I could not have been more disappointed in this course. Its lack of depth, both mathematically and from a sports analysis perspective, shocked me. This course spends almost no time at all on WHY any of the statistics presented are used. Nor on how to develop models to evaluate sport performance. Rather, it focuses almost entirely on prescriptive steps on how to calculate basic stats models. And, given all the time that is spent just walking through the code, one might expect that it is instructive and well-written. Sadly, that is not the case. The code for the course DRAMATICALLY under uses the power of the libraries included (Pandas and Numpy). Effectively, the first 4 weeks of the course are just tediously walking through dozens of convoluted lines of code, to do something that could have been 2 lines by simply using Pandas built-in functions.

So, if you are interested in learning about statistical analysis methods for sports, you can literally watch the first video from week 5 and get 95% of the value of this course without having to slog through 4 weeks of (badly) coding up basically 2 regressions, only to prove that when two different people do the same math, they will arrive at the same result.

If you are interested in learning how to use Python to do sports analysis, AVOID THIS CLASS COMPLETELY!! The lectures contain no information about how to apply any of what’s covered to anything outside of the one example given. AND, the code is so needlessly convoluted, it’s clear that whomever wrote it did NOT know how to use the tools available to them. So, if you are newer to Python, this course would be a little like trying to learn how to cook in an Italian style, by listening to someone read a recipe for canned spaghetti.

Some baseball concepts are complex for european people. But the content of the course is really interesting and very well explained.

While a big step up from the first course in the specialization, and both lecturers deliver enjoyable and interesting presentations, my main criticism remains from the first course: it is by no means evident who this course is targeted at. If you already have the foundational knowledge and skills in sports, statistics, and Python (or R) programming that enable you to follow the lectures and complete the assignments, then, rather ironically, there will be nothing new for you in the course. There is no teaching as such included in the course - it's just two lecturers basically leading you through lines and lines of pretty basic Python code, showing you, hey, look, this is what I've done here. Neither the sports, nor the statistical concepts or methods, nor the Python scripts are explained as such in any real depth or detail - they are simply presented to you in a rather casual manner. Then, in the assignments, you are basically expected to copy and paste the scripts from the lecture notebooks and change a few characters here and there - no real understanding of either the scripts or their functions or the outputs are really tested here. It's all pretty mechanical. So I really wonder - what is the driving concept behind this (or now I should really say, these) course(s)? Who are they for? Why are they there at all? It is really quite worrying, frankly! Also, the number of petty mistakes, discrepancies, mismatches, etc., is pretty alarming, even though these can vary between modules. Also, there seems to have been no genuine reviews and revisions since the course was first released. Several learners have taken their time and energy to comment on evident problems in the course content many years ago, and the bugs are still there. A course with vague course objectives, plenty of issues, and no attention paid to by its creators - OK, it's cheap, the lectures are interesting to listen to, and you will probably pick up on a few interesting things here and there, but whether it is worth doing it, whether it is worth the time and effort and money it takes to complete it - a borderline case, at least. I strongly suggest you audit the course, and possibly all courses in this specialization, before you commit your funds - but even then your time has already been invested, plus some of the most annoying problems surface when you try and do the assignments! Nothing really tragic here, but a clear opportunity missed to present a wholesome, neat, fully reviewed and revised course with interesting, engaging, and meaningful interactive content. What a pity. You have been warned!

I learned a lot about baseball and the Python language. Thank you for the great course.

Excellent course, really enjoyed it even as someone who doesn't follow baseball

An excellent way to develop Python skills to interesting topics.

Was a very nice course and enjoyed it a lot!

thanks

Good

No adapted to non-American students, would require more contextual information about the rules of baseball to be fully understandable. Otherwise nice real life example of how statistics are used to improve team outcomes and economical interests.

IN GENERAL TERMS I LIKE IT ALL, WITH THE EXCEPT THAT I COULD NOT FINISH THE SPECIALIZED PROGRAM BECAUSE I DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTIONS OF COURSE NUMBER 5, THE TEACHER ASKS THINGS THAT HE DOESN'T EXPLAIN, AND WHAT IT EXPLAINES DOES NOT DO IT WITH CLARITY !!!

I AM NOT AN EXPERT IN PYTHON, BUT LITTLE BY LITTLE I WAS LEARNING SOMETHING NEW, BUT COURSE NUMBER 5 SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE.

I AM AN EXPERT IN ANALYZING SPORTS STATISTICS, AND I TAKEN THE SPECIALIZED PROGRAM BECAUSE I WANTED TO LEARN NEW THINGS THAT WILL HELP ME IN MY JOB; AND IN COURSE 4 I LEARNED MANY NEW AND VERY INTERESTING THINGS; BUT I COULDN'T FINISH THE SPECIALIZATION BECAUSE COURSE NUMBER 5 IS ANTI-PEDAGOGICAL

IF YOU ARE NOT AN EXPERT IN PYTHON I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COURSE !!!