ParseForge
ESPN Standings Scraper
parseforge/espn-standings-scraper
SportsNews & mediaOther
Scrapes ESPN standings and scoreboards for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS. Returns each team or game as a flat row with win-loss records, win percentages, games back, streaks, and playoff seeds.
- Total users
- 4
- Monthly active
- 3
- Total runs
- 108
- Bookmarked
- 1
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 12 days ago
Overview
ESPN Standings Scraper
Scrape ESPN standings and scoreboards for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS. Get win-loss records, win percentages, games back, streaks, and playoff seeds in one flat table. No API key or browser needed. Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.
ESPN's public pages hold the standings and daily scores for every major American league, but there is no clean way to pull them into a spreadsheet or database. This Actor reads the standings and scoreboard pages directly, so you get the same numbers you see on the site, already parsed into rows. Pick a league, choose standings or today's scoreboard, and set a season if you need a past year.
| Who uses it | What they scrape ESPN for |
|---|---|
| Sports analysts | Pull current standings to track playoff races and seedings. |
| Fantasy sports players | Grab daily scoreboards to update player and team performance. |
| Data journalists | Collect season standings for stories on team performance. |
| Betting modelers | Feed win-loss records and streaks into predictive models. |
| App developers | Populate a sports app with live standings and scores. |
What it does
This Actor collects ESPN standings tables or daily scoreboards for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS, and returns each team or game as a flat row.
- 🏈 Five major leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS, each with its own standings format.
- 📊 Standings or scoreboard: Choose the season table or today's games and scores.
- 📅 Season selector: Leave empty for the current season, or enter a year like 2024 for historical data.
- 🔢 Row limit: Set maxItems to cap how many teams or games you collect per run.
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with ESPN data
📈 Track playoff races.
A sports analyst runs the Actor daily for NBA standings to see which teams are climbing into playoff seeds.
🏆 Update a fantasy league dashboard.
A fantasy commissioner pulls the NFL scoreboard every Sunday to refresh player points and matchup results.
📰 Report on team streaks.
A data journalist collects MLB standings with win streaks to write about which teams are hot or cold.
🎲 Feed a betting model.
A bettor scrapes NHL standings and scoreboards to compute win probabilities and goal differentials.
📱 Power a sports app.
A developer schedules the Actor to fetch MLS standings each morning and sync them to a mobile app.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key | Reads ESPN's public pages directly, no registration or OAuth. |
| Flat output | Every team or game becomes one row with consistent columns. |
| Current or past | Get today's standings or any season back to the league's history. |
| Five leagues | One Actor covers NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS. |
How it compares
This Actor focuses on standings and scoreboards for five major leagues, while the competitors below offer broader ESPN data or AI integration.
| Feature | ParseForge | ESPN MCP Server | ESPN Sports Scraper - Scores, Odds, Stats & Standings | ESPN Sports Scraper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standings for NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scoreboard for today's games | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Season year input for historical standings | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| No API key required | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| Flat row output for each team or game | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| MCP integration for AI assistants | Not listed | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Betting odds data | Not listed | Yes | Yes | Not listed |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor with a league, a data type, and an optional season year, and set a row limit so only the teams or games you need reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.
A first run with the defaults:
{
"maxItems": 10
}
A larger pull:
{
"maxItems": 200
}
Pricing
Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $2.10 |
| 1,000 results | $21.00 |
| 10,000 results | $210.00 |
New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.
Free users
Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.
Run it
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the ESPN Standings Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.
Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.
Use with AI agents (MCP)
Give an AI agent live access to ESPN through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/espn-standings-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Check that the league and data type are correct. If you entered a season year, make sure it is a valid season for that league. Also, ESPN may block requests from some IPs; try running again later.
The standings look different from the ESPN website.
ESPN sometimes updates its page layout. The Actor may need an update. Check the Actor's changelog or contact support.
I get an error about maxItems.
maxItems must be between 1 and 1,000,000. Set it to a reasonable number for your use case.
The scoreboard is empty.
If there are no games today for the selected league, the scoreboard will be empty. Try a different date or league.
Can I get data for a specific date?
The Actor does not support a date input for scoreboards. It always fetches today's games. For past games, use standings with a season year.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Which leagues does this Actor support? | It supports NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS. Each league has its own standings and scoreboard pages on ESPN. |
| Can I get historical standings? | Yes, enter a season year in the Season Year field, like 2024. Leave it empty to get the current season. |
| What is the difference between standings and scoreboard? | Standings returns the full season table with win-loss records, win percentages, games back, and streaks. Scoreboard returns today's games with scores and status. |
| Do I need an ESPN API key? | No, the Actor reads ESPN's public pages directly. No registration or key is required. |
| How many rows can I get per run? | You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. The default is 10, which is enough for most league standings. |
| What output formats are supported? | You can export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform. |
| Can I scrape multiple leagues in one run? | No, each run scrapes one league. You can run the Actor multiple times with different league inputs. |
| Does it include playoff standings? | The standings data includes playoff seeds and clinched status when ESPN shows them on the page. |
| Is the data live? | The Actor fetches the page at the time of the run, so it reflects what ESPN shows at that moment. |
| Can I schedule this Actor? | Yes, you can set up a schedule on Apify to run it daily or at any interval. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ESPN, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| sport | string (5 options) | Which sports league to scrape | NBA |
| dataType | string (2 options) | Standings (season standings table) or Scoreboard (today's games/scores) | standings |
| season | string | Season year (e.g. '2024'). Leave empty for current season. | not set |
| maxItems | integer | How many standings to collect per run. | 10 |
Pricing
from $19.00 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| result | Single result in the default dataset. | $0.019 to $0.021 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~espn-standings-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.