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Archive for October, 2013

NFL Team Records vs. Each Division Since 2002

24th October 2013

A user wrote in asking how many games each team has played vs. every division since the 2002 expansion set up the NFL's current 8-division alignment. Since we don't currently have that function in the Team Game Finder (though we might someday), I figured I'd just run a quick database search on the subject...

First, records vs. the AFC divisions:

+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| team_id | division  |   AFC East   |  AFC North   |  AFC South   |   AFC West   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| atl     | NFC South | 11 (6-5-0)   | 12 (7-4-1)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| buf     | AFC East  | 69 (23-46-0) | 23 (11-12-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (11-12-0) |
| car     | NFC South |  9 (3-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| chi     | NFC North | 12 (6-6-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| cin     | AFC North | 22 (6-16-0)  | 68 (32-36-0) | 23 (10-13-0) | 23 (11-12-0) |
| cle     | AFC North | 22 (12-10-0) | 68 (17-51-0) | 23 (10-13-0) | 23 (9-14-0)  |
| clt     | AFC South | 24 (13-11-0) | 23 (18-5-0)  | 67 (49-18-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| crd     | NFC West  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |  8 (3-5-0)   | 12 (2-10-0)  |
| dal     | NFC East  | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   |
| den     | AFC West  | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (18-6-0)  | 22 (9-13-0)  | 67 (39-28-0) |
| det     | NFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 10 (4-6-0)   | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (8-4-0)   |
| gnb     | NFC North | 12 (6-6-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| htx     | AFC South | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (10-14-0) | 67 (26-41-0) | 22 (11-11-0) |
| jax     | AFC South | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 67 (26-41-0) | 24 (13-11-0) |
| kan     | AFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (11-12-0) | 67 (30-37-0) |
| mia     | AFC East  | 67 (26-41-0) | 22 (7-15-0)  | 24 (8-16-0)  | 23 (16-7-0)  |
| min     | NFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   |
| nor     | NFC South | 10 (7-3-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| nwe     | AFC East  | 69 (55-14-0) | 21 (15-6-0)  | 23 (17-6-0)  | 23 (14-9-0)  |
| nyg     | NFC East  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   |
| nyj     | AFC East  | 69 (33-36-0) | 21 (9-12-0)  | 24 (14-10-0) | 23 (12-11-0) |
| oti     | AFC South | 24 (13-11-0) | 24 (13-11-0) | 67 (33-34-0) | 22 (7-15-0)  |
| phi     | NFC East  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (6-5-1)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 11 (5-6-0)   |
| pit     | AFC North | 21 (14-7-0)  | 68 (47-21-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 23 (11-12-0) |
| rai     | AFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 22 (7-15-0)  | 69 (24-45-0) |
| ram     | NFC West  | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| rav     | AFC North | 22 (13-9-0)  | 68 (40-28-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 24 (15-9-0)  |
| sdg     | AFC West  | 23 (11-12-0) | 23 (11-12-0) | 24 (18-6-0)  | 67 (42-25-0) |
| sea     | NFC West  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| sfo     | NFC West  | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| tam     | NFC South | 10 (2-8-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| was     | NFC East  | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |  9 (3-6-0)   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

And the NFC divisions:

+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| team_id | division  |   NFC East   |  NFC North   |  NFC South   |   NFC West   |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| atl     | NFC South | 23 (12-11-0) | 23 (13-10-0) | 68 (34-34-0) | 21 (15-6-0)  |
| buf     | AFC East  | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 9 (3-6-0)    | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| car     | NFC South | 24 (8-16-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 66 (34-32-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| chi     | NFC North | 22 (10-12-0) | 68 (37-31-0) | 24 (13-11-0) | 23 (12-11-0) |
| cin     | AFC North | 12 (8-3-1)   | 11 (9-2-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| cle     | AFC North | 12 (2-10-0)  | 11 (3-8-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| clt     | AFC South | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 10 (9-1-0)   |
| crd     | NFC West  | 23 (10-13-0) | 24 (10-14-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 69 (30-39-0) |
| dal     | NFC East  | 69 (35-34-0) | 20 (10-10-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  | 24 (14-10-0) |
| den     | AFC West  | 11 (8-3-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   |
| det     | NFC North | 21 (8-13-0)  | 69 (16-53-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 24 (7-17-0)  |
| gnb     | NFC North | 21 (12-9-0)  | 67 (48-19-0) | 23 (12-11-0) | 24 (17-7-0)  |
| htx     | AFC South | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 11 (4-7-0)   |
| jax     | AFC South | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (6-6-0)   | 10 (4-6-0)   |
| kan     | AFC West  | 11 (5-6-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (10-2-0)  |
| mia     | AFC East  | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| min     | NFC North | 21 (10-11-0) | 68 (35-33-0) | 24 (9-15-0)  | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| nor     | NFC South | 23 (15-8-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 68 (37-31-0) | 21 (13-8-0)  |
| nwe     | AFC East  | 12 (10-2-0)  | 12 (11-1-0)  | 11 (9-2-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   |
| nyg     | NFC East  | 68 (37-31-0) | 22 (11-11-0) | 24 (12-12-0) | 23 (15-8-0)  |
| nyj     | AFC East  | 12 (2-10-0)  | 12 (8-4-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| oti     | AFC South | 12 (8-4-0)   | 12 (7-5-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   | 10 (5-5-0)   |
| phi     | NFC East  | 69 (41-28-0) | 20 (12-8-0)  | 24 (15-9-0)  | 23 (14-9-0)  |
| pit     | AFC North | 12 (9-3-0)   | 10 (7-3-0)   | 12 (8-3-1)   | 12 (7-5-0)   |
| rai     | AFC West  | 9 (3-6-0)    | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (3-9-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   |
| ram     | NFC West  | 24 (7-17-0)  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 22 (8-14-0)  | 68 (25-42-1) |
| rav     | AFC North | 12 (8-4-0)   | 9 (4-5-0)    | 12 (6-6-0)   | 12 (9-3-0)   |
| sdg     | AFC West  | 10 (8-2-0)   | 12 (5-7-0)   | 12 (4-8-0)   | 12 (8-4-0)   |
| sea     | NFC West  | 23 (9-14-0)  | 23 (13-10-0) | 21 (12-9-0)  | 68 (42-26-0) |
| sfo     | NFC West  | 23 (8-15-0)  | 24 (12-12-0) | 20 (5-15-0)  | 69 (39-29-1) |
| tam     | NFC South | 24 (9-15-0)  | 23 (15-8-0)  | 68 (30-38-0) | 21 (10-11-0) |
| was     | NFC East  | 68 (24-44-0) | 23 (12-11-0) | 23 (8-15-0)  | 23 (16-7-0)  |
+---------+-----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+

Read the rest of this entry

Posted in Announcement, Data, Pro-Football-Reference.com, Stat Questions, Trivia | Comments Off on NFL Team Records vs. Each Division Since 2002

Search Our Stats Using the Play Index

23rd October 2013

With the 2013-14 NBA season starting next week it's time for a reminder to check out the Basketball-Reference Play Index. In case you don't already know about the PI, it's a set of research tools that allow you to create customizable queries on our database, save the results, and share them with others. With the PI, you can:

  • Use the Player Season Finder to search through all NBA, ABA, & BAA players' regular season and playoff statistics for performances that match your criteria.
  • Use the Player Game Finder to search through NBA players' regular season and playoff game logs (since 1985-86) for games matching your criteria.
  • Use the Head-to-Head Finder to search for games in which two selected players played against each other.
  • Search for player and team consecutive-game streaks that match your criteria using the Streak Finders.
  • Search for team performances that meet your criteria with the Team Season Finder and Team Game Finder.
  • Use the Draft Finder to search through every NBA/BAA draft for picks that match your criteria.
  • Use the Player Comparison Finder to compare the stats of up to four players through (or in) a given season.

Also, take a look at the Play Index Plus for even more data-searching goodness. The PI+ lets you sift through the play-by-play data of every game since 2001, making it possible to look for specific events, lineup data, and shooting stats (including clutch shots and shot breakdowns by distance).

Best of all, these features are 100% free to use! So go ahead, give them a try, and you'll wonder how you ever got along without them.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Play Index | 4 Comments »

Unique Scores in Pro Football Games

21st October 2013

As Chase notes on Twitter:

Since for some reason these always fascinate me, I found myself wondering just how often a unique score occurs. Obviously by definition, the number of them should decrease over the years as there are fewer unique scores to have, and the chart of scores per year (including the NFL, AAFC, and AFL since 1920) mostly bears that out (the blue line is the number of unique scores per year, the red line is the percentage of games resulting in a unique score in a given year):

1920 is the first year of the NFL so of course it has the highest number of unique scores at 46 (out of 90 total games played). There are spikes at 1946 and 1960 correlating to the starts of the AAFC and AFL, respectively, owing mostly to the much larger number of games. That spike you see after 1980 is the introduction of the two-point conversion in 1994, making possible a lot of scores that weren't seen previously. For example, there have been 167 times since 1940 that a game has ended with one team scoring 15 points.. and 101 of those have come since 1994.

What missing game scores are we unlikely to see any time soon? Well, according to our summary of all scores, we've only seen a team score 4 points one time ever, so it seems that it'll be a while before we remove any more X-4 scores from the list. Even a final score of 5 has been achieved a whopping 13 times since 1940, including this very unlikely 8-5 final score. Still, at nearly 15,000 games and counting, it's pretty impressive that every week brings the possibility of seeing something unique.

Posted in Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com | 2 Comments »

Worst. Monday Night Football Matchup. Ever. (By combined winning percentage)

21st October 2013

Just a quick hit of a post to let you know that tonight's MNF matchup between the 0-6 Giants and the 1-4 Vikings is, in fact, the worst ever this late in the season by combined winning percentage:

+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+
|   game_id    | home | W | L  | T | PF  | PA  | road | W | L  | T | PF  | PA  | year_id | week_num | game_date  | comb_wpct | comb_pt_diff |   winner    |
+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+
| 201310210nyg | nyg  | 0 |  6 | 0 | 103 | 209 | min  | 1 |  4 | 0 | 125 | 158 |    2013 |        7 | 10/21/2013 | .091      | -12.6        | NULL        |
| 197512150sdg | sdg  | 1 | 11 | 0 | 148 | 282 | nyj  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 221 | 378 |    1975 |       13 | 12/15/1975 | .167      | -12.1        | sdg, 24-16  |
| 199411210oti | oti  | 1 |  9 | 0 | 147 | 218 | nyg  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 171 | 220 |    1994 |       12 | 11/21/1994 | .200      | -6.0         | nyg, 13-10  |
| 197211060nwe | nwe  | 2 |  5 | 0 |  92 | 220 | clt  | 1 |  6 | 0 |  94 | 145 |    1972 |        8 | 11/6/1972  | .214      | -12.8        | clt, 24-17  |
| 197011020pit | pit  | 2 |  4 | 0 |  71 |  94 | cin  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  93 | 156 |    1970 |        7 | 11/2/1970  | .250      | -7.2         | pit, 21-10  |
| 198110190det | det  | 2 |  4 | 0 | 118 | 126 | chi  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  89 | 133 |    1981 |        7 | 10/19/1981 | .250      | -4.3         | det, 48-17  |
| 199710200clt | clt  | 0 |  6 | 0 |  88 | 155 | buf  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 122 | 159 |    1997 |        8 | 10/20/1997 | .250      | -8.7         | buf, 9-6    |
| 201211260phi | phi  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 162 | 252 | car  | 2 |  8 | 0 | 184 | 243 |    2012 |       12 | 11/26/2012 | .250      | -7.5         | car, 30-22  |
| 200001030atl | atl  | 4 | 11 | 0 | 251 | 351 | sfo  | 4 | 11 | 0 | 266 | 419 |    1999 |       17 | 1/3/2000   | .267      | -8.4         | atl, 34-29  |
| 200512190rav | rav  | 4 |  9 | 0 | 171 | 253 | gnb  | 3 | 10 | 0 | 255 | 255 |    2005 |       15 | 12/19/2005 | .269      | -3.2         | rav, 48-3   |
| 198310240crd | crd  | 2 |  5 | 0 | 137 | 218 | nyg  | 2 |  5 | 0 | 126 | 156 |    1983 |        8 | 10/24/1983 | .286      | -7.9         | tie (20-20) |
| 201112120sea | sea  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 216 | 246 | ram  | 2 | 10 | 0 | 140 | 296 |    2011 |       14 | 12/12/2011 | .292      | -7.8         | sea, 30-13  |
| 201011290crd | crd  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 188 | 292 | sfo  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 160 | 219 |    2010 |       12 | 11/29/2010 | .300      | -8.2         | sfo, 27-6   |
| 200911160cle | cle  | 1 |  7 | 0 |  78 | 209 | rav  | 4 |  4 | 0 | 206 | 154 |    2009 |       10 | 11/16/2009 | .313      | -4.9         | rav, 16-0   |
| 198011240nor | nor  | 0 | 11 | 0 | 181 | 341 | ram  | 7 |  4 | 0 | 294 | 228 |    1980 |       12 | 11/24/1980 | .318      | -4.3         | ram, 27-7   |
| 201112050jax | jax  | 3 |  8 | 0 | 138 | 200 | sdg  | 4 |  7 | 0 | 249 | 275 |    2011 |       13 | 12/5/2011  | .318      | -4.0         | sdg, 38-14  |
| 198312120tam | tam  | 2 | 12 | 0 | 212 | 345 | gnb  | 7 |  7 | 0 | 396 | 407 |    1983 |       15 | 12/12/1983 | .321      | -5.1         | gnb, 12-9   |
| 198711020dal | dal  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 135 | 134 | nyg  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  99 | 142 |    1987 |        7 | 11/2/1987  | .333      | -3.5         | dal, 33-24  |
| 199910250pit | pit  | 3 |  3 | 0 | 117 |  93 | atl  | 1 |  5 | 0 |  74 | 153 |    1999 |        7 | 10/25/1999 | .333      | -4.6         | pit, 13-9   |
| 200211180ram | ram  | 4 |  5 | 0 | 194 | 196 | chi  | 2 |  7 | 0 | 182 | 232 |    2002 |       11 | 11/18/2002 | .333      | -2.9         | ram, 21-16  |
| 200511210gnb | gnb  | 2 |  7 | 0 | 201 | 184 | min  | 4 |  5 | 0 | 154 | 228 |    2005 |       11 | 11/21/2005 | .333      | -3.2         | min, 20-17  |
| 200012040nwe | nwe  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 192 | 253 | kan  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 283 | 274 |    2000 |       14 | 12/4/2000  | .333      | -2.2         | nwe, 30-24  |
| 200412130oti | oti  | 4 |  8 | 0 | 231 | 294 | kan  | 4 |  8 | 0 | 341 | 326 |    2004 |       14 | 12/13/2004 | .333      | -2.0         | kan, 49-38  |
| 200712100atl | atl  | 3 |  9 | 0 | 171 | 272 | nor  | 5 |  7 | 0 | 266 | 279 |    2007 |       14 | 12/10/2007 | .333      | -4.8         | nor, 34-14  |
| 199112090mia | mia  | 7 |  6 | 0 | 256 | 275 | cin  | 2 | 11 | 0 | 211 | 374 |    1991 |       15 | 12/9/1991  | .346      | -7.0         | mia, 37-13  |
| 197311260sfo | sfo  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 180 | 232 | gnb  | 3 |  5 | 2 | 138 | 198 |    1973 |       11 | 11/26/1973 | .350      | -5.6         | sfo, 20-6   |
| 197811130cin | cin  | 1 |  9 | 0 | 110 | 184 | rai  | 6 |  4 | 0 | 193 | 164 |    1978 |       11 | 11/13/1978 | .350      | -2.3         | rai, 34-21  |
| 200711260pit | pit  | 7 |  3 | 0 | 269 | 145 | mia  | 0 | 10 | 0 | 183 | 274 |    2007 |       12 | 11/26/2007 | .350      | +1.7         | pit, 3-0    |
| 199311290clt | clt  | 3 |  7 | 0 | 154 | 233 | sdg  | 4 |  6 | 0 | 164 | 195 |    1993 |       13 | 11/29/1993 | .350      | -5.5         | sdg, 31-0   |
| 198010270nyj | nyj  | 1 |  6 | 0 | 114 | 164 | mia  | 4 |  3 | 0 |  99 | 144 |    1980 |        8 | 10/27/1980 | .357      | -6.8         | nyj, 17-14  |
+--------------+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+------+---+----+---+-----+-----+---------+----------+------------+-----------+--------------+-------------+

It is not, however, the worst by combined PPG margin. That honor belongs to this 1972 game between the 2-5 Patriots and the 1-6 Colts (Baltimore ended up winning 24-17).

Posted in Announcement, History, Pro-Football-Reference.com, Trivia | 4 Comments »

Stat Questions: What’s Up With Those “vs Starter” Platoon Splits?

18th October 2013

Here's another question I get pretty regularly when answering our bug reports: what's the deal with those "vs LH/RH Starter" platoon splits? To wit:

"How can Reed Johnson hit 32 HR's off of LH Starters when he hit 27 vs LHP?"

At a glance, it seems like we're saying "this is the player's stat line just against the opposing starter, broken down by that starter's handedness." In which case it would seem to be a bug when a guy has bigger totals against, say, lefty starters than against lefties in total.

Except that the definition I just wrote is not at all what that split is measuring. Instead, the "vs LH/RH Starter" split adds up all stats accumulated in games where the opposing starter was of a certain handedness, INCLUDING STATS ACCUMULATED LATER IN THE GAME WHEN THE STARTER IS PULLED, REGARDLESS OF THE RELIEF PITCHER(S)' HANDEDNESS.

Despite bolding, italicizing, and going all-caps, I still don't think I emphasized that enough. I realize the description of the split seems like it's talking only about stats accumulated against the starters, but it's really just counting up all stats in games where the opposing starter threw a certain way -- a BIG difference. If you want to know about performance against just starters of a given handedness... well, that's a double split, so we can't answer that right now. But we do hope to add the capacity for double splits in the future.

Anyway, now you might be saying, OK, well what's the point of that split, then? It seems pretty useless. And in some ways it is, for recent seasons at least -- but it's the only way we can approximate platoon splits for pre-PBP era players (1940s and before). Even going back to 1916, we at least know who started each game and their handedness, which usually is good enough to get platoon data on the majority of PAs (especially before managers started aggressively using relievers).

So that's why that split is there, even if it's not especially useful for 2013 players. And now you know what that split means, even if it seems like it should mean that other thing (which it DOESN'T).

Posted in Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Stat Questions | 3 Comments »

Small Additions to Basketball-Reference

17th October 2013

You may have noticed we've made a few small additions to the site in preparation for the upcoming 2013-14 NBA season:

  • Added "series stats" links to yearly playoff pages, and added advanced stats to series summaries.
  • Added 2-pointers made/attempted & 2P% to stat tables. - Now you can see that Shaq did in fact shoot much better on 2-pointers (58.3%) than 1-pointers (52.7%) in his career.
  • Added Free Throw Rate to advanced stats. - Borrowing from my old Blog-tionary... "FTr = (FTA / FGA). Free throw rate is the ratio of free throws attempted per field goal attempted. It's useful to assess where the bulk of a player's shots are coming from -- low ratios usually indicate a lot of jump shots (fouls are less prevalent the further away from the basket you get), while high rates are the province of inside players who often take strong shots in traffic down low. A variation on FTr is Bob Bellotti's old Rice-Scott Index (RSI), which is just FGA / (FGA + FTA) (so named because when the stat was developed, long-range bombers Glen Rice and Dennis Scott had extremely high RSIs)."
  • Added 3-Point Attempt Rate to advanced stats. - 3PAr = (3PA / FGA), and is a measure of what % of a player's shots come from long-distance, another good gauge of how they're utilized offensively. Note that 3PAr and FTr also appear on team & league pages (so you can see what the league averages were).
  • Added Plus/Minus (and re-added Game Score) to player gamelog pages. - Plus/Minus represents the team's scoring differential while the player was on the floor, and is available going back to the 2000-01 season. Game Score is a John Hollinger method of evaluating single-game performances.
  • Added Advanced Stats to player splits pages. - Splits pages now feature the player's True Shooting %, Usage %, Dean Oliver individual Offensive/Defensive Ratings, and Plus/Minus per 100 possessions in each split.
  • Added franchise summaries under player stat tables. - Underneath each player's stat tables, you'll now see career totals & averages for every franchise and league they played for/in (when applicable).
  • A few more tweaks are forthcoming before the season, and as always, email us any additional ideas/suggestions/requests you might have, and we'll see what we can do.

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com | 8 Comments »

SV%+ Is Now GA%-

17th October 2013

After the introduction of SV%+ to goalie stats a little over a week ago, there was some discussion as to whether or not it was the best way to represent goals allowed relative to league average. After reviewing some poll results, we've decided to change things up a bit and switch the representation to Goals Allowed %- (the minus because lower is better). The formula is now 100*((1-player save %)/(1-league average save %)) -- this means that Semyon Varlamov, who currently has the best save percentage in the league at .965 (vs. league average of about .913), gets a 40 GA%- &emdash; on a per-shot basis, he allows goals at 40% of the league average rate. Conversely, Martin Biron has allowed 9 goals on 38 shots, which gives him a GA%- of 273 (yikes). This works out better for us because goalies who have not allowed a goal will get a 0 GA%- instead of getting an undefined value as they would have in the old system.

Posted in Announcement, Hockey-Reference.com | 3 Comments »

Stat Questions: Team Passing Yards vs Individual Passing Yards

16th October 2013

This is a question we get ALL the time... In fact, it's come up twice in my inbox over the last 2 days:

"How is a total of -11 (-1 Dallas and -10 Green Bay) passing yards figured in the Oct 24, 1965 game when Individual stats show Craig Morton for 61 yards and Bart Starr for 42 yards?"

"This query should return this game [...] Elvis Grbac threw for 504 yards, and the Raiders scored 49 points. That game was not returned by the query[.]"

In both cases, it's a question of individual passing totals seemingly not matching up to team totals. And that's because the NFL doesn't define "passing yards" in the same way for teams as it does for individuals.

Confusingly, sack yards do not count against the "passing yards" you see listed next to individual players, but they do count against "passing yards" at the team level. To put it another way, individual passing yards are always presented as GROSS yards (with sack yards not subtracted out), while team passing yards are always presented as NET yards (meaning sack yards are subtracted out).

So despite Morton & Starr's combined GROSS pass yards, there were also 114 combined sack yards in that game, leading to a record -11 total combined NET passing yards in the game. And despite Grbac's 504 GROSS pass yards, he was sacked 4 times for 30 yards, meaning KC only had 474 NET passing yards in the game.

This probably doesn't make a great deal of sense in 2013, but it does come in handy for years before QB sack data was tracked (a.k.a. the history of football up until 1969). Because of this practice, we know how many gross yards a quarterback -- and, therefore, a team -- had, as well as how many net yards they had, since sack totals were recorded for teams (but not players) before 1969. It would make for even more confusion if, starting in 1969, we all of a sudden began defining yardage for individuals differently than it had been defined in the past (though as we saw yesterday, this didn't stop the NBA from abruptly changing how team rebound totals were defined).

So it's a minor inconvenience now, but probably a necessary one from an historical perspective. And hopefully this post will reduce some of the confusion going forward (though I doubt it).

Posted in Announcement, Pro-Football-Reference.com, Stat Questions, Trivia | Comments Off on Stat Questions: Team Passing Yards vs Individual Passing Yards

Added Advanced Stats to NBA Playoff Series Pages

16th October 2013

Just a quick note that our NBA Playoff Series pages now have advanced stats tables, so you can learn that, for instance, Chris Andersen and Chauncey Billups both had Offensive Ratings north of 150 in this 2009 playoff series.

We also added Four Factors tables to the series summary pages, wherein you'll find nuggets like Phoenix's ridiculous 122.7 team Offensive Rating against the Warriors in this 1994 series. Enjoy!

Posted in Advanced Stats, Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Features, Playoffs | 1 Comment »

Stat Questions: Why Do Pre-1970s Team Rebound Totals Not Match the Sums of Individual Players?

15th October 2013

Recently, a BBR user posed a question we get on occasion:

"[I] noticed that the team rebound totals for every team appear to be incorrect from 1956-57 to 1967-68. They are correct in 1968-69. For example in 1956-57 it shows the Celtics led the league in rebounds with 4963. When you add up the rebounds for every player on their roster the total comes to 4578. The points and assists totals match exactly. [...] It is only the rebound total that is off, and it is off for every team by a significant margin."

He's right -- you can see this by adding up the team rebound totals for each league-season and comparing it to the sum of individual player rebounds... It changes around 1968:

+---------+-------+----------+------------+
| year_id | lg_id | team_trb | player_trb |
+---------+-------+----------+------------+
|    2013 | NBA   |   103575 |     103575 |
|    2012 | NBA   |    83513 |      83513 |
|    2011 | NBA   |   101816 |     101816 |
|    2010 | NBA   |   102640 |     102640 |
|    2009 | NBA   |   101586 |     101586 |
|    2008 | NBA   |   103271 |     103271 |
|    2007 | NBA   |   100994 |     100994 |
|    2006 | NBA   |   100754 |     100754 |
|    2005 | NBA   |   102970 |     102970 |
|    2004 | NBA   |   100361 |     100361 |
|    2003 | NBA   |   100604 |     100604 |
|    2002 | NBA   |   100829 |     100829 |
|    2001 | NBA   |   100988 |     100988 |
|    2000 | NBA   |   102062 |     102062 |
|    1999 | NBA   |    60395 |      60395 |
|    1998 | NBA   |    98798 |      98798 |
|    1997 | NBA   |    97703 |      97703 |
|    1996 | NBA   |    98099 |      98099 |
|    1995 | NBA   |    92006 |      92006 |
|    1994 | NBA   |    95192 |      95192 |
|    1993 | NBA   |    95504 |      95504 |
|    1992 | NBA   |    96680 |      96680 |
|    1991 | NBA   |    95776 |      95776 |
|    1990 | NBA   |    95518 |      95518 |
|    1989 | NBA   |    90031 |      90031 |
|    1988 | NBA   |    81828 |      81828 |
|    1987 | NBA   |    83020 |      83020 |
|    1986 | NBA   |    82161 |      82161 |
|    1985 | NBA   |    82008 |      82008 |
|    1984 | NBA   |    81150 |      81150 |
|    1983 | NBA   |    83853 |      83853 |
|    1982 | NBA   |    81987 |      81987 |
|    1981 | NBA   |    82010 |      82010 |
|    1980 | NBA   |    81065 |      81065 |
|    1979 | NBA   |    81564 |      81564 |
|    1978 | NBA   |    84984 |      84984 |
|    1977 | NBA   |    84886 |      84886 |
|    1976 | NBA   |    69960 |      69960 |
|    1976 | ABA   |    30815 |      30815 |
|    1975 | NBA   |    69468 |      69468 |
|    1975 | ABA   |    40239 |      40239 |
|    1974 | NBA   |    67230 |      67230 |
|    1974 | ABA   |    40705 |      40705 |
|    1973 | NBA   |    70555 |      70555 |
|    1973 | ABA   |    41062 |      41062 |
|    1972 | NBA   |    71299 |      71299 |
|    1972 | ABA   |    48429 |      48429 |
|    1971 | NBA   |    74059 |      74059 |
|    1971 | ABA   |    50234 |      50234 |
|    1970 | NBA   |    60697 |      60697 |
|    1970 | ABA   |    49991 |      49991 |
|    1969 | NBA   |    65324 |      65324 |
|    1969 | ABA   |    46674 |      46674 |
|    1968 | NBA   |    65166 |      56999 |
|    1968 | ABA   |    46957 |      46957 |
|    1967 | NBA   |    54536 |      48095 |
|    1966 | NBA   |    49118 |      43250 |
|    1965 | NBA   |    48433 |      42563 |
|    1964 | NBA   |    47423 |      41894 |
|    1963 | NBA   |    48044 |      41418 |
|    1962 | NBA   |    51415 |      43183 |
|    1961 | NBA   |    46314 |      40732 |
|    1960 | NBA   |    44104 |      37401 |
|    1959 | NBA   |    40343 |      34794 |
|    1958 | NBA   |    41279 |      35814 |
|    1957 | NBA   |    35948 |      32136 |
|    1956 | NBA   |    34616 |      31395 |
|    1955 | NBA   |    32292 |      28777 |
|    1954 | NBA   |    32987 |      29808 |
|    1953 | NBA   |    36168 |      32314 |
|    1952 | NBA   |    35977 |      31209 |
|    1951 | NBA   |    35019 |      30621 |
+---------+-------+----------+------------+

So what's the deal? Is this a bug in our database?

Actually, no. It's just a matter of accounting by the official scorer, because technically speaking, for every missed shot there has to be a rebound.

Starting in 1968-69 (1967-68 in the ABA), so-called "team" rebounds (rebounds where there was no clear individual who should receive credit) were no longer counted toward a team's overall rebounding total. Before that, "team rebounds" were credited at the team level, but they (obviously) didn't make it into individual rebounding totals. This is what caused the massive discrepancies between teams' rebounds and the sum of their individual players' rebounds.

Nowadays, those "team rebounds" are thrown into their own bucket, neither allocated to individuals nor to teams for the purpose of overall stat totals.

Mystery solved!

Posted in Announcement, Basketball-Reference.com, Stat Questions, Trivia | 1 Comment »