Today’s Sports Stat: March 26, 2018
LeBron James last night became the third player in NBA history to have 2,000 or more points in 10 or more seasons. James joins Karl Malone (12 2,000-point seasons) and Michael Jordan (11 2,000-point seasons) on this exclusive list,.
It’s interesting to note that while James has amassed 10 2,000-point seasons since he came in the league in 2003-04, there are a handful of NBA franchises that have not had a 2,000-point scorer on their team in a very, very long time.
The Memphis Grizzlies franchise has not had a 2,000-point scorer in their career. The closest they got was in 1997-98 when Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 1,829 points, the franchise record.
Here is a look at the teams that have not had a 2,000-point scorer this century. (Current franchise city is noted.)
Last year with a 2,000-point scorer
Never: Memphis
1979-80: Los Angeles Clippers (World B. Free)
1989-90: Indiana (Reggie Miller)
1992-93: Atlanta (Dominique Wilkins)
1996-97: Charlotte (Glen Rice)
1996-97: Sacramento (Mitch Richmond)
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: March 24, 2018
In less than a week the 2018 MLB regular season begins. Getting off to a good start can be very important for teams looking for success; in fact, just playing .500 or above in April is an important key to possibly making a post-season run and even a World Series title. Consider these three stats:
- Of the eight teams that won the World Series since 2010, seven had a winning percentage above .570 in April the year they won the championship.
- Of the 16 teams that won the A.L. or N.L. pennant since 2010, 14 had an April winning percentage above .500 that season.
- Of the 76 teams that made the playoffs since 2010, 56 of them (just under 74%) had an April winning percentage above .500.
Two teams in particular seem to have this April thing figured out, especially this decade. The New York Yankees are the only team of the 30 MLB teams to have a winning percentage above .500 in seven of the eight Aprils since 2010. Their only sub .500 April this decade was an 8-14 record (.364) in 2016.
(Note: For the sake of this article, regular season games played in March are considered April games.)
Over in the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals have been above .500 in six of the eight Aprils since 2010. Even more impressive is that in the two seasons they were not above .500 this decade, 2016 and 2017, they were 12-12, exactly .500 in those two Aprils.
Here’s a look at how many Aprils each of the 30 MLB teams have been above .500 since 2010.
7: Yankees
6: Cardinals
5: Mets, Nationals, Rangers, Rockies, Royals, Tigers
4: Dodgers, Giants, Orioles, Rays, Red Sox
3: Angels, A’s, Braves, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Indians, Phillies, Pirates, Reds
2: Astros, Brewers, Marlins, Twins, White Sox
1: Blue Jays, Mariners, Padres
For the record, the Yankees have the best April record over the past eight seasons. They were 110-77 (.588) from 2010-17. They are followed by the Cardinals at 114-82 (.582) and the Nationals at 111-86 (.563).
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: March 19, 2018
How does your bracket look? The NCAA men’s tourney is set with the “Sweet 16.”
Included in the 16 teams remaining in the tourney are four teams who were seeded from #8 to #16. The four: #9 seeds Kansas State and Florida State, and #11 seeds Loyola-Illinois and Syracuse.
Will anyone of these four make it to the Final Four? Based on past history, there have been 11 teams seeded from #8-#16 that have made it to the Final Four since 1979 when the tournament went to the current seeded system.
Here’s a look at the teams seeded #8 through #16 that have made it to the Final Four since 1979.
1979: #9 seed Pennsylvania
1980: #8 seed UCLA
1985: #8 seed Villanova
2000: #8 seed North Carolina and #8 seed Wisconsin
2006: #11 seed George Mason
2011: # 8 seed Butler and #11 VCU
2013: #9 seed Wichita State
2014: #8 seed Kentucky
2016: #10 seed Syracuse
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stat: March 17, 2018
Now that the Philadelphia Eagles have won their first Super Bowl, when will they win their second one? Could they go back-to-back? Or, will they sit on one Super Bowl victory for many years?
Let’s take a look with a little historical perspective to try to explore the above questions. First, the Eagles, by winning Super Bowl #52, became the 20th NFL franchise (of the 32) to win a Super Bowl. Of those 20, 12 have won two or more Super Bowls and eight have won just one. That means that 12 of the current franchises have never won a Super Bowl; of those 12, four have never even made it to the Super Bowl… Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Jacksonville.
Of the 12 franchises that have won two or more Super Bowls, let’s focus on when they won their first Super Bowl and when they won their second:
- Four teams won their first and second Super Bowls in back-to-back years… Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Denver and Miami.
- Five teams won their first and second Super Bowls within six years of each other… New England (two years), San Francisco (three years), New York Giants (four years), the Raiders (four years), Washington (five years), Dallas (six years).
- Two teams won their first and second Super Bowls more than 10 years from each other… Colts (36 years), Ravens (12 years).
It was mentioned above that the Eagles are now one of eight franchises that has won one Super Bowl. Here’s a look at when the other seven franchises won their one and only Super Bowl.
New York Jets (won Super Bowl #3)
Kansas City Chiefs (won Super Bowl #4)
Chicago (won Super Bowl #20)
Rams (won Super Bowl #34)
Tampa Bay (won Super Bowl #37)
New Orleans (won Super Bowl #44)
Seattle (won Super Bowl #48)
What does all this mean? The 12 teams that have won multiple Super Bowls won their first and second Super Bowls within an average of about six years. Take away the Rams 36-year wait for their second Super Bowl title and the average wait for Super Bowl win #2 averages just over three years.
The Eagles could, however, go the route of the Jets and Chiefs and spend nearly a half-century waiting for their second Super Bowl crown.
When will the Eagles win (or will they ever win) their second Super Bowl? There is no secret formula we can plug in. As someone once said, “That’s why they play the games.”
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Today’s Sports Stats: March 13, 2018
Can Chase Anderson end an “ugly” trend that has affected the Milwaukee Brewers over the past four seasons?
It was announced yesterday that Anderson will be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the Brew Crew this season. It is certainly an honor that Anderson deserves.
The problem, however, is that Brewers’ Opening Day starting pitchers over the last four seasons have gone on to have less-than-stellar seasons in the year they started Game One.
Anderson is the fifth different Opening Day starting pitcher for the Brewers in the last five years. The others: Yovani Gallardo (2014), Kyle Lohse (2015), Wily Peralta (2016) and Junior Guerra (2017).
The trend is that these last four pitchers mentioned in the previous paragraph had losing records that season they got the nod to start Opening Day: Gallardo went 8-11 in 2014; Lohse was 5-13 in 2015; Peralta ended 2016 at 7-11; and last year, Guerra ended the year with a 1-4 record. Needless to say, the Brewers are hopeful that Anderson can break this disturbing trend.
Looking back to the 18 Opening Day starting pitchers for the Brewers since 2000, there were only seven seasons where the Opening Day starting pitcher ended the year with a winning record. Gallardo was the O.D. starter each year from 2010-2013 and ended each of those four years with winning records. Ben Sheets was the team’s O.D. starter in 2005, 2007 and 2008 and ended those three years with more wins than losses. (Note: Doug Davis was the starter in 2006 and ended that year with an 11-11 record.)
The Brewers since 2000 have started nine different Opening Day starting pitchers…
Steve Woodard, 2000
Jamey Wright, 2001
Ben Sheets, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
Doug Davis, 2006
Jeff Suppan, 2009
Yovani Gallardo, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Kyle Lohse, 2015
Wily Peralta, 2016
Junior Guerra, 2017
The above nine pitchers went a combined 179-183 in the years they were the O.D. starting pitcher for the Brewers, a .494 winning percentage. The best season of the O.D. starters since 2000 was Sheets in 2007; he was the O.D. starter that year and ended the season with a 12-5 record (.706 winning percentage). The worst was Steve Woodard in 2000; he was the O.D. starter in 2000 and ended that year with a 1-7 (.125 winning percentage) for the Brewers.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
Sports Stats 'on Tapp' 