SportsDataTutorials

11 free courses · 101 parts · ~14 hours of material

Courses

Every tutorial on this site belongs to exactly one course, in a deliberate order - foundations first, then the craft, then the sport you care about. Each course carries an annotated syllabus, a written capstone challenge, a five-question self-check, and a one-ZIP bundle of all its code and data.

  1. Python Foundations for Sports Data

    Zero to competent: install Python, learn pandas on real standings, and finish by building a league table from raw results.

    Beginner

    10 parts ~66 min total

  2. Sports Data Visualization

    Ten chart types, each built on real sports data, ending with the styling pass that makes a figure publishable.

    Beginner to Intermediate

    10 parts ~60 min total

  3. Statistics for Sports Data

    The measurement toolkit: distributions, z-scores, percentiles, outliers, time series, Simpson's paradox — closing with what actually predicts winning.

    Intermediate

    13 parts ~88 min total

  4. Randomness, Inference & Simulation

    Monte Carlo seasons, bootstrap intervals, permutation tests, power, chi-square, Bayesian updating, regression to the mean — how to tell signal from luck.

    Intermediate

    11 parts ~109 min total

  5. Machine Learning from Scratch

    Twelve models and methods — gradient descent to random forests — every one implemented in pure numpy on real NBA data.

    Advanced

    12 parts ~139 min total

  6. Working with Real Sports APIs

    Read API docs like a developer, then pull your first real data from MLB, the NBA, StatsBomb, nflverse, the NHL and ESPN.

    Beginner

    7 parts ~65 min total

  7. Baseball Analytics with Statcast

    Exit velocity, pitch maps, spray charts, luck-hunting and Pythagorean wins — the richest free data in sports, put to work.

    Intermediate

    7 parts ~49 min total

  8. Basketball Analytics with the NBA API

    Ratings tables, shot charts, zone efficiency, the three-point revolution, rest and back-to-backs — and an Elo system you build yourself.

    Intermediate

    9 parts ~69 min total

  9. Soccer Analytics with StatsBomb & xG

    Pass maps, shot maps, heatmaps and pass networks from free pro event data — then a complete World Cup: scoring by stage and a Poisson scoreline model.

    Intermediate

    8 parts ~66 min total

  10. NFL Analytics with nflverse

    EPA built by hand, quarterback efficiency, play-calling tendencies, receiver value, the fourth-down decision, spreads as probabilities and coaching tenure.

    Intermediate

    9 parts ~105 min total

  11. Hockey & Cross-League Projects

    Four NHL builds — shots, leaders, form, and the PDO luck flag — then the capstone: measuring home advantage across five leagues at once.

    Intermediate

    5 parts ~52 min total

Not sure where to begin? Start Here picks a first course for you. Wondering what data all of this runs on? It's documented, with sources and downloads, on the datasets page.