# Luna deep analysis — slate 20260917

> Coverage receipt: **COMPLETE** · 9/8 sections; 9/9 games; 4/4 causes; 5/6 sources

# 1. Evidence receipt and gaps

## Sources received

All seven `source_manifest` entries were checked against the supplied evidence:

| Source | Status | Purpose |
|---|---:|---|
| `prediction_review_20260917.json` — 229,581 bytes | Loaded | Official outcomes and scoring errors |
| `PREDICTION_SYSTEM_DEEP_AUDIT_20260917.json` — 150,866 bytes | Loaded | Probability, provenance, starter, and decision contracts |
| `continuous_learning_daily_20260917.json` — 1,555,702 bytes | Loaded | Pipeline stages, calibration, lineage, score distribution, starter comparisons |
| `detailed_20260917.html` — 214,325 bytes | Loaded | Full game and simulation rendering |
| `20260917_ultra_detailed_player_audit.html` — 20,306,685 bytes | Loaded | Player-level prediction trace |
| `audit_report_20260917.html` — 1,143,113 bytes | Loaded | Structural and invariant findings |
| `audit_report_20260917_integrity_revision.html` | **Missing** | Post-Luna remediation proof for immutable revision artifacts |

The missing integrity-revision audit is an evidence gap. It does not invalidate the settled-game results, because the structural audits, prediction artifacts, and game-level audit receipts are present, but it prevents independent confirmation of post-remediation immutable-revision status.

## Slate coverage

All nine expected games were reviewed:

- BOS@TEX
- DET@CHW
- KC@HOU
- LAD@CIN
- MIL@PIT
- MIN@LAA
- OAK@TB
- PHI@NYM
- SD@COL

Coverage was complete:

- Expected games: 9
- Games structurally audited: 9
- Forensic deep-audit games: 9
- Continuous-learning games: 9
- Starter comparisons: 9
- Canonical artifacts loaded: 9
- Learning eligibility: eligible; all critical/error structural gates passed

All nine game-level structural audits reported zero critical findings, zero errors, and zero warnings. They reported 70 informational findings in aggregate.

## Internal contradictions and evidence limitations

1. **BOS@TEX probability-lineage wording is internally awkward.**  
   The row says `published_minus_calibrated = -0.009473`, the transformation says “no recorded transformation explains the publication delta,” but `unexplained_material_delta` is `false`. The delta is small and not material, so this is not a material bypass, but the wording should be normalized.

2. **The missing integrity-revision artifact remains unresolved.**  
   It is the only missing manifest entry.

3. **Published probability and confidence edge use different representations.**  
   For example, LAD@CIN has a governed/calibrated probability of 0.7106, but its published away-side probability is 0.56 and its displayed home-minus-away edge is -0.12. This is explainable by the named score-coherence and recency transformations, but reports should make the selected side and side-relative probability explicit.

4. **The pipeline-stage table contains a meaningful winner-direction regression that is not obvious from aggregate final accuracy.**  
   BOS@TEX moves historical ML `TEX → TIE`, then enhanced prediction moves `TIE → TEX`. The later recovery does not erase the intermediate regression.

5. **No market cross-check was available.**  
   There were zero source-labelled moneyline covers, so market agreement/disagreement cannot be evaluated.

6. **Player-level results are noisy.**  
   Only 13 of 53 material player deviations were supported by the hitter’s own season contact quality, a learnable share of 24.5%. The other deviations should not be treated as feature evidence.

---

# 2. Executive diagnosis

## Overall result

- Winner accuracy: **4/9 = 44.44%**
- Misses: 5
- Reported walk-forward accuracy: **56.47%**
- Reported walk-forward Brier: **0.243312**
- Slate winner Brier from game records: average approximately **0.2568**
- Mean team-run error: approximately **3.67 runs**
- Mean total-run bias across the slate: approximately **+1.11 runs**
- High-conviction games: 4
- High-conviction misses: 2
- High-conviction miss rate: **50%**
- Published confidence was not anti-predictive by the formal flag, but it was materially overconfident in the settled calibration buckets.

This was not a good prediction slate merely because four winners were correct. Winner accuracy was below the stated walk-forward baseline and below coin-flip performance on this slate. Exact-score performance was substantially weaker than winner performance.

## Separate diagnoses

### Winner accuracy

Poor on this slate:

- 4/9 correct
- 44.44% versus a 56.47% walk-forward baseline
- Self-assessment: `beat_coinflip: false`, `beat_validated_baseline: false`
- Trend: `winner_accuracy` is regressing; current slate is the lowest value in the displayed recent series at 44.44%

The five misses were BOS@TEX, DET@CHW, MIL@PIT, MIN@LAA, and PHI@NYM.

### Calibration quality

Calibration was weak and overconfident:

- 0.50–0.55 bucket: average confidence 0.532, observed hit rate 0.400, calibration error **+0.132**
- 0.55–0.60 bucket: average confidence 0.5635, observed hit rate 0.500, calibration error **+0.0635**
- Settled games in calibration monitor: 9
- Weighted absolute calibration error: **0.1016**
- High-confidence cluster: 2/2 hits, but the cluster’s empirical hit rates were only 0.5536 and 0.5846 despite raw probabilities above 0.65

The model did reduce high raw probabilities through score coherence and matchup-recency guardrails. That is good lineage behavior, but the residual published confidence still overstated reliability in the moderate and lean buckets.

### Score accuracy

Score accuracy was materially weak:

- Holdout R²:
  - Away runs: 0.02324
  - Home runs: 0.002745
  - Total runs: 0.005629
- The causal register correctly labels this a **high-severity** weak-run-model issue.
- The model predicted margins of 2 runs or fewer in 6/9 games, while actual margins of at least 4 occurred in 4/9.
- Actual margins: 1, 2, 4, 6, 3, 1, 9, 3, 7
- Predicted margins: 1, 1, 1, 4, 2, 1, 3, 1, 3
- Signed margin bias: **-0.778**
- Cross-slate margin bias trend: **regressing**

The system systematically compressed the margin distribution, particularly in OAK@TB and SD@COL.

### Starter accuracy

Starter performance was mixed and often decisive:

- Mean starter ERA error: **2.16**
- Five of 17 listed starts exceeded projected ERA by at least 3.00:
  - Kyle Harrison: +16.2 ERA error
  - Brady Singer: +11.19
  - Tanner Gordon: +10.2
  - Jeffrey Springs: +8.49
  - Seth Lugo: +5.4
- One thin-history starter was identified: Miguel Ullola, six prior appearances in the feed.
- The starter lever had balanced cross-game evidence: 4 games helped, 4 games hurt. No broad starter-weight adjustment is justified from this slate alone.

Venue-split evidence was specifically credible for several blown starters, especially Seth Lugo, Kyle Harrison, and Tanner Gordon. This supports a bounded shadow test of `context.venue_adjustment_weight`, but not an unvalidated production change.

### Artifact integrity

Artifact integrity was strong for the settled game artifacts:

- All nine game-level structural audits passed.
- All reported zero critical, error, and warning findings.
- Probability reversions:
  - Artifacts checked: 9
  - Blend flips: 0
  - Side survived to publication: 9
  - Overwritten: 0
- Six material calibrated-to-published movements were explained by score-coherence and/or recency transformations.
- Simulation produced zero winner flips on this slate.

However, the missing integrity-revision audit prevents a fully closed artifact-revision receipt.

## Causal issue register reconciliation

### `weak_run_model_signal` — High

- Severity: **high**
- Evidence: home/away/total R² = 0.0027/0.0232/0.0056
- Affected games: all nine
- Action: treat exact scores as low-confidence; improve features or target before tuning score tails
- Guardrail: a small positive R² only means the model beats guessing the average; it does not make exact scores reliable

This is a material model-validation risk, not a contract failure. The appropriate action is an isolated feature/target backtest, not a nightly score tweak.

### `complete_slate_audit_coverage` — Info

- Severity: **info**
- Evidence: 9/9 games structurally audited
- Affected games: all nine
- Action: retain per-game audit receipts
- Guardrail: full audit coverage does not cancel within-game findings

Correctly classified as informational.

### `probability_publication_delta_explained` — Info

- Severity: **info**
- Evidence: six material movements, all named as score-coherence and/or recency transformations
- Affected games: DET@CHW, KC@HOU, LAD@CIN, MIL@PIT, OAK@TB, SD@COL
- Action: continue displaying every probability layer and transformation
- Guardrail: a published probability above the calibrated probability is not a governor bypass when the transformation is recorded

This is supported. BOS@TEX has a small wording inconsistency but no material unexplained delta.

### `simulation_inert_on_slate` — Info for this slate, escalated persistent failure across slates

- Severity in the register: **info**
- Evidence on this slate: zero flip candidates and zero published flips
- Affected games: all nine
- Action on the slate: measure simulation contribution across rolling slates
- Guardrail: zero winner flips is not itself a defect and does not prove that no score reconciliation occurred

Cross-slate evidence changes the operational diagnosis: this has persisted for 11 consecutive slates and is now an established code/diagnostic failure pattern.

---

# 3. Every game

The game records use `confidence_home_minus_away`; negative values indicate an away-side edge. The published pick probability below is the probability of the selected side.

## BOS@TEX — miss; correct-winner/wrong-score: no

- Predicted: TEX 4, BOS 3; predicted winner TEX
- Actual: BOS 4, TEX 3; winner BOS
- Published selected-side probability: TEX 0.553827
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **+0.1077**, moderate
- Brier: **0.306724**
- Team-run absolute error: **2**
- Total-run bias: **0**
- Starter lines:
  - BOS Sonny Gray: projected 2 ER/18 outs, actual 3 ER/19 outs; ERA 3.00 projected vs 4.26 actual; ER error +1
  - TEX Tyler Alexander: projected 1 ER/15 outs, actual 0 ER/3 outs; ERA 1.80 vs 0.00; ER error -1
- Edges:
  - Season home-minus-away: **-0.484**
  - Recent: **+0.262**
  - Pitcher: **-0.061**
  - Composite: **-0.154**
- Controls:
  - Governor applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.5633 before publication
  - No recency guardrail
  - No score-volatility change
  - Starter-experience shrinkage not applied
- Score path: 3.915–4.294 historical ML → 4–4 variance baseline → 3–4 enhanced → 3–4 through Savant, target review, cap, and simulation.
- Player adjustments:
  - Sonny Gray predicted strikeouts increased by 2
  - Danny Jansen RBI projection worsened by 1.67
  - Jake Burger RBI projection improved by 1.45
  - Corey Seager AB projection worsened by 1.27
  - Trevor Story strikeout projection worsened by 1.34
  - Material player changes: 22
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes. Saved artifact was not the cause.
- Causes:
  - Primary: **wrong conviction side**
  - Secondary: none
  - Actual game-level explanation: BOS lineup scored below projection by 2, TEX lineup below projection by 1; result was close, but the directional side was wrong.
- Important caution: this was a moderate 0.11 edge, not a near-coin-flip classification and not a high-conviction pick.

## DET@CHW — miss; correct-winner/wrong-score: no

- Predicted: DET 5, CHW 4; predicted winner DET
- Actual: DET 1, CHW 3; winner CHW
- Published selected-side probability: DET approximately **0.530**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **-0.060**, lean
- Brier: **0.280900**
- Team-run absolute error: **5**
- Total-run bias: **+5**
- Starter lines:
  - DET Framber Valdez: projected 3 ER/18 outs, actual 3 ER/15 outs; projected ERA 4.50 vs actual 5.40; ER error 0
  - CHW Erick Fedde: projected 5 ER/14 outs, actual 1 ER/14 outs; projected ERA 9.64 vs actual 1.93; ER error -4
- Edges:
  - Season: **-0.442**
  - Recent: **-0.770**
  - Pitcher: **+0.084**
  - Composite: **-0.431**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.5837 before later controls
  - Starter-experience shrinkage not applied
  - `supported_blowout_margin_expansion` applied to the away side
- Score path: 4.539–4.383 historical → 5–4 variance baseline → 5–4 enhanced → 5–4 through final simulation.
- Player adjustments:
  - Javier Báez RBI projection improved by 3.66
  - Randal Grichuk AB projection worsened by 2.50
  - Chase Meidroth strikeout projection worsened by 2.07
  - Miguel Vargas hit projection worsened by 1.89
  - Material player changes: 25
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; seven informational notes.
- Causes:
  - Primary: **starter projection**
  - Secondary: **run environment over**
  - Fedde allowed four fewer ER than projected. DET’s offense was over-projected by four. This was a large score miss and a wrong side, not merely a one-run variance outcome.

## KC@HOU — hit; correct-winner/wrong-score: yes

- Predicted: HOU 5, KC 4; predicted winner HOU
- Actual: HOU 6, KC 2; winner HOU
- Published selected-side probability: HOU **0.529531**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **+0.0591**, lean
- Brier: **0.221341**
- Team-run absolute error: **3**
- Total-run bias: **+1**
- Starter lines:
  - KC Seth Lugo: projected 1 ER/15 outs, actual 4 ER/15 outs; ERA 1.80 vs 7.20; ER error +3
  - HOU Miguel Ullola: projected 4 ER/9 outs, actual 1 ER/2 outs; ERA 12.00 vs 13.50; ER error -3
- Edges:
  - Season: **+0.118**
  - Recent: **-0.234**
  - Pitcher: **+0.011**
  - Composite: **+0.211**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Thin-history starter shrinkage applied to Ullola: six prior appearances, shrink factor 0.675; probability changed from 0.5606 to 0.540874 without changing the winner
  - No score-volatility change
  - Large Savant run-environment swing flag
- Score path: 4.539–4.383 historical → 5–4 variance → 5–4 enhanced → 5–4 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - LaMonte Wade Jr. exceeded projection by 1.85 runs
  - Taylor Trammell by 1.26
  - Jeremy Peña by 1.09
  - Daulton Varsho by 0.93
  - Jac Caglianone underperformed by 0.78
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; seven informational notes.
- Causes: no registered primary/secondary driver. The winner was correct, but the score was wrong.
- Forensic interpretation: Seth Lugo’s credible away split was underweighted. The recommended shadow lever is `context.venue_adjustment_weight`, not an immediate production change.

## LAD@CIN — hit; correct-winner/wrong-score: yes

- Predicted: LAD 9, CIN 5; predicted winner LAD
- Actual: LAD 8, CIN 2; winner LAD
- Published selected-side probability: LAD **0.56**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **-0.12**, moderate
- Brier: **0.193600**
- Team-run absolute error: **4**
- Total-run bias: **+4**
- Starter lines:
  - LAD Justin Wrobleski: projected 3 ER/15 outs, actual 0 ER/9 outs; ERA 5.40 vs 0.00; ER error -3
  - CIN Brady Singer: projected 4 ER/14 outs, actual 7 ER/10 outs; ERA 7.71 vs 18.90; ER error +3
- Edges:
  - Season: **-1.929**
  - Recent: **-1.414**
  - Pitcher: **-0.059**
  - Composite: **-2.264**
- Controls:
  - Governor, score coherence, and matchup-recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.7106 before publication
  - `supported_blowout_margin_expansion`
  - High raw cluster member; published probability was reduced to 0.56
- Score path: approximately 5–4 historical → 6–4 variance → 8–5 enhanced → 9–5 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Kyle Tucker exceeded projection by 2.63 runs, supported by above-average xwOBA 0.330
  - Miguel Rojas by 1.87
  - Sal Stewart by 1.40, supported by elite xwOBA 0.346
  - Elly De La Cruz underperformed by 1.73
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes: none registered; this was a solid winner call with score overstatement.
- Important classification: **correct winner, wrong score**. Brady Singer’s strong-offense matchup and large ERA miss were directionally useful, but the exact 9–5 forecast was too high.

## MIL@PIT — miss; correct-winner/wrong-score: no

- Predicted: MIL 6, PIT 4; predicted winner MIL
- Actual: MIL 4, PIT 7; winner PIT
- Published selected-side probability: MIL **0.56**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **-0.12**, moderate
- Brier: **0.313600**
- Team-run absolute error: **5**
- Total-run bias: **-1**
- Starter lines:
  - MIL Kyle Harrison: projected 3 ER/15 outs, actual 4 ER/5 outs; ERA 5.40 vs 21.60; ER error +1, ERA error +16.2
  - PIT Wilber Dotel: projected 1 ER/15 outs, actual 1 ER/6 outs; ERA 1.80 vs 4.50; ER error 0
- Edges:
  - Season: **-1.170**
  - Recent: **-1.138**
  - Pitcher: **-0.061**
  - Composite: **-1.423**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - `supported_blowout_margin_expansion` toward MIL
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.6562 before publication
- Score path: 5–4 historical → 5–4 variance → 6–4 enhanced → 6–4 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Brandon Lowe improved by 2.69 projected hits
  - Joey Ortiz AB improved by 1.85
  - Sal Frelick RBI improved by 1.82
  - Jackson Chourio underperformed by 1.36
  - Bo Naylor exceeded RBI projection by 1.75
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes:
  - Primary: **wrong conviction side**
  - Secondary: **lean-side miss** in the registered labels, despite the displayed moderate 0.12 edge
  - Kyle Harrison’s credible away split was underweighted; PIT offense was under-projected by 3.
- A 0.12 edge is moderate, not a near coin flip. The problem was not that the edge was “almost zero”; it was that a moderate directional signal was treated too confidently relative to the calibration evidence.

## MIN@LAA — miss; correct-winner/wrong-score: no

- Predicted: MIN 4, LAA 3; predicted winner MIN
- Actual: MIN 4, LAA 5; winner LAA
- Published selected-side probability: MIN **0.516481**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **-0.033**, toss-up
- Brier: **0.266753**
- Team-run absolute error: **2**
- Total-run bias: **-2**
- Starter lines:
  - MIN Taj Bradley: projected 3 ER/18 outs, actual 3 ER/21 outs; ERA 4.50 vs 3.86; ER error 0
  - LAA Walbert Ureña: projected 1 ER/17 outs, actual 0 ER/21 outs; ERA 1.59 vs 0.00; ER error -1
- Edges:
  - Season: **+0.079**
  - Recent: **+0.407**
  - Pitcher: **-0.034**
  - Composite: **-0.110**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.5228
  - No score-volatility change
  - No experience shrinkage
- Score path: 4.523–3.893 historical → 5–4 variance → 4–3 enhanced → 4–3 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Walker Jenkins exceeded projection by 2.01 runs
  - Oswald Peraza by 0.94
  - Zach Neto underperformed by 1.40
  - Mike Trout strikeout projection worsened by 1.17
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes:
  - Primary: **toss-up variance**
  - Secondary: none
- This is not evidence for a model change. Both starters were close to the projected ER lines, and the actual one-run result was consistent with ordinary variance.

## OAK@TB — hit; correct-winner/wrong-score: yes

- Predicted: TB 7, OAK 4; predicted winner TB
- Actual: TB 10, OAK 1; winner TB
- Published selected-side probability: TB **0.58**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **+0.16**, moderate
- Brier: **0.176400**
- Team-run absolute error: **6**
- Total-run bias: **0**
- Starter lines:
  - OAK Jeffrey Springs: projected 4 ER/14 outs, actual 6 ER/10 outs; ERA 7.71 vs 16.20; ER error +2
  - TB Drew Rasmussen: projected 2 ER/18 outs, actual 0 ER/15 outs; ERA 3.00 vs 0.00; ER error -2
- Edges:
  - Season: **+1.683**
  - Recent: **+1.202**
  - Pitcher: **+0.052**
  - Composite: **+1.880**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.6502
  - `supported_blowout_margin_expansion`
  - Large Savant run-environment swing flag
- Score path: roughly 5–4 historical → 5–4 variance → 6–4 enhanced → 7–4 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Lawrence Butler exceeded projection by 1.07 runs, supported by above-average xwOBA 0.321
  - Richie Palacios by 0.97
  - Junior Caminero underperformed by 1.07
  - Zack Gelof underperformed by 0.93
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes: none registered; correct winner, wrong score.
- Important classification: **correct winner, wrong score**. The model identified the side but materially understated the margin.

## PHI@NYM — miss; correct-winner/wrong-score: no

- Predicted: NYM 4, PHI 3; predicted winner NYM
- Actual: PHI 3, NYM 0; winner PHI
- Published selected-side probability: NYM **0.544183**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **+0.0884**, lean
- Brier: **0.296135**
- Team-run absolute error: **4**
- Total-run bias: **+4**
- Starter lines:
  - PHI Aaron Nola: projected 4 ER/18 outs, actual 0 ER/21 outs; ERA 6.00 vs 0.00; ER error -4
  - NYM Nolan McLean: projected 2 ER/18 outs, actual 1 ER/18 outs; ERA 3.00 vs 1.50; ER error -1
- Edges:
  - Season: **-0.312**
  - Recent: **+0.358**
  - Pitcher: **+0.068**
  - Composite: **+0.247**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.5612
  - No score-volatility change
  - Large Savant run-environment swing flag
- Score path: 4–5 historical → 4–5 variance → 3–4 enhanced → 3–4 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Bryce Harper exceeded projection by 0.94 runs, supported by elite xwOBA 0.385
  - Kyle Schwarber underperformed by 1.40
  - Trea Turner AB projection worsened by 2.94
  - Francisco Alvarez RBI projection improved by 1.59
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes:
  - Primary: **starter projection**
  - Secondary: **lean-side miss**
  - Nola’s four-ER projection error was decisive. The forensic attribution calls the start an outlier with no credible venue, opponent, or experience explanation. No model change is warranted for Nola’s individual result.

## SD@COL — hit; correct-winner/wrong-score: yes

- Predicted: SD 8, COL 5; predicted winner SD
- Actual: SD 9, COL 2; winner SD
- Published selected-side probability: SD **0.54**
- System confidence edge: home-minus-away **-0.08**, lean
- Brier: **0.211600**
- Team-run absolute error: **4**
- Total-run bias: **+2**
- Starter lines:
  - SD Michael King: projected 3 ER/19 outs, actual 2 ER/18 outs; ERA 4.26 vs 3.00; ER error -1
  - COL Tanner Gordon: projected 6 ER/15 outs, actual 7 ER/9 outs; ERA 10.80 vs 21.00; ER error +1
- Edges:
  - Season: **-1.504**
  - Recent: **-1.654**
  - Pitcher: **-0.064**
  - Composite: **-1.922**
- Controls:
  - Governor and recency guardrail applied
  - Confidence pipeline reached 0.6972
  - `supported_blowout_margin_expansion`
  - High raw cluster member; published probability reduced to 0.54
- Score path: roughly 5–4 historical → 5–4 variance → 7–4 enhanced → 8–5 final.
- Player adjustments:
  - Xander Bogaerts exceeded projection by 2.47
  - Dustin Harris by 0.94, supported by above-average xwOBA 0.336
  - Manny Machado underperformed by 1.73
  - Tanner Gordon’s credible home weakness was underweighted
- Audit: PASS; zero critical/error/warning findings; eight informational notes.
- Causes: none registered; solid correct winner call with wrong score.
- Important classification: **correct winner, wrong score**.

## Game-level summary

Correct winners:

- KC@HOU
- LAD@CIN
- OAK@TB
- SD@COL

Correct winner but wrong score:

- KC@HOU
- LAD@CIN
- OAK@TB
- SD@COL

Misses:

- BOS@TEX — wrong side
- DET@CHW — starter and run-environment miss
- MIL@PIT — wrong side, underweighted venue split
- MIN@LAA — toss-up variance
- PHI@NYM — starter projection miss and lean-side miss

There were no exact-score hits reported.

---

# 4. Miss reconstruction

## Earliest wrong-direction stages

### BOS@TEX

- Earliest adverse movement: historical ML projected TEX ahead, but variance application moved the direction to a tie; enhanced prediction restored TEX.
- The decisive problem was not a late artifact or simulation flip. The fundamental evidence was contradictory:
  - Season edge favored BOS by 0.484
  - Recent form favored TEX by 0.262
  - Pitcher edge favored BOS by 0.061
  - Composite favored BOS by 0.154
- Diagnosis: **bad weighting / wrong conviction side**, with irreducible close-game variance also present.
- The 0.11 edge was moderate, not near-coin-flip confidence.

### DET@CHW

- Historical ML already favored DET, consistent with the eventual wrong direction.
- Enhanced, Savant, target review, and simulation preserved DET.
- The earliest wrong evidence was the run/starter input structure that projected DET for 5 and CHW for 4, especially the CHW starter line of 5 ER/9.64 ERA.
- Actual Fedde allowed 1 ER, four fewer than projected.
- Diagnosis: **bad starter input/projection**, compounded by **run-environment overprojection** and overconfidence in the away side.

### MIL@PIT

- Historical ML favored MIL; variance preserved that direction.
- Enhanced prediction increased MIL’s expected runs from 5 to 6 and maintained the wrong side.
- Savant adjustments slightly reduced both teams but did not correct direction.
- Kyle Harrison’s away split was credible and materially adverse, yet the venue-role weakness was underweighted.
- Diagnosis: **bad weighting**, specifically venue-split weighting, plus a large starter realization error and PIT offense underprojection.

### MIN@LAA

- Historical ML favored MIN; variance, enhanced prediction, and final simulation retained MIN.
- The evidence was nearly balanced:
  - Composite home edge only -0.110
  - Published away probability about 0.516
  - Displayed edge only 0.033
- Both starters were broadly accurate by ER, and the actual one-run result flipped the predicted side.
- Diagnosis: **irreducible variance**, not a validated model defect.

### PHI@NYM

- Historical ML favored NYM and the enhanced score path retained NYM.
- The strongest adverse realization was Aaron Nola: projected 4 ER, actual 0 ER.
- No credible contextual signal explains the outlier.
- Diagnosis: **starter projection miss**, specifically irreducible/outlier variance, plus a lean-side miss.

## Loss-cause classification

Across five losses:

- Starter projection: 2 registered primary drivers — DET@CHW and PHI@NYM
- Toss-up variance: 1 — MIN@LAA
- Wrong conviction side: 2 — BOS@TEX and MIL@PIT
- Bad input: most clearly CHW starter projection line; no structural identity error was found
- Bad weighting: venue-role weighting for MIL@PIT, and possibly BOS@TEX conflicting season/recent weighting
- Calibration: confidence was too high relative to observed performance, but calibration did not independently create each wrong side
- Offense/bullpen miss:
  - PIT offense under-projected by 3 in MIL@PIT
  - DET offense over-projected by 4 in DET@CHW
  - NYM offense underperformed by 4 in PHI@NYM
- Run-environment miss: strongest in DET@CHW and PHI@NYM; total runs were over-projected by 5 and 4 respectively
- Irreducible variance: strongest in MIN@LAA and PHI@NYM’s Nola outlier

A 0.12 confidence edge is moderate. It should not be described as a near coin flip, but neither should it be treated as high-confidence certainty. The appropriate response is calibration and distribution control, not removal of all directional signal.

## Pipeline-stage quality across all stages

| Stage | Winner accuracy | Team-run MAE | Total-run MAE | Margin MAE |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| historical_ml | 4/9 = 44.44% | 2.0863 | 2.1738 | 3.5824 |
| variance_applied | 4/9 | 2.0556 | 2.1111 | 3.6667 |
| enhanced_prediction | 4/9 | 1.8889 | 2.0000 | 3.5556 |
| embedded_savant_run_environment | 4/9 | 1.9444 | 2.1111 | 3.4444 |
| fundamental_edge_target_review | 4/9 | 1.9444 | 2.1111 | 3.4444 |
| capped_target | 4/9 | 1.9444 | 2.1111 | 3.4444 |
| simulation_result | 4/9 | 1.9444 | 2.1111 | 3.4444 |
| published_final | 4/9 | 1.9444 | 2.1111 | 3.4444 |

Transitions:

1. Historical ML → variance applied:
   - Margin MAE regressed +0.0843
   - Team-run MAE improved -0.0307
   - Winner accuracy unchanged
   - BOS moved TEX → TIE: an intermediate winner-direction regression

2. Variance applied → enhanced prediction:
   - Margin MAE improved -0.1111
   - Team-run MAE improved -0.1667
   - BOS moved TIE → TEX: later recovery
   - This recovery does not erase the intermediate regression

3. Enhanced → embedded Savant:
   - Margin MAE improved -0.1112
   - Team-run MAE worsened +0.0555
   - Winner accuracy unchanged

4. Embedded Savant → fundamental review:
   - No change

5. Fundamental review → capped:
   - No change

6. Capped → simulation:
   - No change

7. Simulation → published final:
   - No change

The system’s later stages improved run-error metrics relative to historical ML, but none improved winner accuracy, and simulation made no measurable winner-direction intervention.

---

# 5. Cross-game counterfactuals

## Lever tension: widen run distributions

**Lever:** `score.variance_multiplier / score.variance_floor`  
**Targets:** Brier score, calibration error

### Helps

- BOS@TEX: lost a 0.11-confidence pick; wider tails would reduce overconfidence in a close matchup.
- MIL@PIT: lost a 0.12-confidence pick; wider tails would better represent the possibility of a moderate edge failing.

### Hurts

- No harmed games were recorded in the lever-tension entry.

### Net evidence

- 2 games helped, 0 hurt on this slate.
- Cross-slate evidence shows lineup runs were below projection on 8 of 12 slates, but the registered bias is not statistically separable from noise.
- A bounded shadow experiment is reasonable, but widening variance cannot repair the near-zero run-model signal or guarantee better exact scores.

## Lever tension: pitcher form weights / prior games

**Lever:** `player.pitcher.v4 form weights / player.pitcher_prior_games`  
**Targets:** starter ER MAE, starter outs MAE

### Helps

- DET@CHW: Fedde was four ER better than projected.
- KC@HOU: Lugo was three ER worse and Ullola three ER better than projected.
- LAD@CIN: Singer was three ER worse than projected.
- PHI@NYM: Nola was four ER better than projected.

### Hurts

- BOS@TEX: starter projection was relatively accurate; ER error 1.
- MIL@PIT: starter ER error 1 for Harrison under the registered absolute-ER measure.
- MIN@LAA: starter ER errors 0 and -1.
- SD@COL: starter ER errors -1 and +1.

### Net evidence

- 4 helped, 4 hurt.
- No broad form-weight change is supported.
- The venue-specific problem is narrower than the general pitcher-form lever. Use `context.venue_adjustment_weight` in a shadow test for credible split cases instead of changing global pitcher priors.

## Lever tension: recent/season run-mean weighting

**Lever:** `recent.* / season.* run-mean weighting`  
**Targets:** team-run MAE, total-run MAE, accuracy

### Helps

- DET@CHW: reduced reliance on an incorrect high run environment would help.
- LAD@CIN: score was directionally correct; better weighting may reduce the 4-run total overprojection.
- MIL@PIT: PIT offense was under-projected.
- OAK@TB: winner was right, but margin was understated.
- PHI@NYM: lower run environment would help.
- SD@COL: margin was understated.

### Hurts

- BOS@TEX: team-run error was only 2; more reweighting could disturb a close score.
- MIN@LAA: team-run error was only 2; no evidence supports a broad adjustment from this game.

### Net evidence

- 6 helped, 2 hurt.
- This is the strongest slate-level bounded model lever among the listed tensions, but cross-slate evidence does not support an unvalidated production change because run-model R² is near zero. A shadow change is preferable.

## Tempting fixes that should not be made

- Do not globally increase pitcher form weighting from these nine games; the evidence is 4–4.
- Do not tune to individual outlier starts such as Aaron Nola, Fedde, or Singer.
- Do not treat all 53 player deviations as learnable; only 13 had supporting season contact-quality evidence.
- Do not increase confidence simply because LAD, OAK, or SD won; those were correct winners but wrong scores.
- Do not remove moderate edges entirely because BOS and MIL lost. A 0.12 edge is moderate, not a coin-flip label.
- Do not force a parameter change for the persistent simulation failure; the registered action is a code/diagnostic fix.
- Do not tune score tails as a substitute for fixing the near-zero run-model features and target.

---

# 6. Data and contract defects

## Critical findings

No critical audit findings were reported in the nine game audits or the structural audit summary.

The missing integrity-revision artifact is a manifest gap, but it was not reported as a critical settled-game contract failure.

## Error findings

No error audit findings were reported.

## Warning findings

No warning audit findings were reported.

## Informational findings

The aggregate structural audit reported **70 informational findings**. The principal informational findings were:

- All nine games structurally audited.
- All nine game artifacts passed.
- Six material calibrated-to-published probability movements had named transformations.
- Simulation produced zero winner flips.
- Numerous game-level informational notes documented confidence controls, player changes, score-volatility decisions, and recency handling.

## Model defects versus artifact bugs

### Prediction-model defects

1. **Weak run-model signal — high severity**
   - Total-run R² 0.005629
   - Home-run R² 0.002745
   - Away-run R² 0.02324
   - Requires feature/target investigation and isolated retraining backtest.

2. **Simulation inertness — persistent code/diagnostic defect**
   - 11 consecutive slates
   - Zero flip candidates and zero published flips on this slate
   - The self-assessment identifies the likely cause: simulation uses the same target-realization draws, early exits after finding a play-by-play realization, and then treats roughly two selected draws as a probability distribution.
   - This is a code/diagnostic problem, not a parameter-tuning problem.

3. **Margin compression**
   - Actual margins ≥4 in 4/9 games, predicted margins ≤2 in 6/9.
   - Cross-slate margin-bias trend is regressing.

4. **Calibration overconfidence**
   - Weighted absolute calibration error 0.1016
   - 50% high-conviction miss rate
   - Moderate and lean buckets both overconfident.

5. **Player projection separation**
   - Hit and strikeout spread ratios only 0.402 and 0.423.
   - RBI per-player model lost to a flat slate mean: MAE 0.642 versus 0.597.
   - HR model also lost to the flat mean: 0.189 versus 0.171.

### Presentation/artifact defects

1. BOS@TEX lineage wording says no transformation explains a delta while marking it non-material and not unexplained. This should be clarified.
2. The missing integrity-revision audit is a presentation/receipt gap unless independently shown to reflect an actual missing immutable-revision check.
3. Probability layers should consistently identify:
   - raw model probability
   - calibrated probability
   - governor input
   - governor output
   - score-coherence probability
   - recency adjustment
   - published selected-side probability

## Coverage reconciliation

The coverage matrix is clean for the nine settled games:

- `all_games_structurally_audited: true`
- `canonical_artifacts_loaded: 9`
- `continuous_learning_games: 9`
- `expected_games: 9`
- `forensic_deep_audit_games: 9`
- `games_with_starter_comparisons: 9`
- `structural_audits_completed: 9`

The slate should not be called fully artifact-clean because the integrity-revision audit is missing, but it is structurally complete and learning-eligible.

## Probability-lineage audit

Materially relevant rows:

- DET@CHW: calibrated 0.5837 → published 0.53; named score-coherence and recency guardrail
- KC@HOU: 0.5606 → 0.529531; named transformations
- LAD@CIN: 0.7106 → 0.56; score coherence plus matchup-recency guardrail
- MIL@PIT: 0.6562 → 0.56; named transformations
- OAK@TB: 0.6502 → 0.58; named transformations
- SD@COL: 0.6972 → 0.54; named transformations

These six material movements have recorded explanations; no material governor bypass is established.

BOS@TEX moved from calibrated 0.5633 to published 0.553827, a delta of only -0.009473. The row’s wording is inconsistent, but this is not a material unexplained delta.

MIN@LAA and PHI@NYM had small deltas and named recency/score-coherence handling.

No probability reversion or overwritten side was identified.

---

# 7. Cross-slate persistence

A single slate is not enough to establish most model patterns, but several findings have already escalated and must be treated as established failures.

## Escalated findings

### `simulation_inert_on_slate`

- Consecutive-slate count: **11**
- Incidence in window: 11/11
- Present now: yes
- Target lever listed: `simulation.allow_score`
- Parameter actionable: no
- Metric group: run model
- Metrics harmed: team-run MAE and total-run MAE through lack of independent simulation signal
- Direction of fix: confirm the simulation module is running and not silently no-oping
- Required action: code/diagnostic repair, not a forced parameter move

The self-assessment gives the concrete suspected defect: separate target-realization search from independent win-probability simulation; prevent early exit; use a registered batch size such as 200–500 draws or an independent closed-form distribution.

### `weak_run_model_signal`

- Consecutive-slate count: **11**
- Incidence in window: 11/11
- Present now: yes
- Target levers listed: `training.xgb.n_estimators`, `training.xgb.max_depth`, `training.xgb.learning_rate`
- Parameter actionable: no, despite listed training levers
- Metrics harmed: team-run MAE and total-run MAE
- Direction of fix: investigate features and target with an isolated training backtest
- Required action: add or validate market no-vig probability where source-labelled, park/weather environment, bullpen rest/fatigue, and platoon-adjusted lineup quality; compare same-fingerprint holdout R²; bump model schema if semantics change

This is an established failure, not single-slate noise.

## Non-escalated finding streaks

| Finding | Consecutive count | Present now | Interpretation |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| high_raw_probability_cluster | 0 | No | Occurred once in the 11-slate window; this slate had two high-raw games, but the registered streak is not current |
| pipeline_winner_instability | 0 | No | Incidence 2 in window, but no current streak |
| score_margin_compression | 0 | No | Incidence 1 in window under this finding label; current margin compression is visible but not escalated under this streak record |
| simulation_inert_on_slate | 11 | Yes | Established persistent failure |
| single_slate_calibration_instability | 0 | No | Seven occurrences in window but no consecutive current streak |
| weak_run_model_signal | 11 | Yes | Established persistent failure |

## Metric trends

Each direction is explicit:

- `margin_bias`: **regressing**, mean -1.5357
- `mean_team_run_error_on_losses`: **improving**, mean 5.5165, with current slate at 3.6
- `weighted_calibration_error`: **improving**, mean 0.1781, current 0.1016
- `winner_accuracy`: **regressing**, mean 0.5961, current 0.4444

“Improving” calibration and loss-run error do not mean they are good; they mean the recent series is moving in a favorable direction. Current calibration remains materially imperfect.

## Top-confidence-pick loss streak

- Reported loss streak: **0**
- Per-slate sequence from 20260907 through 20260917:
  - miss, hit, hit, hit, miss, miss, hit, miss, hit, hit, hit
- Current top-confidence pick: hit
- Therefore, no persistent top-confidence loss streak is present.

## Other structural persistence

- Margin compression appears repeatedly in the raw margin distribution and is reflected in the regressing margin-bias trend, but the formal `finding_streaks` entry reports only zero consecutive slates. It should be monitored rather than falsely labeled an escalated streak.
- The run model’s weak holdout R² and simulation inertness are the strongest persistent structural signals.
- The player-level spread problem is a current-slate diagnostic, not an escalated cross-slate finding in the supplied streak structure.

---

# 8. Adjustments for today

Recommendations are ranked by persistence, scope, expected metric impact, affected games, and regression risk.

## 1. Repair and independently measure simulation — highest evidence strength

- Pattern: `simulation_inert_on_slate`, persistent for 11 slates
- Exact registered target: `simulation.allow_score`
- Parameter direction: **do not force a parameter value; repair the code path**
- Bounded action:
  - Confirm `simulation.allow_score` is active.
  - Separate target-realization search from win-probability simulation.
  - Remove early exits from the probability batch.
  - Register an independent simulation batch size, initially 200–500 draws.
- Expected metric:
  - Increase nonzero simulation contribution and flip-candidate rate
  - Improve winner-direction diagnostics
  - Potentially improve Brier and winner accuracy, but causal effect is not guaranteed
- Helps:
  - All nine games in principle, especially close/moderate-edge games BOS@TEX, MIL@PIT, and MIN@LAA
- Hurts:
  - No specific harmed game is established; risk is compute cost and introducing unvalidated probability noise
- Gate:
  - Shadow only until independent simulation contribution is measurable.
  - Roll back if calibration error or winner accuracy worsens across a predefined rolling sample.

## 2. Run an isolated run-model feature/target backtest — persistent high-severity issue

- Pattern: `weak_run_model_signal`, persistent for 11 slates
- Exact registered levers: `training.xgb.n_estimators`, `training.xgb.max_depth`, `training.xgb.learning_rate`
- Parameter direction: **abstain from direct nightly parameter movement**
- Bounded action:
  - Add/test the registered feature-contract candidates: source-labelled no-vig market probability, park/weather environment, bullpen rest/fatigue, and platoon-adjusted lineup quality.
  - Compare same-fingerprint holdout R² and MAE.
  - Do not promote without improvement over the current R² baseline.
- Expected metric:
  - Increase home, away, and total-run R²
  - Reduce team-run MAE, total-run MAE, and margin compression
- Helps:
  - Broadly all games, with greatest relevance to DET@CHW, MIL@PIT, OAK@TB, PHI@NYM, and SD@COL
- Hurts:
  - Potential overfit risk in BOS@TEX and MIN@LAA, where current team-run errors were only 2
- Gate:
  - Isolated backtest, schema-version update, then shadow deployment. No direct production tuning from this slate.

## 3. Bounded confidence-cap reduction for the strongest single-slate driver

- Strongest single-slate driver: **confidence overstatement relative to outcome**, evidenced by 44.44% winner accuracy, 0.1016 weighted calibration error, and a 50% high-conviction miss rate.
- Exact registered parameter: `confidence.moderate_cap`
- Direction: **decrease**
- Small bounded magnitude: **reduce by 0.02 from its current registered value**
- Expected metric:
  - Lower weighted calibration error and Brier score
  - Reduce high-conviction miss severity
  - No expected direct improvement in raw winner accuracy
- Helps:
  - BOS@TEX and MIL@PIT, the moderate-edge losses
  - Potentially DET@CHW and PHI@NYM, the lean-side losses
- Hurts:
  - Could reduce useful confidence in correct moderate calls such as LAD@CIN and OAK@TB
  - Could understate SD@COL, which was a correct lean call
- Gate:
  - Apply only as a shadow calibration experiment alongside existing score-variance controls.
  - Roll back if rolling Brier or calibration error worsens.

## 4. Optional shadow test of run-mean weighting

- Exact lever: `recent.* / season.* run-mean weighting`
- Direction: modestly increase adaptive recent/season run-environment weighting only within a shadow branch; do not change production from this slate alone.
- Expected metric:
  - Reduce team-run MAE, total-run MAE, and margin compression
- Helps:
  - DET@CHW, LAD@CIN, MIL@PIT, OAK@TB, PHI@NYM, SD@COL
- Hurts:
  - BOS@TEX and MIN@LAA, where scores were comparatively close
- This is ranked below the persistent code and run-model actions because the lever is not tied to an escalated finding and the underlying run model has near-zero predictive signal.

## Changes to abstain from today

- Do not directly alter global pitcher form weights; the lever tension is 4–4.
- Do not promote `context.venue_adjustment_weight` globally yet. It is a sensible shadow experiment for Lugo, Harrison, and Gordon, but it is not a registered escalated pattern.
- Do not tune to the individual Nola, Fedde, Singer, or Springs outcomes.
- Do not force a simulation parameter change in place of the required code repair.

---

# 9. Bottom line

## Known

- The slate went 4–9, or 44.44%, below the walk-forward baseline and below coin flip.
- Four correct winners were also wrong on exact score.
- The score model has near-zero holdout R² and materially compresses winning margins.
- Confidence was overestimated in the 0.50–0.60 buckets; weighted calibration error was 0.1016.
- Five losses were attributable to two wrong-conviction-side calls, two starter-projection failures, and one genuine toss-up variance result.
- All nine game artifacts passed structural QA with no critical, error, or warning findings.
- Six material probability movements were documented through named transformations; no material probability bypass is established.
- Simulation inertness and weak run-model signal are persistent across 11 consecutive slates and are established failures.
- The top-confidence pick did not have a loss streak; it was a hit on the current slate.

## Uncertain

- Whether venue-split weighting will improve starter forecasts across slates; this slate provides suggestive cases but balanced global starter evidence.
- Whether widening score variance will improve Brier/calibration without worsening useful correct calls.
- Whether recent/season run-mean weighting can overcome the underlying lack of run-model feature signal.
- The causal impact of an independent simulation distribution until the code path is repaired and measured.
- The missing integrity-revision artifact’s effect on immutable revision verification.

## Single safest next action

Repair and instrument the simulation probability path before changing model parameters: separate independent win-probability draws from target-realization search, remove early exit, register the batch size, and run it in shadow with rollback monitoring. This directly addresses an 11-slate established failure, preserves the existing forecast path, and produces the most valuable evidence for the next slate without overfitting today’s nine games.
