Neil’s Substack Analytical but narrative -- blending the past and future of sportswriting
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Playoffs, please
by Neil Paine on April 16, 2026Subscribe to Scoreboard by clicking here! Read the archive here.
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🏀 2025-26 NBA Elo Forecast and Player Ratings 📈
by Neil Paine on April 16, 2026Track how I'm forecasting every team’s chance to make — and win — the NBA Finals, all season long.
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⚾ 2026 MLB Elo Power Ratings, Playoff Odds & Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rankings 📈
by Neil Paine on April 16, 2026The following table is a list of MLB teams with their Elo ratings and their predicted wins throughout the 2026 season.
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🏒 2025-26 NHL Team Elo Power Rankings & Goals Above Replacement Player Ratings 📉
by Neil Paine on April 16, 2026Power ratings and forecasts for every NHL team and player this season.
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Quarterback Drafts Are in Their "Feast or Famine" Era
by Neil Paine on April 16, 2026Some years, teams can't get enough quarterbacks. Other years — like 2026 appears to be — they act like the class barely exists.
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Breaking barriers, breaking records
by Neil Paine on April 15, 2026
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The Red Wings' Lost Decade
by Neil Paine on April 15, 2026Detroit went from 25 straight years in the playoffs to 10 straight out — and counting.
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Liminal sports
by Neil Paine on April 14, 2026
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A Defense of the NBA Play-In Tournament
by Neil Paine on April 14, 2026At least one of Adam Silver's weird, technocratic initiatives is good, actually.
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Playing in… to history
by Neil Paine on April 13, 2026
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🏁 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Rankings 🚗
by Neil Paine on April 13, 2026Tracking the top drivers in the sport, all season long.
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Rory Held Off the Old Ghosts on Sunday at Augusta
by Neil Paine on April 12, 2026There was a shaky start, a crowded leaderboard and familiar pressure — but McIlroy still didn't let the Masters slip away.
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The Week That Was (April 6-10, 2026)
by Neil Paine on April 11, 2026A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
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Teams (and pucks) sneaking in
by Neil Paine on April 10, 2026
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Goaltending Usually Drives the NHL Standings. Not This Year.
by Neil Paine on April 10, 2026What happened to the typical rule that the NHL's best teams also have the best goaltending?
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Green jackets and good jackets
by Neil Paine on April 9, 2026
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Is Augusta National No Longer a Bomber's Paradise?
by Neil Paine on April 9, 2026Distance used to be king at the Masters. Now, it's more complicated than that.
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Challengers and challenges
by Neil Paine on April 8, 2026
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NASCAR Live: Neil Paine joins to preview Bristol
by Neil Paine on April 8, 2026A recording from Neil Paine and NASCAR's live video
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Home Again at The Trop, the Rays Are Back Where They Win
by Neil Paine on April 8, 2026It may be MLB's least-loved ballpark, but the Tampa Bay Rays have turned Tropicana Field into a real home-field edge — one they sorely missed last year.
