Better Box Score Metrics: GameRater and SeasonRater, WUL Weeks 3 & 4

Introducing GameRater and SeasonRater, along with more new developments of this series.

April 9, 2026 by Paul Würtztack in Analysis

Welcome to Better Box Score Metrics, our analytics column focused primarily on semi-pro statistics and discovering new ways to use data to explore ultimate. It is anchored by EDGE, which we can summarize as converting goals, assists, blocks, turnovers, and yards gained into one metric, while accounting for the scoring and turnover environment.

BBSM generally doesn’t get out of its winter slumber until the spring equinox. But with the WUL opening a week earlier than last year, we’re already behind, so let’s get to it.

The Structure of BBSM in 2026

Before we present the results from Weeks 3-4 of the WUL, a quick note on what to expect from our pro league updates over the next five months. The main features will be two leaderboards. The first is the Top 20 Game Performances from the weekend(s), as determined by BBSM’s GameRater, a composite of EDGE, E100, and PER that integrates production and efficiency. The second is the full-season version of that: the Top 20 Season Performers, based on SeasonRater using the same suite of inputs. GameRater and SeasonRater are two versions of composite ratings that offer a single, multifaceted assessment, further described in the EDGE Reference Page. In both tables below, one can further sort by our production, productivity, and efficiency metrics to get a feel for their differences.

We will also present full-league tables for the weekend games and season totals. For these tables, we do not include the Raters. Everything we do in BBSM is reductionist, but GameRater and SeasonRater takes it to another degree and while it’s fun to argue over who’s best, we don’t see any value in affixing “poor quality” labels to players.

We also have made some modifications to the EDGE family of metrics. Our per-possession rate metrics EO100 and EB100 are now getting the “Bayesian smoothing” treatment so that we can include them in single-game analysis and avoid minimum thresholds; this has made E16 redundant, so RIP E16. EO100 and EB100 will also be based on Expected Possessions (xPoss) and Expected Opponent Possessions (xOpPoss) instead of observed values in order to better anchor a rate metric that is as susceptible to wind distortions as turnovers. Again, more details in the Reference Page, which is updated with every tweak.

Seattle Superstats

Any 37-10 game is going to produce some crazy stats, but nevertheless, the games turned in by Meg Manning and Jamie Kauffman in Seattle’s thumping of Utah have to be among the best in league history (Table 1). The two performances are essentially tied as the two best of the season. Kauffman’s inaugural WUL could hardly be going any better, with two standout performances in two games. Nobody is currently close in SeasonRater, but this is a very small sample, and Seattle makes their first road trip next week. Ari Nelson and Abby Thorpe, both again comfortably ensconced among the league leaders for Colorado, will look to calm the arriving Tempest.