SB Nation Los Angeles Editor's Pick

Anatomy of Two 11-Game Win Streaks

by blochead on Jun 28, 2010 12:09 PM PDT

The ChiSox's run was halted at 11 games today after losing 8-6 to their crosstown rival Cubs. They are the second AL team in June to compile such a winning streak (stRangers). However, the quality of the opponents they faced during their streak was a notch above the crap teams that Texas played.

This is the record and winning percentage of their opponents at the start of each series:

CHICAGO WHITE SOX:

1. Pittsburgh 23-40 / .365

2. Washington 31-36 / .463

3. Atlanta 42-28 / .600

4. Chi Cubs 32-40 / .444

Opponents avg. winning % = .468

Here is what the TEXAS RANGERS had to face:

1. Millwaukee- 25-35 / .417

2. Florida 31-32 / .492

3. Houston 26-41 / .388

4. Pittsburgh 25-44 / .362

Opponents avg. winning % = .415

Both teams benefited from playing the lowly Pirates and overall their presence on these lists is skewing the numbers a bit. Take away the Pittsburgh from Chicago's list and their opponent's winning percentage jumps to .502 that's legit competition folks. Not to mention the fact that they had to face Stephen Strasburg in D.C.

In contrast, if you remove the Pirates from Texas' list and their opponents winning percentage is still just .432. The people jumping on the Arlington bandwagon are going to barrel roll off of it once the road starts to get bumpy. I'm not convinced they are the real deal because of their starting rotation, Josh Hamilton's lefty/righty splits and Vlad Guerrero's Home/Away numbers amongst other things.

Let's see how this team plays against contenders away from home.

This Fan-Post is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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Comments

This link says it all:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos

28th ranked strength of schedule in all of baseball.

Twenty-melon-farmering-eighth.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 27, 2010 6:29 PM PDT reply actions

The SOS statistic...

does that include only games played so far or the schedule throughout the season?

by dr-awkward on Jun 27, 2010 6:55 PM PDT reply actions

sorry...meant to be a reply to Caseys link above.

by dr-awkward on Jun 27, 2010 6:56 PM PDT up reply actions

yes

constantly adjusted stat in that it involves constantly calculating the records of teams being played as they too win and lose.

by Rev Halofan on Jun 27, 2010 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions

I think he meant

whether or not it includes their SOS going forward, also…as in does it include the difficulty of their yet-to-be-played opponents as well, in which case the answer is no. The fact that their schedule IS going to get more difficult going forward is not reflected in that link, just how much of a cake-walk they’ve been given so far.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 27, 2010 7:32 PM PDT up reply actions

Incorrect I believe

Well, I mean, I think you correctly interpreted dr-awkward’s question but then answered his question incorrectly.

If you sum the (current) winning percentages for each opponent on Texas’ schedule for the entire season, then divide by 162, you get .487 – the exact number ESPN shows for their "SOS".

Texas’ SOS for the 75 games they have played to date is .470

The Angels’ SOS is higher than the Rangers’ in April, May, June and July. It is lower than the Rangers’ in August and September. (I suppose if you were going to get only two months that were easier, those would be the two you would want).

‘Course, all of these numbers adjust a little bit daily as each of the 30 team’s winning percentages change a bit…

"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." ~Bill Veeck

by LAASurfin on Jun 28, 2010 2:07 AM PDT up reply actions

Man, that's lame

didn’t realize that…I figured it was the other way around since that number is honestly of more interest to me than what their SOS is going forward. Or rather, it’s of as much interest…since I want to know what has led to their record as much as I want to know what to expect going forward…the two numbers need to be isolated. You know a place that lists the SOS to date?

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 28, 2010 2:53 AM PDT up reply actions

Totally lame

Since you would think, based on how they calculate ‘RPI,’ that they would be looking at current SOS.

I don’t know of any place that consistently posts current SOS. So, a while back, I built a simple spreadsheet that calculates it. (That’s probably not quite as sad as it sounds… I have a lot of down-time on long flights and a propensity for Excel).

Anywho, the SOS helps explain how the Angels consistently rank higher than the Rangers in ESPN’s Relative Power Index (RPI), even though the Rangers currently have the better W/L record. The ‘PWR’ rankings, on the other hand, are based on (subjective) votes by writers.

Good news: The Angels have an easier schedule than Texas in August and September.

Bad news: The SOS does not balance out between the two teams for the season. In the end, the Angels will have played a significantly tougher schedule than Texas in 2010.

No news: Numbers aside, doesn’t matter. Ya gotta beat the team in front of you.

"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." ~Bill Veeck

by LAASurfin on Jun 28, 2010 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions

How come we didn't get to play the Pirates?

or the Astros?. The A’s played the Pirates too. I wish we would get an opportunity to have a free sweep, i mean, play the Pirates.

by Wally's World on Jun 27, 2010 7:11 PM PDT reply actions

the Halos could
move to Pittsburg and become the Pittsburg Angels of (insert city name). This guarantees at least free 5 games.

by phoenix15 on Jun 27, 2010 7:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Keep in mind

the Rangers faced the Brewers with Yovani Gallardo pitching and the Marlins with Josh Johnson pitching during the 11-game win streak. The Marlins are a lot better of a team with Johnson pitching than with Ricky Nolasco pitching, for example.

I’m not saying that makes up the difference in strength of schedule. I’m only saying that it’s not as simple as pointing at W-L records and saying, “The Rangers haven’t faced any challenges during the win streak.”

by Inkara1 on Jun 27, 2010 8:41 PM PDT reply actions

Your Rangers faced weak ass competition

And rolled over them, just as any good team should. This win streak isn’t a big deal. IF the Rangers are still leading the Angels at the end of August, then I’ll admit they’re the real deal. Until then, they’re just another Ranger clone. Failure is a reoccuring role after July and nothing the Rangers have done suggets this year is any different.

Fact is, Justin Smoak won’t be good for a very long time, Kinsler’s not doing it, Young is aging, you have no catcher, Vlad doesn’t hit away from home, your pitching staff is even worse than the numbers indicate, your minor league system is over rated and your top thrower Feliz will never be a major league starter.

No matter how bad it may have looked for the Angels in the first 3 months, they are still a MUCH better team than the Rangers.

We betrayed Vlad, the greatest Angel. Epic fail.

by Halowood on Jun 27, 2010 8:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Just let the two teams settle it on the field.........

getting into a penis waving competition with Rangers fans is pointless.

They’re biased………..we’re biased………..

The standings will speak for themselves.

Chan Gailey's #1 Fan!

by norcaliangelsfan on Jun 27, 2010 8:58 PM PDT up reply actions

especially

a Cakewalkers fan with a picture of his tongue hanging out while we are waving our penises.

by Rev Halofan on Jun 27, 2010 9:35 PM PDT up reply actions

And Johnson dominated you guys

you won because the Marlins offense is 18th in baseball in OPS. So what?

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 27, 2010 9:23 PM PDT up reply actions

The Marlins' team OPS is .731, tied with the Mets

The Angels are 17th with an OPS of .732.

The Rangers won that game because the pitching kept an offense that’s just as good as the Angels’ offense (in terms of OPS) in check so they could be in position to win by scoring two runs off the Marlins’ bullpen.

by Inkara1 on Jun 28, 2010 9:14 AM PDT up reply actions

And the end result is still

that you had an 11 game winning streak against a series of teams that at their current pace will average 95 losses. No one cares if you faced two good pitchers in that time frame. It’s called grasping at straws. Ninety-freakin’-five losses. It doesn’t become more impressive that you beat the worst teams in the entire sport (not just bad ones…woefully fucking awful ones), because once or twice you faced the only players on those teams that didn’t stuck.

Don’t you have someone to go off and stalk now anyway?

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 28, 2010 9:43 AM PDT up reply actions

I didn't say the Astros and Pirates are good teams

Only that it’s not fully accurate to say that the Rangers have faced bad teams with no challenges at all. There have been a few challenges along the way.

I guess I could make a joke now about the stalking reference, grasping at straws, a pot and a black kettle if I really wanted to.

by Inkara1 on Jun 28, 2010 11:02 AM PDT up reply actions

Or you could just, you know, go away or somethin'.

"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." ~Bill Veeck

by LAASurfin on Jun 28, 2010 11:08 AM PDT up reply actions

Getting the bra off a bar skank can be difficult in some cases

However, this small challenge doesn’t mean she isn’t easy.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 28, 2010 11:09 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Bar skanks wear bras?

Who knew?

by sothball on Jun 28, 2010 8:36 PM PDT up reply actions

How do you think they get dudes to buy them drinks...

…and talk to them without a little performance enhancement to beat out their competitors?

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 28, 2010 10:17 PM PDT up reply actions

How else do you think they get dudes to buy them drinks...

…and talk to them without some performance enhancement to beat out their competitors?

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 28, 2010 10:35 PM PDT up reply actions

You haven't faced any challenges

stop trying.

by Caseys Kiss of Death on Jun 28, 2010 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions

Ranger Cupcakes

• The Angels have as many wins in the AL as the Rangers, but Texas has destroyed NL teams (11-3), in part by winning all five of its games against the lowly Astros and Pirates — neither of whom the Angels get to play. The Rangers have taken advantage of a cupcake schedule. They have played six of the seven worst teams in baseball (somehow missing only Arizona). They are 23-4 against the bottom of baseball’s barrel and 21-24 against all others. The Rangers have only 12 wins against teams with a record of .500 or better — tying the Orioles and Pirates for the fewest in baseball — and yet they sit in first place with the biggest lead in baseball.

by criswood1 on Jun 28, 2010 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions

This looks strangely familiar.

"I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer." --Lasorda

by RexTookMyStash on Jun 28, 2010 9:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Deja vu

Me too.

"That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." ~Bill Veeck

by LAASurfin on Jun 28, 2010 9:26 PM PDT up reply actions

Weak schedule or strong

The wins still count in the standings. The Angels have their own problems to deal with.

by Suboptimal on Jun 27, 2010 11:43 PM PDT reply actions

^ ^ this ^ ^

Alright Brandon, you're free..........and we're waiting.

by halofan4life on Jun 28, 2010 9:27 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm done talkin'

Let’s just kick their asses!

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 28, 2010 8:52 AM PDT reply actions

word.

by dr-awkward on Jun 28, 2010 9:21 AM PDT up reply actions

Why are so many Ranger fans coming over here to post?

Are HH posters going over to Lone Star Ball?

Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage

by ryanfea on Jun 28, 2010 3:13 PM PDT reply actions

They are high after their win streak over a cavalcade of doormats

they beat the freakin astros and pirates, and this somehow has given them carte blanche to come over here showboat and try to convince us they are the real deal.

Damn I want to beat them so bad this week I can taste it

"I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer." --Lasorda

by RexTookMyStash on Jun 28, 2010 3:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Going to the game on Wednesday

Can’t wait to scream all sorts of profanities, cheer for Vlad until he hits a homer against us then start screaming some more

by Epic Dean on Jun 28, 2010 3:32 PM PDT up reply actions

I am sure we have spawned some rogue trolls as well...

Bummer.

I never understood the need to sign on to another site to talk smack. Maybe I have a chemical imbalance or something.

I love this team.

by Downing Rules on Jun 28, 2010 5:20 PM PDT up reply actions

It happens to the best fans.

Take 2 Advil, watch a replay of 2002 World Series Game 7, then call me in the morning.

by sothball on Jun 28, 2010 8:35 PM PDT up reply actions

I only pointed out that the Angels' 2-1 win against the Dodgers is a case in point of why people think the Angels are lucky

Since then, I’ve only posted reasonable things that are, yes, pro-Rangers, but you’ll notice a complete lack of “ANGELS SUCK!” or race-baiting or anything like that. It’s weird how I’ve apparently become the poster child of trolls around here, yet have somehow managed to avoid that at Lookout Landing when my first question there was asking why the obsession with Josh Hamilton’s drug habits.

by Inkara1 on Jun 29, 2010 4:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Well you were stalking Rev...

That is probably why you became the “poster child of trolls”.

Torii Hunter has some Brain Movage

by ryanfea on Jun 29, 2010 5:38 PM PDT up reply actions

He then came to LSB, posted his actual address and out-creeped anything I said.

by Inkara1 on Jun 30, 2010 12:40 AM PDT up reply actions

That's because it was LL

A place where the laws of physics and reason have been replaced by a collective mentality of about 12 years old.

If you want to be honest, I think you got your current rep here the night you came byposting about finding Rev’s address on google maps and so forth. Be careful, the FBI is cracking down on espianoge pretty hard right now.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 29, 2010 10:31 PM PDT up reply actions

I didn't come here and post that

I’d mentioned it at LSB, then when I posted here, Casey’s Kiss of Death was apparently so angry about me posting here that he looked up what I had posted at LSB and brought that post over here.

If posting that one thing hadn’t gotten everyone so hot and bothered (before any “stalking” stuff came up), then I probably would have just continued my prior pace of posting here once every month or two, if that, similar to how frequently I post at LL or AN.

by Inkara1 on Jun 30, 2010 12:44 AM PDT up reply actions

Either way, it was brought to our attention...

And it is a little weird that you posted about it for others to look up on LSB. Rev posting his address over there afterwards was also a little strange, but I guess that’s his way of showing that he wasn’t that alarmed. Definitely not how I would have reacted…to each his own I guess.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 30, 2010 9:59 AM PDT up reply actions

Even my 10 year old son...

…keeps asking why the Rangers get to play the Astros everyday.

by Ajax on Jun 28, 2010 3:17 PM PDT reply actions

too bad for you angels fans

Josh, Vlad, Young, Cruz cant be matched this year, angels sold their soul to some Buddist hitter that strikes out way too much

by crazy charlie11 on Jun 28, 2010 10:03 PM PDT reply actions

Don't feed the trolls

Unsubstantiated claims: Check.
Ignorant race-baiting: Check.
Borderline illiteracy: Check.
Troll probability: 100%.

Guys, just leave this asshole to rot. Living in Texas is punishment enough. He only has to open his mouth to prove he’s an idiot, there’s no need to point it out for him. All he wants is attention, and I’ve already given him too with this response anyways.

by Suboptimal on Jun 28, 2010 10:23 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah, it sucks being in 2nd and having half the experts still talk about the division like it's ours

Especially when there’s about 3 months left and only 5 games between us and an even smaller gap in the Wild Card Standings. Having your team automatically associated with October baseball is something no fan should want. Stable and engaged ownership can get bent too.

Us fans of the Reigning, 3-peat, 8-Time AL West and 2002 World Series Champions should really be bummed in June about trailing a team that only has 3 division titles, a 1-9 record in October and a history of melting down every August and September…

trAdition.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 28, 2010 10:29 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs