Minnesota Twins’ pitcher Trevor May is part of a company that has redesigned the website winstonslab.com, to offer the most in depth team rankings in the world. May’s company, Esports Lab, has just recently been formed to provide not just the analytical side to Overwatch’s coverage, but also intends to increase its stake in the content sphere with interviews and articles.
The goal of the team rankings on the Winston’s Lab is to take subjective opinions out of the equation of which team is the best, and break it down into it’s objective parts. They have created an algorithm to rate the teams against each other, hoping to get a clearer picture of who is the best of the best. Their algorithm includes: Matches played in the last 120 days, win percentage, strength of schedule, regional strength of schedule, win adjustment for LAN vs. online matches, margin of victory, margin of loss and a common opponents factor.
After the teams are run through the algorithm, they are given a star rating. The higher number of stars a team has, the better they are, with the rating scale stopping at five stars.
Courtesy of Liquidpedia.
Unsurprisingly to many fans of the scene, South Korea’s Ex-Lunatic Hai (currently Team Seoul) claim the top spot, with RunAway, Miraculous Youngsters, Cloud9 KongDoo, Team EnVyUs and Afreeca Freecs Blue following in their wake.
The site also includes other features such as: an upcoming and completed match section, a calendar, box scores, video highlights integrated with the box scores, interviews, expert analysis, opinions and much more.
If you are interested in Overwatch the site offers a great place to get your news updates and see who is the best of the best.
Trend of Sports and Esports working hand in hand
May has become one of many from the sports world to get involved in the business of esports. The list includes Rick Fox, Shaquille O’Neal, Schalke 04, Paris Saint-Germain, the MLBAM and many more. While some people involved in sports still think of esports and their athletes as second-class, or worse, there remains the positive trend of an increase for traditional sports to ‘take seriously’ esports.
While many traditional sports figures have entered the scene in varying degrees, May’s entrance into Overwatch specifically, and the analytical side, is interesting. With the Overwatch League fast approaching, and many of those teams owned by traditional sports people, Overwatch’s relationship with the traditional sports world is continually intertwining. While other esports, albeit having started years before Overwatch, are slowly being entered by the sports world, Overwatch’s scene is almost from the get go heavily stepped by such figures.
The sudden increase of interest in esports may not all be because of their respect for esports though. Some of the people from sports who are getting involved in the esports world are seeing the economic value of doing so. The market for esports is growing and could explode even more in coming years, which helps validate its status in our society. With that and notable athletes from traditional sports getting involved like May, esports are starting to get the respect and recognition they deserve.
About Trevor May
Minnesota Twins baseball pitcher Trevor May. Courtesy of MLB.com
Although May is still finding his way as a pitcher, he has pitched in 102 games over three seasons with the Twins. The 27 year old is sitting out this season after tearing his UCL and having Tommy John surgery. His best season as a pro came in 2015, when he had a record of 8-9 and an era of 4.00.
He has experience in both the bullpen and as a starter and was in contention to make the starting rotation for Minnesota, before his injury. His injury likely occurred while pitching in an exhibition game against Team USA, who was preparing for the World Baseball Classic. The Twins are hoping to have him back sooner than the 12 to 18 months usually required to recover from a UCL tear.
Once he recovers from his injury, hopefully his athletic career and business interests in esports can thrive simultaneously. With more athletes like May getting involved with esports, it is showing that both sports and esports can be respected and economically viable.
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