Error converting string, '2015-08-23', to date - sql-server

Question

I am trying to clean my data prior to loading into PowerBI to create the visuals. I have created my query as:
CREATE VIEW Project2 AS (
Select
p.playerID as ID1,
p.birthYear,
p.birthMonth,
p.birthDay,
p.birthCity,
p.deathYear,
p.nameFirst,
p.nameLast,
p.nameGiven,
p.weight,
p.bats,
p.throws,
p.finalGame,
b.*
from dbo.People as p
LEFT JOIN dbo.Batting as b
ON p.playerID=b.playerID
and b.G >= 50
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or p.finalGame >= 2018));
This works great until attempting to load the view into PowerBI I get this error:
DataSource.Error: Microsoft SQL: Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '2015-08-23' to data type int.
Details:
DataSourceKind=SQL
DataSourcePath=laptop-o4rhi9q7;Baseball
Message=Conversion failed when converting the varchar value '2015-08-23' to data type int.
ErrorCode=-2146232060
Number=245
Class=16
I can't figure out where /how to utilize cast(p.finalGame as date) in correct syntax, any ideas?

Answer 1

You must use a proper date literal for this, which means it must be enclosed in quotes, and ideally use a non-ambiguous format
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or p.finalGame >= '20180101'));
If finalGame is actuall varchar you would need to convert it using an appropriate conversion type. For example
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or CONVERT(date, p.finalGame, 102) >= '20180101'));
That may not be the correct format number, the full list is here.
I urge you to change the column type to date in the first place.

Answer 2

If the data for p.finalGame = '2015-08-23', you'll need to cast that as a date in your WHERE clause.
CREATE VIEW Project2 AS (
Select
p.playerID as ID1,
p.birthYear,
p.birthMonth,
p.birthDay,
p.birthCity,
p.deathYear,
p.nameFirst,
p.nameLast,
p.nameGiven,
p.weight,
p.bats,
p.throws,
p.finalGame,
b.*
from dbo.People as p
LEFT JOIN dbo.Batting as b
ON p.playerID=b.playerID
and b.G >= 50
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or cast(p.finalGame as DATE) >= 2018));

Answer 3

Based on the error message, you date appears to be a string of the form 'yyyy-mm-dd', not a true date type or an integer year. I believe your fix is to quote your year. Either
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or p.finalGame >= '2018');
or
WHERE (p.finalGame is null or p.finalGame >= '2018-01-01');
If your year is a variable, convert it to a string with something like CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), #Year). (This assumes a 4 digit value.)
As already noted, a better approach (if you have the ability to change the schema) is to redefine finalGame as a true DATE or DATETIME type. Then you could compare p.finalGame >= '2018-01-01' or p.finalGame >= DATEFROMPARTS(#Year, 1, 1).