The above chart displays each team manager’s MiLF CLOUT rating going into the 2021 season. Managers who are new to the league for the 2021 season are not yet listed, as the data is not available.
An Introduction to CLOUT
The MiLF CLOUT metric attempts to provide a valuation to an individual team manager’s actual management across all of their seasons compared to the management of all other managers across all seasons. This value is centered around 1.00, which would be, essentially, completely average management across all seasons. The MiLF CLOUT metric is factored in against the weekly power ratings to help determine a team manager’s rest of season power rating.
This is helpful, because it allows us to more accurately forecast a manager’s performance moving deeper into the season using an actual composite of their own past performances. Is it perfect? Of course not. It’s not a crystal ball. But it is a statistical analysis tool that helps cut through some of the bullshit. If you’ve been here for a few seasons, and you start the season off 5-0 through a series of fluke wins, the CLOUT system is there to help temper the expectations for your team later in the season. The system knows that Scott completely checks out around week 8, and it adjusts accordingly.
So how is MiLF CLOUT calculated? What are the factors that feed into it? How can I rank up that sweet, sweet number in my quest to be the ultimate CLOUT-hound? To explain that, we need to explain the way that the MiLF handles it’s Weekly Power Ratings.
I Feel The Power… Ratings
Weekly, the MiLF calculates Current Power Ratings (how good your team has been) and Rest of Season Power Ratings (how good your team is going to be), as well as Legacy Power Ratings, which compare the current teams to teams of seasons past. We used the OIL Power Rating system as our springboard (which can be found here), which itself used the Oberon Mt. Fantasy Football League’s power rating as a starting point. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
The Current Power Ratings are designed to look at how a manager’s current team has been doing to that point and to somewhat predict that team’s potential performance, looking only at the current season in a vacuum. This factors in the team’s average score (60%), highest score plus lowest score (20%), and winning percentage (20%). Fairly simple.
The Legacy Power Ratings are designed to look at how any team compares to any other team in the history of the MiLF League. The general formula is the same, but adjustments have been made to account for scoring, rule, and format changes, changes in the league size, etc. In order to calculate a team’s Legacy Power Rating, it’s Current Power Rating is divided by the season modifier, which is simply the average of all teams’ Current Power Ratings for a given season.
So now can you tell me what CLOUT is?
The MiLF CLOUT metric is computed using basically the same formula as the Current Power Ratings, but looking at the team manager’s history as a whole instead of at a single season and team. It factors in the manager’s average Legacy Power Rating (60%), their highest Legacy Power Rating plus their lowest Legacy Power Rating (20%), and their cumulative winning percentage across all of their seasons (20%). The MiLF CLOUT metric is designed to look more at a manager’s historical management than at a particular team in a particular season.
Long story short, the CLOUT metric is designed to quantify how good or bad a manager is. Not how good or bad their current team might be.
Bringing it all together
A team’s Current Power Rating is multiplied by that team’s manager’s MiLF CLOUT rating to calculate that team’s Rest of Season Power Rating. This is to try to factor in how well (or poorly) a particular manager has been able to handle their teams historically when looking at how they may be able to adjust their fortunes moving forward in the current season.
Your current team’s performance feeds into your Current Power Rating. Your team’s Current Power Rating is converted into a Legacy Power Rating. Your current and historical teams’ Legacy Power Ratings feed into your CLOUT. Your CLOUT combines with your team’s Current Power Rating to give you your current team’s Rest of Season Power Rating.
It’s the circle of life. Hakuna matata.