The Spread
Two real players, one career stat. Slide to the gap between them.
How to play The Spread
- Each day has two real players and one career stat, like career RBI.
- Slide toward whichever player you think has more, out to how many more. The middle is dead even.
- Lock it in to see both real totals. Your score is how far off your guess was from the real gap: lower is better.
Tips
- Get the side right first. Picking the wrong player costs the whole real gap and then some, so it matters far more than the size.
- Don't leave the slider at dead even. A guess of zero misses by the whole gap; even a 55/45 hunch is worth committing to.
- Build each total from seasons times a typical season (30 homers a year for 12 years is about 350), then subtract.
- Career totals reward longevity. The most common miss is picking the more famous player when the other one simply played six more years.
Worked example: José Abreu vs. Mark Reynolds
A real pre-launch board: career strikeouts, José Abreu on the left, Mark Reynolds on the right.
Get the side right. Both were power hitters, but Mark Reynolds is one of the most strikeout-prone hitters ever. He holds the single-season record (223, in 2009). José Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP, made a lot of contact for a slugger. The slider goes toward Reynolds.
Then estimate the gap. Reynolds struck out close to 200 times a year at his peak. Abreu usually struck out 110 to 150 times. Their careers were about the same length (1,688 and 1,446 games), so the gap is a few hundred, probably more.
The real totals: Reynolds 1,927, Abreu 1,246. Reynolds +681. Your score is how far off you were, so lower is better:
| Guess | Score |
|---|---|
| Reynolds +681 | Spot on |
| Reynolds +600 | 81 off |
| Reynolds +500 | 181 off |
| Reynolds +300 | 381 off |
| Dead even | 681 off |
| Abreu +100 | 781 off |
Picking the wrong player costs you twice: the whole real gap, plus however far you slid the wrong way. Get the side right, then work on the size.
Questions
- What’s the best strategy for The Spread?
Pick the side first, then the size. How the scoring forgives a close miss, and the career benchmarks that turn a guess into an estimate.
Read the full strategy guide- How is it scored?
- By how far off you were, in the stat itself. If the real spread is Judge +52 and you said Judge +40, you're 12 off; if you said the other player +10, you're 62 off. Lower is better, and exactly right is spot on. The leaderboard ranks the day's smallest misses first.
- Which players and stats?
- Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer, with the same career totals as The Player Stack. Both players are in the top tenth of their sport at that day's stat, so they're known for it.
- When does a new puzzle come out?
- Every day at midnight Pacific time. Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle, so you can compare results with friends.
- Can I play past puzzles?
- Yes. Every past day is in the archive. Sign in with a free account to play the last 7 days, or go Premium for every past puzzle. Archive games don't count toward your streak or the daily leaderboard. Replay a day as often as you like: the archive keeps your best score.
Something else on your mind?