Red Sox Faithful - Repeat??

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Repeat??

#1 - July 30, 2008 @ 8:58 AM EST

Portland Sea Dog

74 Posts

As the Sox appear to be taking solace in losing to Angels while denying John Lackey a no-hitter in the 9th with a single by Pedroia and a Youk HR, this season begins to have that slipping away feeling. The reality is that it is harder to repeat in Major League Baseball than in any of the other 3 sports. (I included hockey which I understand is available in select markets.) By way of evidence: Since 1980, the NBA has had 9 seasons in which a defending champ has repeated and twice had the dreaded 3-peat. That is a 33% success rate defending the title. Since 1980, the NHL has had 7 repeat season including a quatro-peat by the Isles from 80 through 83. That is a 25.9% repeat rate. Since 1980, The NFL has had 5 seasons of repeat champs to include the glory of 04/05. 18.5 repeat rate. By contrast, MLB has had 3 repeat seasons by 2 teams since 1980. The Jays went back to back in 92/93 and the Empire did the 3 thing in 98-99-00. 88.5% of all teams that win a WS fail to repeat in baseball and the numbers get worse. Of 26 WS Champs since 1980 (NO WS in 94), 3 have repeated as WS Champs, 3 have returned to the WS only to lose (A’s-90, Braves-95, NYY-01), 4 have made the playoffs and been eliminated before getting to the Series (Phillies-81, NYY-97, DBacks-02, Sox-05), and 16 have failed to make the playoffs. 61.5% of all WS winners don’t even make the playoffs the next year. There are probably as many reasons as there are failures. Length of schedule, free agency, and parity are but a few. The fact is repeating in baseball is hard.

Post last edited by spsox on July 30, 2008 at 5:59 AM

#2 - July 30, 2008 @ 12:32 PM EST

GuruGreg

Boston Red Sox

363 Posts

For now, I'm still optimistic that it's a slump, but I just hope that Manny hasn't muddled up the clubhouse spirit.

Not sure why, but the Haols have seemingly given the Sox fits during the regular season the last few years, but they haven't stepped up in the post season when the Sox played them. Hopefully that trend holds true this year.

Right now, the goal is just to get into the playoffs, and I think the team is good enough them to make a legit run at the repeat.