Even Though a Brave was the MVP, a Win's a Win for the NL
Thirteen games. Over a decade. However you want to slice it, it's been a long time since the National League won the All-Star game, but they did it Tuesday night, finally beating the American League 3-1.
Not since 1996 has the National League won the All-Star game. Yeah, that's a long time (wait, we're not talking that long, ouch!). But before American League fans get all high and mighty, all it takes is a quick look at the total series score to realize something's a-miss. Yes, the American League has won 12 out of 13 games (a tie in '02 breaks up those streaks). That's, in essence, 12 games in a row. There have been 79 All-Star games that haven't ended in a tie (ties in '02 and '61, no game in '45 cause of WWII, 2 All-Star games in '59, '60, '61, and '62). So, considering the American League has won 12 of the 79 total in a row, you would think the American League is running away with total wins in the Mid-Summer Classic, right? I think we all know the answer to those types of questions...
The National League currently leads the American League 41-38-2. That implies that with the American League finishing up a streak, in order to create the current series record the National League must have had at least one sort of a streak before right? Are All-Star games typically won in streaks? Are there any hidden curses in these streaks?
Wait...just...one...second. Do you know what time it is? I know you've missed it, I know you've wanted it. It's been too long! It's time for everybody's favorite posts!
Ok, ok, ok. Let's all calm down. Let's start with some basic statistics:
Total Wins
National League: 41
American League: 38
But how many of those have been part of a streak, given that a "streak" is at least 3 wins in a row?
Note: considering that one tie happened in the middle of a National League win streak and the other tie happened in the middle of an American League streak, I treated the two ties as if the games weren't played.
Total Wins During "Win Streak"
National League: 30, or 73.17% of all National League wins
American League: 28, or 73.68% of all American League wins
Yeah, that's pretty shocking. Both teams only attained barely over a quarter of their wins when it wasn't part of a streak. Good news for the National League.
But cmon, I can't stop there, right? I love how having pitchers bat adds a whole slew of strategy to the game. I hate the DH. And small ball and pitching
The All-Star game has now stretched into its 9th decade. Considering the first ever game in 1933 was the "first of the 30's", look at the following which shows how the team that won the first game of the decade performed in that decade:
Winner of 1933 Game: American. Decade Performance: 5-2
Winner of 1940 Game: National. Decade Performance: 2-7
Winner of 1950 Game: National. Decade Performance: 7-4
Winner of 1960 Game: National. Decade Performance: 11-1
Winner of 1970 Game: National. Decade Performance: 9-1
Winner of 1980 Game: National. Decade Performance: 6-4
Winner of 1990 Game: American. Decade Performance: 7-3
Winner of 2000 Game: American. Decade Performance: 9-0
That's right, teams that won the first game of a new decade ended up with a 56-22 record. With this year demonstrating that pitching dominance may be making a comeback, and with the National League getting off to a strong start in a typically streaky series, can we proclaim National League dominance in the near future? Or is this just the whims of an NL fan who feels his league is due?
Bonus question: 2 games from '59-'62, what up wit dat?
Bold prediction: NATS win World Series in 5 games. And Strasburg pitches all 5.
ReplyDeleteWas it a pitching "dual" cause there were two pitchers dueling?
ReplyDeleteThe decade is a pretty arbitrary cut-off point though, considering nothing especially noteworthy happens between, say 1989 and 1990 that doesn't happen between say, 1991 and 1992. If that doesn't make any sense, I'm calling your statistic unnecessarily random.
Perhaps it's more interesting to see how teams have fared after breaking up the other's streak. And particularly any "long" streaks.
Which is more likely, that the National League streaks and does quite well this decade, or that the American League starts streaking (insert picture of naked guy running across field, perhaps)again next year or the year after?
I mean, the AL was rampantly in charge of the first two decades, the NL the next 5 and the AL the last two. These trends (though not complete streaks) seem more than a decade long. ONly time will tell whether the AL has relinquished it's hold, or if they simply stumbled to give you false hope and keep you coming back in droves for at least the next nine years.