Rafty FAQ
Everything you might want to know about what Rafty is, how its calls are graded, and what we explicitly are not doing.
What is Rafty?
Rafty is the In The Rafters matchup reader. Every game on the schedule gets a pre-game lean with a confidence percentage, plus a narrative take describing the strongest factors driving the call. Rafty also files a post-game grade comparing the pre-game pick to the actual outcome.
Is this a betting product?
No. We don’t publish point spreads, money lines, parlays, or any gambling-oriented framing. Rafty’s predictions are analytical forecasts — closer in spirit to mock drafts and ESPN pick’em than to anything you’d see on a sportsbook page. We treat “who wins” as a sports question, not a wagering one.
How does the model work?
Rafty weighs team strength, recent form, venue context, schedule rhythm, and matchup-specific notes when reliable public data is available. The exact weighting stays private, but the public output is simple: a lean, a confidence level, and the plain-English context behind it.
What are confidence checks?
Rafty checks public confidence against actual results. If a confidence range is getting too loud or too soft, future public reads get more conservative. The reader-facing record lives at Rafty’s Records.
Why does Rafty admit when it’s wrong?
Because the alternative is dishonest. Every final game page now carries a green-or-red grade block with the original pre-game pick at its pre-game probability vs. the actual outcome. There’s no hindsight rewriting. If the call missed, the page says so.
Where do the numbers come from?
ESPN’s free public scoreboard, summary, standings, and team injury feeds — the same APIs that power their own scoreboard pages. We don’t use a paid stat provider. Player profiles are built from ESPN’s public athletes endpoint, refreshed nightly.
Does Rafty cover every game?
Every game scheduled in the four covered leagues (NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL) gets a venue/game page with a take, provided ESPN’s scoreboard returns it. The daily slate digest at the top of the newsroom lists each game with its pre-game prediction so you can see them all in one place.
Can I see Rafty’s full history?
Yes. Rafty’s Records shows the current public W-L era by game, sport, result, and confidence bucket. Rafty’s Nest shows recent results and today’s slate. Every individual game page carries the post-game grade for that specific call.
Why “In The Rafters”?
We cover championship-quality moments — the kind of plays that get celebrated by retired numbers in the rafters of an arena. The model was supposed to be called something else, but Rafty the owl needed a name and the name stuck.
Anything missing? About In The Rafters covers the broader site mission. Rafty’s Nest has the today-and-recent view of every prediction.