Injury and lineup research
When a player is listed as out or questionable, the research question is what happened to his teammates’ opportunity and production in past games he missed, compared with games he played. StatsNext Injury Impact answers that from stored box scores, with the games behind each side, a meaningful-change test and a confidence label, and never says the absence caused the change. Lineup Impact asks a related question about a player’s own role (starting, batting order, minutes), and NFL research adds practice participation and the team depth chart.
Injury Impact: with and without a teammate
For each player on a current injury report (out, doubtful, questionable, game-time decision, day-to-day, and injured reserve or the injured list), StatsNext compares his teammates’ per-game numbers in games he played against games he missed.
- Leagues: NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB and NHL. College sports, soccer, tennis, golf and MMA are not covered, because there is no reliable pairing of injury reports and box scores for them.
- Same-unit comparisons: NFL skill positions (QB, RB, WR, TE) with each other, kickers only when a quarterback is out; MLB batters with batters and pitchers with pitchers; NHL skaters with skaters and goalies with goalies.
- Opportunity first: minutes, usage rate (NBA), shot attempts, targets, carries, pass attempts, ice time or innings, then production such as points, receptions, yards or shots.
- Window: the current season and the one before.
- Real appearances only: a DNP is an absence, and a dressed backup goalie who never played is not an appearance. Games before a player joined the team, after he left, or while he played for another team never count.
Meaningful change and confidence
A difference is labelled meaningful only when it is clearly larger than ordinary game-to-game variation. Every result shows the game counts and a sample label from Very small to Stronger.
Confidence is High, Moderate or Low, never a number. It reflects how many games stand behind each side and caveats such as overlapping absences of other teammates, an outlier-driven change, games from a different season, an uncertain designation (questionable, game-time decision or day-to-day), an unstable role or incomplete stats. A large change never raises confidence. A reserve’s absence is not treated as evidence about a starter’s opportunity.
Low-confidence results stay visible in Injury Impact, but they are not used as evidence elsewhere in the app.
Lineup Impact: the player’s own role
Lineup Impact compares a player’s numbers in past games where he held the role he holds for the upcoming game against games in his usual role. Only roles that can be verified are offered:
- NBA starting role and MLB batting order: from posted lineup cards. Confirmed only when the card for that game is posted; otherwise expected from the most recent game. Lineup history starts with the 2025-26 NBA season and the 2026 MLB season.
- MLB pitching role (starting or relief): confirmed only on a posted card, otherwise the probable starter, labelled expected.
- WNBA minutes, NHL ice time, NFL targets and carries: these leagues have no lineup cards in StatsNext, so the role is always expected, from the player’s recent games.
When there are too few games in a role, the entry says the sample is insufficient. NHL lines, power-play units, NFL route participation and college lineups are not offered.
NFL practice reports and depth charts
- Practice participation by day (did not participate, limited, full) and the game status, for the current week, shown on injury lists and in Player Research. Practice history exists from the 2026 season.
- Depth chart: where the team lists the player now, and recent depth moves StatsNext has observed.
- Both are context. The depth chart is labelled as the team’s depth chart, never a confirmed lineup, and it does not set a Lineup Impact role.
Reading these comparisons carefully
- With-and-without results are associations in past games. Other things changed too: opponents, other injuries, game script.
- When two teammates were often out together, the result says so; StatsNext does not separate their effects.
- Waived and re-signed players cannot be told apart from absences.
- Lineup roles read from opportunity (minutes, ice time, targets) partly measure the opportunity itself, so some production change follows directly from the larger role.
StatsNext is a research platform, not a sportsbook; it does not accept wagers or guarantee results (Research Disclaimer, Responsible Gambling).
Free public research pages
Team, player and game pages for the covered leagues are published on the website: These pages show statistics and results only, with no sportsbook prices.
The research index lists every sport.
What is free
Injury Impact lists and details are free to view and never spend a research open. Lineup Impact shows the top 3 entries in Explore and in each research section free, and everything with Pro. Full Research for a player, team or game opens 0 times in total as a guest, 5 new subjects a day with a free account, and without limit with StatsNext Pro (US$19.99 a month or US$179.99 a year). See Pricing.