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Were sports fans forced to accept mediocrity in 2006?

After the World Series there was a lot written about whether the Cardinals were the worst World Series champ ever. (Example A and B) What I haven’t seen written is historically how did last year’s other champions the Steelers and Heat rank. This got me thinking were the Stealers, Heat, and Cardinals collectively the worst combination of championship teams ever?  My suspicions were that based on the aggregate winning percentage of the three teams last year would rank as either the worst year of champions of nearly the worst.

To test out my hypothesis I looked at the NFL, NBA, and MLB league results since 1990 and here is what I found.  Obviously the Cardinals had the worst record of any Word Series winning baseball team over the period.  They finished the season at 83-78, since 1990 the second worst team record wise to win the World Series was the 2000 New York Yankees 87-74.  In the NFL the 11-5 Steelers and the 2002 New England Patriots were the only teams with 5 losses to win the Super Bowl since 1990.  And in the NBA last year’s Miami Heat were only surpassed in losses by the 1995 Houston Rockets.

A look at overall records bears out that 2006 was collectively the worst year for champions since 1990. Furthermore by examining the composite winning percentages it becomes clear that not only was last year the worst but it was significantly worse than any other year over the period.

Yearly Aggregate Winning Percentages ordered from worst to best
Year/MLB/NFL/NBA Average
—————————————
2006 .516/.687/.634 Avg = .612
2001 .568/.750/.683 Avg = .667
2002 .611/.687/.707 Avg = .668
1995 .625/.812/.573 Avg = .670
2003 .562/.750/.732 Avg = .681
1990 .562/.875/.646 Avg = .694
1993 .586/.812/.695 Avg = .697
2005 .611/.875/.646 Avg = .710
2004 .605/.875/.659 Avg = .713
1991 .586/.812/.744 Avg = .714 
2000 .540/.812/.817 Avg = .723
1994 (No Champ)/.750/.707 Avg = .729
1996 .568/.750/.878 Avg = .732
1998 .704/.750/.756 Avg = .737
1997 .568/.812/.841 Avg = .740
1999 .605/.875/.740 Avg = .740
1992 .593/.875/.817 Avg = .761

MLB
—————————————
1990 Cincinnati Reds 91-71 .562
1991 Minnesota Twins 95-67 .586
1992 Toronto Blue Jays 96-66 .593
1993 Toronto Blue Jays 95-67 .586
1994 No World Series
1995 Atlanta Braves 90-54 .625
1996 New York Yankees 92-70 .568
1997 Florida Marlins 92-70 .568
1998 New York Yankees 114-48 .704
1999 New York Yankees 98-64 .605
2000 New York Yankees 87-74 .540
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks 92-70 .568
2002 Anaheim Angels 99-63 .611
2003 Florida Marlins 91-71 .562
2004 Boston Red Sox 98-64 .605
2005 Chicago White Sox 99-63 .611
2006 St. Louis Cardinals 83-78 .516

NFL (Year listed is the year the Super Bowl occurred)
—————————————
1990 San Francisco 49ers 14-2 .875
1991 New York Giants 13-3 .812
1992 Washington Redskins 14-2 .875
1993 Dallas Cowboys 13-3 .812
1994 Dallas Cowboys 12-4 .750
1995 San Francisco 49ers 13-3 .812
1996 Dallas Cowboys 12-4 .750
1997 Green Bay Packers 13-3 .812
1998 Denver Broncos 12-4 .750
1999 Denver Broncos 14-2 .875
2000 St. Louis Rams 13-3 .812
2001 Baltimore Ravens 12-4 .750
2002 New England Patriots 11-5 .687
2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12-4 .750
2004 New England Patriots 14-2 .875
2005 New England Patriots 14-2 .875
2006 Pittsburgh Steelers 11-5 .687

NBA
—————————————
1990 Detroit Pistons 59-23 .646
1991 Chicago Bulls 61-21 .744
1992 Chicago Bulls 67-15 .817
1993 Chicago Bulls 57-25 .695
1994 Houston Rockets 58-24 .707
1995 Houston Rockets 47-35 .573
1996 Chicago Bulls 72-10 .878
1997 Chicago Bulls 69-13 .841
1998 Chicago Bulls 62-20 .756
1999 Sam Antonio Spurs 37-13 .740
2000 Los Angeles Lakers 67-15 .817
2001 Los Angeles Lakers 56-26 .683
2002 Los Angeles Lakers 58-24 .707
2003 San Antonio Spurs 60-22 .732
2004 Detroit Pistons 54-28 .659
2005 San Antonio Spurs 59-23 .646
2006 Miami Heat 52-30 .634
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 2:02 pm and is filed under MLB, NBA, NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.