Do the best teams always win in sports?

Miakal

I don't claim to be a major sports fan. In fact, I generally have no idea what's going on with any of it.

However, it seems to me that there is one thing that is true about pro sports: the team who wins the Championship is not always the best team out of the entire league.

How often is it just random or dumb luck that one team wins and not another? Is it really the best team out of the league?

In the 50s a professor pretty much proved that major league baseball championship wins are random, that you can't tell in seven games who the best team truly is.

Furthermore, look at the NFL. Like MLBA the NFL usually produces "one" of the top teams as the champion but there's always doubt cast on if it's legit.

These two questions have always bothered me.

How can you tell who the best team is in 16 games? That's not a season. I understand that the nature of football won't allow for many more games but the point is that you can't really determine who the best team is in 16 games.

And then you have the playoffs and Superbowl. Again, you can't have tournaments in football. There really needs to be a series of sorts to determine the winner of these contests.

I mean, look at any Superbowl winner and the loser of that championship game. If placed in a best of five or even best of three situation could you say that the outcome would be the same? Not even close.

Freak

Sure, but if everything you just said wasn't at all true, there would be absolutely nothing dramatic about sports.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Actually that's what I love about the NFL...it's full of surprises.

I like the NBA but there aint no fuckin around...7 games..and the best team is gonna win.

In baseball you can get a hot pitcher and do wonders...Look at the Marlins last year. They had no business beating the Yanks, but Josh Beckett went out and pitched his ass off in game six.

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

But over the course of 162 games, you guarantee that only quality teams make the playoffs. Even if the Marlins were the worst playoff team last year, that would still make them at least the 8th best team in baseball. Whereas in the NFL, you're much more likely to see a fluke team win at all, or at least advance to the Super Bowl (Carolina last year, Falcons in 1999, etc)

TIMtationX

*angry Carolina fan* HAHAHA!!

It's here...And it owns me...It will own you too.

Quack Handle

In Football that's generally not true for league situations, but in Cup tournaments the best teams don't always win. Some recent examples for you:

Euro 2004 Winners - Greece
Champions League Winners - Porto

The Phantom

I'd go along with DDG, cup competitions in football these days are anyones for the taking.

Necro

VIP Room Moderator

I think that's what makes football so special. The lack of games, the science that goes into each week. I mean think about it each week they draw up plans, check out defenses, pass patterns, quarterbacks, matchups, etc. Each game is so important, and that's what makes football so watchable. It's much easier to go through 16 games than 162 or 81. Also the playoffs are exciting too because the team the plays best that particular day wins it all.

Miakal

That's my point. One game leaves for an awful lot of chance. A mis-tackle, a fumble, or even bad weather can change something as important as the outcome to the Superbowl. You may think that's just the way things go but I have troubles with that. You are not getting a National Champion, you are getting someone who came out of a dance of luck.