Sonny Moore Power Ratings


Sonny Moore's Power Ratings are a sports rating system devised in 1974.
This is a hobby that began so a comparison could be made of any two teams in a given sport, so as to get an indication on which team would win and by how many points if a game were played between them. Its intent is predictive as opposed to retrodictive. It compares the strength of all the teams in a given sport in a numerical valued order from the best to the worst, as if all the teams were to play against one another. A team's power rating reflects how a team has performed from all the games played, not just one or two, taking into account wins and losses, the opposing teams' power ratings and the actual score difference of the games played. This explains why team A may have a higher power rating than team B, even though team B may have beaten team A or have a better won/lost record. The ratings are compiled by using only statistical and historical data. The most recent games played are more meaningful in compiling the ratings. Only games played against the teams in the ratings are used to formulate the power ratings. A diminishing returns principle is used to prevent higher rated teams from gaining power rating points and moving up in the rankings when the victory margin is being run up against a weaker team.