Post by 20s Navidad on Aug 17, 2014 18:58:35 GMT -6
MIDBEST! MIDBEST! MIDBEST! To the joy of some and the dismay of others, there has been a lot of playful banter about the Midwest division's supposed superiority to the rest of TMBSL. What has become somewhat of a running joke in the league and a rallying cry among some of the league's members has taken on a life of its own. I thought it would be interesting to take an actual look at the Atlantic, Central, Midwest, and Pacific and how their teams have performed through the first five seasons of TMBSL 4.0.
First, we look at regular season winning percentage. The results here might be a little surprising to some. The Central division actually edges out the Midwest for highest winning percentage coming in at .558 with the Midwest right behind at .553. The Pacific is hanging in there at just under .500 while the Atlantic, owners of the league's two worst franchises record wise in Orlando and Washington brings up the rear. Now, we need to consider the unbalanced schedule when evaluating these records. Every division obviously goes .500 in the games within the division as there is a winner and a loser. The differences in these records come when the teams play other divisions. However, with unbalanced scheduling, the Eastern conference teams are playing Eastern conference teams more often and Western conference teams are playing Western conference teams more often. So a higher number of games against the Atlantic could be part of the reason that the Central has the best winning percentage here, but facts are facts. The Central takes this round.
Playoff appearances is another interesting stat. This one can become skewed due to two factors: conference structure and number of teams. Each year, the East must have eight and only eight playoff teams. The West must have eight and only eight playoff teams. Therefore, the Midwest and Pacific are fighting each other for those eight spots and the Central and Atlantic are fighting each other for the eight spots in the East. We can see the results above. The Central has dominated the Atlantic as far as putting teams into the playoffs with 28 teams in 5 years, an average of nearly 6 teams per season. The West has been more evenly split, with the Midwest barely edging out the Pacific for playoff teams 21 to 19. As I mentioned, we must also consider that the Central division has 8 teams while the rest of the divisions have 7, giving them one extra shot at a playoff team. Still, the evidence is leaning favorably toward the strength of the Central so far.
Next, we look at each division's win percentage in the playoffs. What isn't surprising is that the Midwest is leading the way here as their playoff success has been well publicized (often times by the Midwest GMs themselves). What is surprising here is that right behind them is the Atlantic. So this tells us that even though the Atlantic does not get a lot of teams into the playoffs, when they do make it, they tend to do well. Teams like Boston have had a lot of success in the playoffs and that is likely helping the Atlantic out here. Round 3 goes to the Midwest with the Atlantic receiving a needed boost as well. This round hurts the Central's case a bit.
Finals Appearances are similar to playoff appearances in that they are limited and distributed evenly between the conferences. So the Midwest leads the way here again representing the West in 4 of the 5 final series thus far. The Central edges out the Atlantic 3-2. The Grizzlies run last year represents the only finals appearance by the Pacific. Again, the evidence points to the strength of the Midwest here.
Championships. All the marbles. This is what we really play for. And this is where the Midwest division shines the brightest. By winning 3 of the 5 titles so far in 4.0, the Midwest clearly looks like the strongest division from this standpoint. It is important to remember that only a single team is winning the title, not the entire division. The Jazz won 2 of the first 3 titles in league history and the Mavericks followed it up with one of their own in 3003. Having the best team does not automatically mean the best division, but it is better to lead this category than to be the Atlantic who are still looking for their first title.
So, what conclusions can we draw from this data? In my opinion, it looks like there is not as wide of a divisional gap in TMBSL as some have tried to portray. Taking into account everything that we have looked at, it does appear that the Midwest has been the division with the most success in the first five years of 4.0, but it is closer than many think. We also saw that the Central division has good depth and strong teams which has allowed them to have the best winning percentage as a division. We also have seen that the few Atlantic teams that have made it to the playoffs have done pretty well even though they have not won a title yet. The Pacific appears to be a strong division in its own right that has the misfortune of having to compete with the Midwest for playoff spots and Finals appearances. What does seem clear is that the half-hearted divisional pride and trash talk that exists today is unlikely to disappear.
