Chances are the Tampa Bay Rays will beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, most likely in 6 games, according to a sophisticated modeling program from a New Jersey Institute of Technology associate professor and mathematician.
NJIT’s Bruce Bukiet (shown here) gives the Rays a 59% chance of winning the series, which starts Wednesday night in Florida.
“I’m sure my friends who are Phillies fans are not happy about these numbers,” said Bukiet in a statement.
Though Phillies fans might take heart that Bukiet’s numbers will change as the series goes along and the mathematical mode is updated.
The model uses each player’s 2008 statistics and applies a Markov process to estimate runs scored per game.
Know that Bukiet’s system has proven good, but not perfect: He’s been right 6 of the last 8 times.
By the way, Bukiet also puts math toward figuring out which players are most deserving as league MVPs and Cy Young (best pitcher) awards. According to his calculations, Toronto Blue Jays ace pitcher Roy Halladay would grab both honors in the American League (Editor’s note: not going to happen) and Albert Pujols and Derek Lowe would be the respective winners in the National League.
Earlier this year we noted a computer ranking system out of the Georgia Institute of Technology that was perfect in picking the teams that would make the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four games and also correctly chose Kansas as the eventual winner.
Who needs to play the games anymore?
