Preseason ratings
A projection of each team’s rating before the season starts.
What it measures
The preseason rating is PEAR's estimate of how strong a team will be, made before it plays a game. It is on the same scale as the Team Strength Rating, and it is where each season's ratings start.
How it is built
- It starts from how the program has performed in recent seasons.
- For D1 baseball it adds the roster: how much proven production returns, and what arrives through transfers.
- It was tuned on how well past preseason projections predicted full seasons.
How to read it
Read it like the rating: the gap between two teams is the expected margin in runs on a neutral field. Until a season's first game, the current ratings are the preseason ratings.
In the API
preseason?season=: the preseason ratings of any season that has them.baseball/d1/returningandbaseball/d1/portal: the roster inputs for D1 baseball.
Limits
- It can't see freshmen's talent, injuries or how new players fit together.
- A team new to a division has little history, so its projection is rough.
- It is a starting point. Once games are played, the in-season rating is the better number.