Luna deep analysis — slate 20261007

Coverage receipt: COMPLETE · 9/8 sections; 4/4 games; 6/6 causes; 7/7 sources

1. Evidence receipt and gaps

All 7 source_manifest entries are recorded as loaded. The supplied evidence identifies each by path, purpose, and byte count:

The manifest says the files were loaded; this analysis cannot independently verify their contents against the paths. All 4 games listed in the diagnosis are reviewed, matching games_reviewed: 4, expected_games: 4, and the coverage matrix’s 4/4 counts for structural audits, deep audits, continuous-learning games, canonical artifacts, and starter comparisons.

Gaps and internal inconsistencies to retain in the record:

2. Executive diagnosis

Winner accuracy

The slate went 3/4 (75%), with one miss, TB@NYY. This exceeds the supplied walk-forward accuracy of 0.570149 and historical winner accuracy of 0.600414, but four games do not establish improved performance. The cross-slate winner-accuracy trend is explicitly flat, with mean 0.7381 over the reported series.

A correct winner is not evidence that the score or confidence was good. Three games had the correct winner but substantial run errors.

Calibration quality

The four-game confidence bucket reports average confidence 0.5228, hit rate 0.75, and signed bucket calibration error −0.2272, labeled underconfident under the stated convention (published confidence minus observed hit rate). Its weighted absolute calibration error is 0.2272. That is a large single-slate mismatch, but the bucket contains only four games and the causal register explicitly says not to change calibration on this slate alone.

The reported published pick-side confidence values average approximately 0.528; the bucket’s 0.5228 matches the average of the displayed home probabilities (including probabilities below 0.5), not the average pick-side confidence. The signed-error definition is stated, but the confidence convention underlying that bucket is not fully clear. The conclusion is still poor slate-level alignment, not a reliable direction for a global curve.

Score accuracy

Published team-run MAE is 2.375 and total-run MAE is 3.75 across four games. Team-run absolute errors are 5, 5, 7, and 2. Predicted margins are compressed: 1, 2, 1, and 1 runs, versus actual margins of 6, 3, 2, and 1. The holdout run-model R² values are near zero: home 0.002143, away 0.030936, total 0.002415. Exact score outputs therefore have weak demonstrated signal.

Starter accuracy

All four games have starter comparisons in starter_lines, with identity matches true. The starter outcomes were mixed: CLE’s Daniel Espino allowed one earned run in two outs against a 3-ER projection, while TB’s Max Fried allowed four ER against a 2-ER projection. These comparisons do not show a uniform slate-wide starter miss, and the conspicuous Espino result is identified as an outlier/variance event. The diagnosis does not support tuning starter weights from this slate alone.

Artifact integrity

No supplied game structural audit has critical, error, or warning findings; all four are PASS, and the game diagnostic says the forecast file was clean. Coverage is complete for the four games. These facts argue against a saved-score artifact causing the TB miss. They do not resolve the internal MIL@SD probability-side contradiction or the missing TB player join. The latter are evidence/contract-quality issues to address in reporting and trace validation.

Causal issue register: reconciliation of every entry

No critical or error item appears in the causal register. The separate internal probability-label inconsistency is an evidence/contract issue discussed in section 6.

3. Every game

“Home-minus-away edge” below is the supplied signed system edge, not a probability distance from 50%. A 0.12 signed home-away edge is moderate, not a near coin flip. Runs and starter lines are the supplied projections and outcomes; no missing player results are inferred.

CLE@CHW

LAD@ATL

MIL@SD

TB@NYY

4. Miss reconstruction

TB@NYY: earliest wrong-direction evidence and attribution

The earliest explicitly supplied pregame evidence already favored the result that lost: season edge +0.1757, recent edge +0.182, and composite home edge +0.2909 all favored NYY; pitcher edge was only −0.0142 for the home side. The confidence trace then reports governed probability 0.5665 for the home pick, and the published home probability remains 0.544016. The system therefore did not merely miss on a nominal 0.50 selection: its published lean was for NYY at a 0.088 home-away edge.

The probability fields are not fully ordered transparently: the trace governor input is 0.521431, but the governed output is 0.5665; the separate lineage raw-model field is 0.6185. The named calibration/governor, score-coherence, and recency stages are recorded, so the supplied evidence does not justify calling the calibrated-to-published movement a bypass. It does justify checking the mapping and semantics of the multiple raw fields.

Attribution by category:

Pipeline-stage quality across all stages and transitions

All stages are measured against official final scores; positive deltas versus historical_ml are regressions.

StageWinner hitsWinner accuracyTeam-run MAETotal-run MAEMargin MAEChange in winner direction
historical_ml3/40.751.88983.75942.6745Baseline
variance_applied2/40.501.8753.752.75MIL: MIL → TIE
enhanced_prediction2/40.502.03.03.0MIL: TIE → SD
kpi_layer2/40.502.03.03.0No change
embedded_savant_run_environment2/40.502.1253.252.75No change
fundamental_edge_target_review3/40.752.3753.752.25MIL: SD → MIL
capped_target3/40.752.3753.752.25No change
simulation_result3/40.752.3753.752.25No change
published_final3/40.752.3753.752.25No change

The historical → variance transition regressed winner accuracy by one hit (−0.25) on MIL@SD; its team-run MAE improved only 0.0148. The next stage changed MIL from tie to SD without restoring the correct direction. The embedded-Savant-to-fundamental-review transition later flipped MIL from SD to MIL and restored the slate to 3/4. That recovery does not erase the intermediate regression. From fundamental review onward, the score and winner did not change through publication; simulation produced no winner intervention.

Team-run MAE ended 0.4852 worse than historical ML, despite margin MAE improving 0.4245. Total-run MAE finished essentially unchanged from the historical baseline (3.75 versus 3.7594). This is not a consistent score-quality improvement.

5. Cross-game counterfactuals

Every supplied lever_tension entry:

  1. score.variance_multiplier / score.variance_floor (widen run distributions), targets Brier/calibration
  2. Helps: none identified.
  3. Hurts: none identified.
  4. Evidence: 0 helped vs 0 hurt. There were no high-conviction games and no high-raw cluster. This slate does not demonstrate that widening distributions would improve particular games. A bounded shadow test is defensible only because of the persistent calibration pattern, not because this entry shows a per-game win.
  1. player.pitcher.v4 form weights / player.pitcher_prior_games, targets starter ER/outs MAE
  2. Helps: none identified.
  3. Hurts: none identified.
  4. Evidence: 0 helped vs 0 hurt. CLE’s Espino outlier and TB’s Fried miss pull in different directions; neither establishes a systematic starter-weight change.
  1. recent.* / season.* run-mean weighting
  2. Helps: CLE@CHW (team runs off by 5), LAD@ATL (off by 5), MIL@SD (off by 7).
  3. Hurts: TB@NYY (team runs already close, off by 2; reweighting risks disturbing it).
  4. Evidence: 3 helped vs 1 hurt on run error. This supports testing the run-mean weighting against run-error metrics, but not a claimed winner-accuracy improvement or an unqualified live change; the data do not specify a direction or which sub-weight to alter.

Tempting one-game fixes to reject:

6. Data and contract defects

Audit findings and severity counts

Specific contract and data issues

  1. MIL probability-side label inconsistency: lineage says home side/pick 0.505; game score, displayed edge, and diagnostic home probability imply away MIL is the pick at 0.505. Treat as an evidence/contract error requiring label validation. The contradictory label should not be silently used in calibration summaries.
  2. Probability-field semantics: lineage’s separate raw-model probability differs from the governor input/trace raw pick value for all four games. The named stages explain the calibrated/governed and calibrated-to-published changes at a high level, but the raw-field definitions and transition ordering should be explicit.
  3. probability_reversions incomplete event identification: one blend-stage flip is reported, but games is empty. No game can be named from this field, so it is not possible to check that flip against the per-game trace.
  4. TB player join gap: no per-player actuals joined for TB@NYY. This is a forensic coverage gap for player causality, not a demonstrated score artifact defect.
  5. Calibration bucket convention: the reported average 0.5228 matches the mean of the displayed home probabilities, while the prediction outcomes are pick-side outcomes. Because the bucket’s confidence convention is not fully described and MIL is mislabeled, its summary should be interpreted cautiously.

Complete pick-side probability lineage

Values below preserve the supplied lineage. “Governor input” corresponds to the trace’s raw pick probability; the separate raw-model field is also shown so the distinction is visible.

GameSeparate raw modelGovernor input → output / calibratedScore coherence → publishedRecency / recorded transformation
CLE@CHW0.58460.555841 → 0.5486 / 0.54860.548621 → 0.535129Guardrail applied; named score coherence then matchup-recency
LAD@ATL0.50970.535236 → 0.5084 / 0.50840.508443 → 0.507177Guardrail applied; published value recorded as matching calibrated/governed value
MIL@SD0.50000.524296 → 0.505 / 0.5050.505 → 0.505No guardrail; published equals calibrated. Side label conflicts with game record.
TB@NYY0.61850.521431 → 0.5665 / 0.56650.566481 → 0.544016Guardrail applied; named score coherence then matchup-recency

All four lineage entries say unexplained_material_delta: false. Calibrated-to-published movements are recorded as score-coherence and/or recency transformations; the TB material movement is therefore not called a bypass. The audit register specifically says TB’s published value being above a calibrated one is not a governor bypass when the recorded transformations explain it. The raw-model/governor-input distinction and the absent numeric recency factors remain trace-clarity issues, not established unrecorded bypasses.

7. Cross-slate persistence

Cross-slate findings and escalation status

The report includes 10 prior slates and an 11-slate trend window. Finding streaks:

FindingConsecutive slatesPresent now?Persistence interpretation
pipeline_winner_instability1YesCurrent-slate regression; not an established multi-slate streak.
score_margin_compression0NoIncidence in window is 4, but it is not current and has no present streak.
simulation_inert_on_slate11YesEscalated, established failure pattern; do not dismiss as single-slate noise.
single_slate_calibration_instability5YesEscalated persistent calibration pattern.
weak_run_model_signal5YesEscalated persistent near-zero run-signal pattern.

For every escalated finding:

The self-assessment separately records run_model_near_zero_signal, with total/home/away R² 0.002415/0.002143/0.030936, as an operator action. This agrees with the escalated weak-run-signal finding rather than adding a reason for a nightly parameter adjustment.

Structural cross-slate evidence

Metric trends and top-confidence-pick streak

The trend directions are explicitly:

The top-confidence-pick loss streak is 1: the 20261005 top pick missed, 20261006 hit, and 20261007 missed. The current slate’s top-confidence pick is therefore a loss but does not extend a consecutive loss streak from 20261005 because a hit intervened. Two dates in the supplied sequence are blank/unknown and should not be treated as results.

8. Adjustments for today

These are bounded proposals for shadow evaluation, not live changes. Persistence is ranked ahead of single-slate evidence. No promotion is recommended from this diagnosis alone.

  1. Persistent calibration instability — shadow confidence.empirical_max_weight upward by +0.02 absolute.
  2. Reason/rank: five consecutive slates, 8 incidences; strongest parameter-actionable persistent pattern. The registered direction is increased empirical shrinkage.
  3. Expected metrics: lower rolling Brier and lower absolute calibration error; evaluate by confidence bucket and overall, not this four-game result alone.
  4. Games/tension: no named confidence lever tension lists game-level help/harm. TB@NYY is the current miss with a lean home probability of 0.544 and should be monitored for overconfidence regressions; three of four picks hit, so do not frame this as evidence to indiscriminately suppress all confidence.
  5. Risk/gate: small shadow-only test with rolling calibration and Brier rollback monitoring. Do not infer that the change will fix TB specifically.
  1. Persistent simulation inertness — code/diagnostic action, not a parameter move.
  2. Registered target: simulation.allow_score is listed, but the finding is marked param_actionable: false; the self-assessment gives a code-level root cause.
  3. Action: inspect the simulation path so score-target realization and win-probability estimation use an independent, unsteered distribution that does not early-exit; record its contribution before/after. The supplied action describes an independent batch or closed-form run-difference distribution and a registered batch-size control.
  4. Expected metrics: first establish a non-vacuous distribution and measure team-run/total-run MAE contribution across rolling slates; do not promise a winner-accuracy gain from this slate.
  5. Games/tension: zero flip candidates across the four games; no per-game help or harm is identified in lever tension.
  6. Risk/rank: persistent 11-slate evidence warrants priority diagnostic/code work. Do not force simulation.allow_score as a tuning change in place of fixing the no-op behavior.
  1. Persistent weak run signal — isolated feature/target backtest, not a nightly parameter change.
  2. Registered levers listed: training.xgb.n_estimators, training.xgb.max_depth, training.xgb.learning_rate; finding is explicitly not parameter-actionable. The supplied action calls for a manual isolated training backtest.
  3. Action: test the shared feature contract and target with the supplied candidate feature families—source-labelled no-vig market probabilities when available, park/weather, bullpen rest/fatigue, and platoon-adjusted lineup quality—then compare same-fingerprint holdout R²; bump the model schema version if semantics change.
  4. Expected metrics: improve holdout run-target R² and out-of-sample team-/total-run error without degrading winner or calibration measures.
  5. Games/tension: CLE, LAD, and MIL have the largest team-run errors and are listed as helped by run-mean reweighting; TB is the close-score harm case. The persistent code/feature diagnosis applies slate-wide; no single listed feature is proven by these four games.
  6. Risk/rank: high scope and operator effort, but the persistent near-zero R² is stronger evidence than any one-game score adjustment. No XGBoost knob-only shadow is recommended absent an isolated feature/target comparison.
  1. Strongest single-slate structural driver — shadow score.variance_multiplier upward by 2% relative to its current value.
  2. Reason/rank: every predicted margin was at most two runs while one actual margin was six; this is a concrete current-slate compression signal. It is weaker than the persistent findings, and the associated cross-slate streak is currently zero.
  3. Expected metrics: test whether score-distribution calibration/Brier improves; do not expect a direct improvement in run-mean MAE, since widening variance does not correct a biased mean.
  4. Games/tension: the variance lever’s tension record identifies no helped and no hurt games, so no game-specific benefit is claimed. Monitor the close TB@NYY score and the three correct-winner/wrong-score games for regressions.
  5. Risk/gate: shadow only; roll back if rolling Brier/calibration or score-distribution checks deteriorate. The supplied evidence does not support a live change or a larger adjustment.

No recent.* / season.* run-mean change is recommended today: its slate tension is 3 helped versus 1 hurt, but the entry does not specify the direction or sub-weight, and its clearest evidence concerns run errors rather than winners. No pitcher-weight change is recommended from this mixed slate.

9. Bottom line

Known: the slate finished 3/4, with three correct winners but materially inaccurate scores; TB@NYY was the only winner miss, despite a moderate 0.088 published home edge. The pipeline temporarily moved MIL in the wrong winner direction at variance application before later recovering. Run-model holdout signal is near zero, calibration instability and simulation inertness are persistent escalations, and the saved forecast artifacts passed the reported game-level structural checks.

Uncertain: the precise TB offensive/bullpen/player contribution, the causal source of the wrong team-run allocation, the interpretation of every raw probability field, and whether a variance change would improve outcomes. TB player actuals are missing; MIL probability-side lineage is internally inconsistent.

Safest next action for the very next slate: preserve the full probability and stage trace, add a contract check that rejects side/probability-label contradictions such as MIL@SD, and keep any calibration change in a bounded shadow experiment with rolling Brier/calibration monitoring. This addresses a concrete evidence-integrity risk without pretending that one slate identifies a winning model adjustment.