Today’s Sports Stat: February 27, 2018
The Los Angeles Dodgers enter the 2018 season with a streak of five consecutive years with 90 or more wins. They are one of only 19 teams in MLB history to win 90 or more games in five straight seasons. If they should win 90 this season, they would become only the 11th team in MLB history to win 90+ in six straight campaigns.
The New York Yankees from 1947-58 hold the record in this stat… they won 90 or more in 12 straight seasons. Second on the list are the 1904-12 Chicago Cubs that won 90+ in nine straight seasons.
Following are the 19 teams that have won 90 or more games in five straight seasons (or longer).
12-New York Yankees, 1947-58
9-Chicago Cubs, 1904-12
7-New York Yankees, 2001-07
6-New York Giants, 1908-13
6-Philadelphia A’s, 1909-14
6-Philadelphia A’s, 1927-32
6-St. Louis Cardinals, 1941-46
6-Cleveland Indians, 1950-55
6-Brooklyn Dodgers, 1951-56
6-Atlanta Braves, 1995-2000
5-Pittsburgh Pirates, 1905-09
5-New York Giants, 1933-37
5-New York Yankees, 1960-64
5-Oakland A’s, 1971-75
5-Cincinnati Reds, 1972-76
5-New York Mets, 1984-88
5-Oakland A’s, 2000-04
5-San Francisco Giants, 2000-04
5-Los Angeles Dodgers, 2013-17 (active)
Of the current 30 MLB teams, the Seattle Mariners and Miami Marlins hold the distinction of having the longest drought when it comes to 90-win seasons. Neither team has won 90 or more in a season since 2003.
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 26, 2018
LeBron James had a pair of three-pointers in his team’s loss to San Antonio on Sunday. Those two treys give him 101 for the season, the 10th season in his career that he had 100 or more three-pointers. By reaching that milestone, he became the 14th player in NBA history with 10 or more seasons with 100 or more three-pointers made.
James is one of 60 players this season that have 100 or more three-pointers. Leading the way is Houston’s James Harden with 215.
Ray Allen tops the list of most seasons with 100 or more three-pointers with 17.
Following are the 14 players who have 10 or more seasons with 100 or more threes made in a season.
17: Ray Allen
15: Reggie Miller, Paul Pierce
14: Jason Terry
13: Jamal Crawford, Kyle Korver
12: Joe Johnson
11: Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd
10: LeBron James, J.R. Smith, Peja Stojakovic, Nick Van Exel
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 24, 2018
Earlier this week the Indianapolis Colts signed their kicker, Adam Vinatieri, to a one-year contract. The 45-year-old Vinatieri will be playing in his 23rd NFL season in 2018.
The one-year deal gives Vinatieri a chance to break the all-time scoring record in the NFL. He is currently 57 points behind Morten Andersen; Andersen tallied 2,544 career points, Vinatieri has 2,487.
Vinatieri, who went to South Dakota State, is also within striking distance of breaking the record for most points scored by a player in his 40s. He is second behind George Blanda, who had 863 points at age 40 and beyond. Vinatieri has scored 735 points in his 40s.
Here is a look at the players who scored the most career points in their 20s, 30s and 40s. (Research courtesy of Pro Football Reference.com.)
Most points in their 20s
Stephen Gostkowski, 1,023
Mason Crosby, 903
Nate Kaeding, 862
Pete Stoyanovich, 859
Jason Hanson, 857
Most points in their 30s
David Akers, 1,225
Matt Stover, 1,141
Jason Elam, 1,137
Gary Anderson, 1,118
Matt Bryant, 1,082
Most points in their 40s
George Blanda, 863
Adam Vinatieri, 735
Morten Andersen, 704
John Carney, 629
Gary Anderson, 589
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 23, 2018
Last season in Major League Baseball 41 different players hit 30 or more home runs. Pretty impressive, right?
Look, however, at some of the other numbers in each player’s stat line from last season; specifically, look at how many strikeouts each of these 41 players had in 2017.
Of the 41 players with 30 or more home runs last season, 36 of them struck out 100 or more times, and 14 of them had 150 or more strikeouts for the season. It seems that we are seeing more and more of the “all-or-nothing” power hitter in today’s game, especially over the past 10 years or so.
Here are the five players last season who hit 30 or more home runs and had less than 100 strikeouts.
Joey Votto, 36 HRs, 83 strikeouts
Anthony Rizzo, 32 HRs, 90 strikeouts
Mike Trout, 33 HRs, 90 strikeouts
Francisco Lindor, 33 HRs, 93 strikeouts
Mike Moustakas, 38 HRs, 94 strikeouts
The fewest strikeouts of any player in MLB history who had 30 or more home runs in a season is 13… yes, only 13. In 1941, Joe DiMaggio hit 30 home runs and had only 13 strikeouts that season.
Since 1901, there have been only 76 times that a batter had 30 or more home runs and less than 50 strikeouts in the same season. It’s interesting to note, however, that only five of those times have come since 2000, and only once has it happened in the last decade. Those five:
Moises Alou, 2000, 30 HRs, 45 strikeouts
Barry Bonds, 2002, 46 HRs, 47 strikeouts
Barry Bonds, 2004, 45 HRs, 41 strikeouts
Vladimir Guerrero, 2005, 32 HRs, 48 strikeouts
Victor Martinez, 2014, 32 HRs, 42 strikeouts
One final note: Only once in MLB history has a player hit 50 or more home runs with less than 50 strikeouts that season. It happened in 1947 when Johnny Mize had 51 home runs and only 42 strikeouts.
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 22, 2018
Rudy Tomjanovich is one of 13 finalists for the 2018 class of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Tomjanovich is one of those unique candidates in that he not only had a stellar playing career (he was a five-time All-Star with the Houston Rockets), but he was also a very successful NBA head coach winning a pair of NBA championships with the Rockets.
There are 31 NBA coaches who have 500 or more career wins; Tomjanovich is one of those coaches with 527 career victories. Of those 31 coaches, 19 were also NBA players. Of those 19 players, only five of them had 500 or more career coaching wins and scored 10,000 or more points as an NBA player. Again, Tomjanovich is one of those five men.
Following are the five NBA coaches who had 500 or more wins and scored 10,000 or more points as an NBA player.
Lenny Wilkens, 1,332 coaching wins, 17,772 points scored
Jerry Sloan, 1,221 coaching wins, 10,571 points scored
Don Nelson, 1,335 coaching wins, 10,898 points scored
Gene Shue, 784 coaching wins, 10,068 points scored
Rudy Tomjanovich, 527 coaching wins, 13,383 points scored
(Note: Of the five men listed above, Wilkens, Sloan and Nelson are already in the Hall of Fame.)
It doesn’t look like we’ll be adding any men to the above list in the near future. Of the active coaches with 400 or more career wins, two (Erik Spoelstra and Alvin Gentry) did not play in the NBA, while the other coach, Scott Brooks, has 420 coaching wins, but scored only 3,317 points in his NBA career.
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