People get into fantasy sports for different reasons.
Some are just bored, and the idle hand is the devil’s playground, so to speak. Others get into league play with friends or groups in the real world for the pastime and community it offers. Some have a statistician’s mind and just need an analytical outlet. And more and more nowadays are in it for the potential to make some money.
If you are getting started with fantasy football or finally making a move from paper and pen to the digital version – yes, back in the 90s, we played fantasy baseball all on paper, tracking everything with manual stats sheets are hundreds of sports apps. Many offer similar services and information. Some are subscription-based, some are free. This article aims to give you a starting point with a few of the best apps for your tablet and telephone to help you on your fantasy journey.
Best App For Scores And Updates
TheScore
If you want fast and easy scores and box score information, theScore is the way to go. Not only is theScore perfect for getting your scores notifications, but it’s loaded with top news, rumors, and more for Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, and Soccer.
Best Site For Situational Statistics
I’ll be honest; this is usually the first website I visit when it comes to team-related stats. The plethora of situational betting stats gives you a much better idea of how the team you’re looking at might perform under a particular set of parameters. You can look at situational performance and then cross-reference against the current betting odds to build situational models. If you sign to check props odds (see what Las Vegas thinks about individual player performances) be sure to get yourself the best bonus.
Not only will you find situational stats, like how often a team has covered the number at home as an underdog, or how many times a team wins after a loss, etc., you’ll get statistic-based power rankings and even more useful up-to-date power ratings. On top of all this, they have point differentials, specific offensive, and defensive performances.
Best App for Breaking News
B/R BleacherReport built their enterprise on the backs of local beat writers. So instead of some guy in, say, LA watching the news and checking websites like ESPN for info, then putting together an article, they use local, team-specific writers. These guys have a knack for finding tidbits of info that even some of the largest media sites might not have. Why? Because their sitting in the bleachers watching practices and within earshot of the action. Hence, the Bleacher Report. So when it comes to breaking news and team rumors, there is no better news source. The best part of this app is it is 100% customizable. You can set notifications to only ping on specific teams or entire divisions, etc.
Seahawks are “positioned” to make a push to sign Antonio Brown, but other teams are interested, per @AdamSchefter
He’s eligible to return after Week 8 @brgridiron pic.twitter.com/EQ7BSVZoEo
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 21, 2020
Best Web Site for Power Rankings
The Power Rank is by far the most accurate power ranking site. Ed Fang, a statistician with a Ph.D. from Stanford, he uses his stats and analytics education to build algorithms and models that rank and rate teams. Not only is this uses for NFL betting and Fantasy football, but it’s also a killer for building out your March Madness bracket.
His content is also worth perusing titles such as ‘Accurate Football Predictions with Linear Regression.’ He analyzes sports from an angle that most of us never thought of, but when we finally see the angle our eyes pop.
Best App for All-Around Info
Yahoo! Sports has been a main-stay in sports media for a pair of decades now. The great thing about Yahoo! Sports is you can flip between your fantasy league and fantasy player stats pages and the main sports media pages for scores, updates, and news.
Best App for Player Specific Data
RotoWire is the app you need for looking at each player and their situational performance. The website and app used to be text-heavy and hard to navigate, but the latest iterations are clean and provide a great user experience. If you want data on defense vs. position, projections, and roster lineups, then look no further.
