Neil’s Substack Analytical but narrative -- blending the past and future of sportswriting
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Open it up
by Neil Paine on July 16, 2026
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🏀 2026 WNBA Elo Team Power Rankings and Player Rankings 📈
by Neil Paine on July 16, 2026
Power ratings for every WNBA team and player this season.
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⚽ 2026 World Cup Odds Tracker 📈
by Neil Paine on July 16, 2026
Aggregating each team's Polymarket odds to advance through, and win, the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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We Don't Know What We Want From All-Star Games
by Neil Paine on July 16, 2026
Fans rejected the NBA's artificial spectacle. Then baseball gave them something more real — and they hated that, too.
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Waking the dead
by Neil Paine on July 15, 2026
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What a Major-Less Season Would Cost Scottie Scheffler
by Neil Paine on July 15, 2026
Golf's aging curve says the world's No. 1 player still has time to build his major résumé. But it also says every empty prime year matters.
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Finals before the Final
by Neil Paine on July 14, 2026
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Baseball's All-Stars Live in the Present
by Neil Paine on July 14, 2026
First-half performance dominates All-Star Game selections more than ever — except in the bullpen, where reputation still matters some.
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Big swings
by Neil Paine on July 13, 2026
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🏁 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Rankings 🚗
by Neil Paine on July 13, 2026
Tracking the top drivers in the sport, all season long.
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⚾ 2026 MLB Elo Power Ratings, Playoff Odds & Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rankings 📈
by Neil Paine on July 13, 2026
The following table is a list of MLB teams with their Elo ratings and their predicted wins throughout the 2026 season.
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The HR Derby's Lefties Are Poised to Break The Bank
by Neil Paine on July 13, 2026
Citizens Bank Park has become the most lefty-friendly Derby venue in recent history, giving Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper — among others — a built-in advantage Monday night.
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The Week That Was (July 6-10, 2026)
by Neil Paine on July 11, 2026
A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
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Golden tickets and goose-eggs
by Neil Paine on July 10, 2026
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The Worst Players in Baseball Might Be Pretty Good (Or They Used to Be, At Least)
by Neil Paine on July 10, 2026
Baseball's worst performers are not always the worst players. Sometimes they're just the ones with enough track record to be allowed to fail spectacularly.
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Four favorites enter...
by Neil Paine on July 9, 2026
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The World Cup's Party-Crashers Make Their Last Stand
by Neil Paine on July 8, 2026
The greatest Final Four in World Cup history is within reach — and France, Argentina, Spain and England should each win. But the odds say at least one of them probably won't.
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Taking a breath
by Neil Paine on July 8, 2026
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The Past Month Has Broken the 2026 MLB Season
by Neil Paine on July 8, 2026
One of the strangest Junes in baseball history has thrown everything we thought we knew about this year into doubt.
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The morning after
by Neil Paine on July 7, 2026
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