In only 3 days, fans can call for a series sweep like these Phillies fans.

no brag just fact

No Series Sweeps in 2010 World Series!

Playoff Team Performance
Team	Rank	Season WL %	Rank	Sweep Factor	Rank	Playoff W-L
Giants	5	0.568	8	133	1	11-4
Rangers	8	0.556	5	150	2	8-8
Phillies	1	0.599	3	367	3	5-4
Yankees	3	0.586	4	300	4	5-4
Rays	2	0.593	2	450	5	2-3
Braves	6	0.562	6	160	6	1-3
Reds	7	0.58	7	133	7	0-3
Twins	4	0.562	1	550	8	0-3

In prior posts, seriesweep.blogspot.com reviewed the 2010 season through the Divisional Playoffs.  From a series sweep perspective, the 2010 MLB Championship Series and World Series were of no consequence. The Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees 4-2 in the American League Championship Series.  The San Francisco Giants bested the Philadelphia Phillies by a similar 4-2 game record.  The Giants went on to beat the Rangers 4-1 to win the 2010 World Series.

But the 2010 MLB Playoffs overall results do provide some “food for thought” for interpreting the implication of our favorite new statistic, the Sweep Factor or SF. As displayed in the chart above, we list the eight playoff teams with their respective performance statistics in three areas – Season Won/Loss Percentage, Season Sweep Factor Value and Playoff Won/Loss Record.  In addition, we show each team’s relative rank for each of the measurements.

A cursory examination brings to mind Matthew 20:16: “So the first shall be last and the last shall be first”.  The Giants as World Series winners ranked first in playoff wins and losses with a record of 11-4.  They finished the season with the worst Sweep Factor rating of 133 for all the teams in the playoffs. Paradoxically, The Twins performed exactly the opposite with MLB’s best Sweep Factor rating of 550 and a tie with the Reds for the worst playoff W/L result of 0-3.

Another curiosity is the underachievement of the Phillies with MLB’s best season record of .599 and not getting to the World Series.  More study is needed to see if the Giants who were on a roll at the end of the 2010 season performed well in Sweep Factor for the September and October.

Well, Opening Day is less than a month away, there’ll be plenty more games to ponder and analyze.

Phillies Sweep Reds 3-0 for NLDS Championship

Jayson Werth celebrates the first series sweep in post season play ever for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Cole Hamels won game three 2-0 with a masterful five hit performance not quite outdoing team-mate Roy Halladay's second no hitter in MLB history in Game 1 of the NLDS with the Reds. 

Philly fans were heartened following the teams's 2009 World Series loss to the New York Yankees by the addition of proven winners Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt.   But only the most optimistic would have predicted setting a record of 11 hits allowed breaking that of the 1998 Yankees of 15 hits allowed.

The stars may be aligning for a repeat of last year's World Series between the Phillies and Yankees. More to come...

Preliminary Regular Season Series Sweep Results

 I have been tracking inidvidual game and series results throughout the season.  But, a new wrinkle has crept into these tallies.  Should the total number of Sweeps be the same as the total number of Swepts?  I think so.  But these numbers don't come out that way. I need to do some auditing of these numbers.  But here are the preliminary results of the 2010 MLB Regular Season through October 3rd.

Baseball Total = 206 Sweeps + 196 Swept = 402

AL Total =  95 Sweeps +  82 Swepts = 177
NL Total = 111 Sweeps + 114 Swepts = 225

AL East Total = 35 Sweeps + 23 Swepts = 58

AL Central Total = 36 Sweeps + 27 Swepts = 63
AL West Total = 24 Sweeps + 32 Swepts = 56

NL East Total = 31 Sweeps + 31 Swepts = 62
NL Central Total = 41 Sweeps + 49 Swepts = 90
NL West Total = 39 Sweeps + 34 Swepts = 73

Yankees Sweep Twins in ALDS 3-0

Rightfielder Nick Swisher celebrates the Yankees mastery over the Twins in post season play.  Even without home field advantage, the Yanks got strong pitching performances from their suspect #2 and #3 starters, Pettite and  Hughes following a win by their ace, Sabathia.

The Yankees Sweep Factor moves to 350 following a 6 and 2 regular season record of sweeps and being swept.  Interestingly, the Yankees were swept once each by the Rays and Rangers, one of whom will be their competition in the upcoming American League Championship Series.

With the ALDS sweep, the Twins' end the season with a Sweep Factor of 366% or 11-3 previously having had  a record of 11 sweeps and only 2 times being swept.

Giants and Braves --Avoid Sweeps, Go to Playoffs

The series sweep played a compelling role in the last weekend of the MLB regular season. The National League West division championship and the NL Wild Card were decided by two teams – the Giants and the Braves avoiding being swept.

Going into Sunday’s games, the Giants with a record of 91-70 had lost the first two games of the series against the Padres with a record of 90-71. A Giant loss and Padre series sweep would have given both teams identical 91-71 records. But The Giants won the game avoiding the series sweep, finishing 92-70 and winning the NL West Division championship. The Padres “wait til next year”!

The Braves had lost the first two games of a series with the Phillies who had already clinced the division title. By beating the Phillies on Sunday, the Braves avoided the series sweep ending up with a record of 90-71 good for second place in the NL East. The Braves also captured the NL Wildcard playoff slot edging out the losing Padres with a final 90-72 record.