quite formulaic--there are only so many ways to say "He hit a homerun."

My idea would be to generate the same blurbs programmatically using templates.

Other companies are using similar templates for draft recaps, weekly league recaps, etc.

What does RotoWire charge? Enough to pay people to write all of those headlines. Enough to keep them in business for a long time. Without paying writers, the margins would be fantastic.

Problems: There are only a few customers for this (CBS, ESPN, Yahoo), although they have deep pockets. Would they switch to (or add) a new service, especially if the computer-written blurbs were lesser quality? Or is there are market for a cheaper service from people who can't afford RotoWire?

Open Source League Software

Imagine if anyone could spin up a fantasy league on any site, like WordPress but for fantasy leagues.

Like WordPress, you could imagine a plugin ecosystem, where people build functionality for custom leagues and then share it with others. Themes that let you create your own league site design.

Imagine leagues beyond the Big Four, where enthusiasts for NPBL or KBO baseball can have their own leagues.

The basic monetization strategy could be to offer league hosting: Put it on your own server for free, or pay $100/year to have someone else manage that.

Problems: You need data. Maybe this requires Sports Stats API (below), which is another angle for monetization. (Daily stats are free, but live updates are $xx.)

You are also competing on features with the big sites, which all offer free versions.

Sports Stats API

In my naive younger years I once contacted a stats provider who had "Email us for prices" on their website. I didn't know that the phrase was code for $$$ and I was shocked at their response. As with player news, live stats are tracked and entered manually, and people cost money. So, even though there are lots of services, they are usually "Call us for a quote" expensive.

Would it be possible to offer a similar service that is built on free sources for stats? Or is that shady?

Problems: There's risk of trying to build on other people's data.

Stathead with Natural Language Prompts

Baseball Reference has Stathead that lets you built queries about baseball stats. Imagine that but with responses to natural questions. Like, "Which players hit homeruns on April 1, 2001?"

The site would give you a table with the answer and show you the SQL used to build it. So it's also a teaching tool for databases and baseball statistics.

Problems: Is there demand for this? Sports Reference charges $8/month for theirs, but I would guess that most of their revenue is from ads, not Stathead.

Baseball Job Boards

Job boards seem lame, but there are people making a good living off of niche job sites. The trick is realizing that, for an employer who is going to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a new employee, paying $50-500 for a job posting is insignificant.

So this follows the basic template: Scrape baseball job listings from their primary sites. Add value by tagging keywords (e.g. "Python") so that candidates can filter listings. Send out a weekly summary email of new postings. Eventually, you become the place for baseball jobs, and teams are willing to pay to promote their opening.

There's also a play here at highlighting candidates. Let people build a resume with their background and links to their online articles. (This can be pre-filled with everyone who has written at FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus.) A baseball-centric LinkedIn is probably ambitious, but it's also kind of an exciting dream.

Problems: Is 30 employers too niche for a niche job board?

Baseball Mogul in the Browser

I loved the simulation game Baseball Mogul. I liked the way it felt, more of an arcade style than a perfectly realistic simulation. (Lots of real stuff is boring.)

Wouldn't it be fun to play it in the browser? You'd be able to pick up your game anywhere. Plus, it's got a fanbase paying $40/year for it.

Problems: ZenGM built a Baseball-Mogul-inspired basketball game in 2013, and he's been steadily expanding to other sports. I thought that this is a no-go if he has baseball on his roadmap; he's got a huge headstart in feature depth. Sure enough, in 2022, he released a baseball sim.

Rogue Closer

This is a simplification of a full baseball simulation that just focuses on simulating pitches.

You select a real-life reliever (Eric Gagne? Fernando Rodney? Francisco Rodriguez?) and are tasked with getting three outs. Your initial arsenal is simple, maybe just a four-seamer, but you upgrade with each successful save (improving velocity, improving movement, or adding pitches).

You also are put in progressively more difficult situations: runners on, one-run games, more dangerous hitters. Blow a save and your run is over. (That's the roguelike part.)

Problems: People have different expectations for games. They want a mobile app rather than a browser game. Pricing is expected to be low or free.

Can I Win My League?

Enter the date and your position in the standings, and this site tells you your odds of winning.

The data would be a one-time scrape from Yahoo public leagues.

Full-Text Blog Reader

This one is really beyond baseball, but my favorite sites (FanGraphs, Pitcher List, Razzball) don't include the full-text in the RSS feed. I'd like to have a fantasy baseball newsfeed that included the full article text without needing extra clicks.

There is potential, of course, in something that is bigger than baseball. The market for people who read online is much bigger than the market for people who read fantasy baseball blogs. That's a positive indicator.

Problems: Do other people still care about RSS? Does this feel like stealing/copying content? Is this problem already solved by generic RSS reading tools?

DraftKick Baseball is available now!

If you're still tracking your draft with a custom spreadsheet or even just pen and paper, you need to try DraftKick.

It is packed with features to help you succeed on draft day:

  • Projected availability
  • Keepers
  • Salary cap (auction) drafts
  • Custom league configuration
  • Editable projections
  • ...and more

It's completely free to try out!

Hi,

I'm Mays. I've been playing fantasy since I was in high school (over two decades ago).

My speciality has always been player valuation—converting player stats into rankings and salary values. VBD for fantasy football? Rotisserie z-scores? We go way back. In 2009, I started Last Player Picked, a site that generated fantasy values customized for your league.

You can find me on Twitter at @MaysCopeland or email me at [email protected].