8 ms·

Enough of it's luck that it's unlikely that a team would go undefeated for half of a season, but it's also the fact that it's hard to get a team with only the b

by mwhite 10y ago

Enough of it's luck that it's unlikely that a team would go undefeated for half of a season, but it's also the fact that it's hard to get a team with only the best players; most teams have a mixture of player ability. If you put the best major league team in the minor leagues they'd probably have a 90%+ winning percentage. (Highest MLB season winning percentage is 76%, longest winning streak is 26 games out of 162, including a tie.)

daveguy 10y ago
Two additional points. 1) The mixture of player ability is mostly due to cost penalties for paying players a higher salary (although Yankees just pay it). Not as distributed as (american) football, but still distributed. 2) Note the longest winning streak is 26 games out of 162... out of 162. Longest basketball streak is 33 games (not enough for an undefeated 82 game season). The ability to have a 162 game streak that starts on game one and lasts through the baseball season is essentially impossible. It is possible to have an undefeated season in american football where the season is 16 games (but it is rare -- hasn't happened since pre-NFL 1937, 1948). Baseball has an order of magnitude more games per season. EDIT: I knew that wasn't right (that's what I get for haphazardly scanning Wikipedia for facts). A couple others since recently 2007 Patriots and 1972 Dolphins also had undefeated seasons in NFL. Still rare, and still a fraction of the number of games. Point is: luck is only part of it, no matter the sport staying undefeated is difficult -- especially for a season when season means 162 games! Thanks for pointing out the mistake everyone. Sorry for the confusion!
- tomlor 10y ago
  2007 Patriots went 16-0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_England_Patriots_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_England_Patriots_seas...
  - datawrangler 10y ago
    The 1972 Dolphins went 14-0 and also won the Super Bowl [1].
    - cubano 10y ago
      They actually went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl.
      - datawrangler 10y ago
        I know--I was only counting the regular season. :)
  - datawrangler 10y ago
    Can't seem to edit on iPhone client, but here's the link I meant to post. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Miami_Dolphins_season https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Miami_Dolphins_season

by mwhite 10y ago

daveguy 10y ago

Two additional points. 1) The mixture of player ability is mostly due to cost penalties for paying players a higher salary (although Yankees just pay it). Not as distributed as (american) football, but still distributed. 2) Note the longest winning streak is 26 games out of 162... out of 162. Longest basketball streak is 33 games (not enough for an undefeated 82 game season). The ability to have a 162 game streak that starts on game one and lasts through the baseball season is essentially impossible. It is possible to have an undefeated season in american football where the season is 16 games (but it is rare -- hasn't happened since pre-NFL 1937, 1948). Baseball has an order of magnitude more games per season. EDIT: I knew that wasn't right (that's what I get for haphazardly scanning Wikipedia for facts). A couple others since recently 2007 Patriots and 1972 Dolphins also had undefeated seasons in NFL. Still rare, and still a fraction of the number of games. Point is: luck is only part of it, no matter the sport staying undefeated is difficult -- especially for a season when season means 162 games! Thanks for pointing out the mistake everyone. Sorry for the confusion!

tomlor 10y ago
2007 Patriots went 16-0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_England_Patriots_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_England_Patriots_seas...
- datawrangler 10y ago
  The 1972 Dolphins went 14-0 and also won the Super Bowl [1].
  - cubano 10y ago
    They actually went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl.
    - datawrangler 10y ago
      I know--I was only counting the regular season. :)
- datawrangler 10y ago
  Can't seem to edit on iPhone client, but here's the link I meant to post. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Miami_Dolphins_season https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Miami_Dolphins_season