benes Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Meta Analysis: How Many Licks To Reach The Center Of A Tootsie Pop?
The world may never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. But we can at least use data to make an educated guess....
MLB Reaches 2,000,000 Strikeouts
This past weekend Danny Salazar recorded the 2,000,000th strikeout in MLB history. Given it took MLB until 1976 to reach 1,000,000 strikeouts, why did the league's second million strikeouts come so much quicker than its first?...
WWE Meets Godzilla Is Entertaining As Hell
Here's what an actual match looks like....
The Pitch Counts The Best And Worst Hitters Swing On
All hitters approach the plate differently depending on where they sit in the count. But great hitters and poor hitters differ in how often they swing in certain situations. Using TAv as a measurement, Baseball Prospectus took a look at how swing rates differ between the best hitters and worst hitte...
Introducing The Three-Point Line Benefited Big Men Most
After the NBA introduced the three-point line in 1979, it would have been be intuitive to assume that guards, who shot a disproportionate amount of the new and more efficient three-point shots, benefitted most from it. But a new study from the Journal of Sports Economics claims that after the three-...
MLB Had The Highest Rated All-Star Game In Sports This Year
This year's MLB All-Star Game was the most watched since 2010 making it the highest rated All-Star event among pro sports this year, according to Forbes. This seems remarkable—but it isn't just a one-year Jeter spike. ...
Which MLB Team Would Benefit Most From A David Price Trade?
David Price may be traded soon. Price would make any MLB team better, but Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs examined which teams would benefit most in acquiring Price. This graph shows Price would help the Blue Jays most in making the playoffs and the Dodgers most in winning the World Series. ...
Which MLB Teams Suck At Splurging On All-Stars?
At this year's MLB All-Star Game, the A's, who have the sixth lowest payroll, have the most All-Stars of any team in the majors with six. Which led us to wonder, over the past decade, which teams have gotten the most amount of superstars for the least amount of money?...
The Cavs Are The First Team In Over 25 Years To Have Four No. 1 Picks
With the addition of LeBron James, and assuming that no one is traded from now until the first game (which is obviously not a certainty), the Cleveland Cavaliers will become the first NBA team in more than 25 years to have four number one draft picks playing on the same team....
Being Patient At The Plate Doesn't Correlate With Scoring More Runs
If you want a good baseball offense, you need to milk to pitch count. That's what it says in Moneyball, and it's been Red Sox gospel under Terry Francona. But as the graph above from The Hardball Times shows, it isn't significantly related to offensive production....
Defending World Cup Champions Are Screwed if They're Old
With Spain out in the group stage this year, there will be no repeat champion in Brazil. Do any of the remaining four teams stand a good chance of repeating? The Economist compared the average ages of defending World Cup champions and found younger teams tend to do better. ...
Where Does David Ortiz Really Rank Among The All-Time Home Run Hitters?
David Ortiz hit his 450th home run late last month, moving him to 37th on the career home runs list. There's no doubt Ortiz has had a great career. But his are home runs in an era of home runs—and performance enhancers. He blends into his environment, that is to say. Since home runs were more in...
When The USMNT Played Belgium, Twitter Lit Up With Waffle Insults
Just like mentions of Nazis spiked on Twitter when Germany played America and Algeria, the chart above from Redditor honkeyponk shows Americans dissed Belgium by tweeting "waffle" over and over and over. ...
David Ortiz Thinks The Cubs Stink Because Of Day Games. Do They?
David Ortiz recently blamed the Cubs' consistent inability to win games on the team's penchant for scheduling day games. "When you come down to the Cubs' schedule it's a game-changer, believe it or not," Ortiz said. "They play so many day games at home and then they have to travel to another city an...
Based On Their Draft Picks, How Good <em>Should</em> The Cavs Be Next Year?
We have every reason to expect that the Cavs will improve over the next few years, especially since team is stocked with young, talented lottery packs. But given its draft position the last few years, how good could we have expected the Cavs to get? And how much of the improvement that any high-lo...
How Often Do World Cup Knockout Round Matches Go Into Extra Time?
Argentina and Switzerland was the fourth of seven knockout games this year to go into extra time, and if the Netherlands hadn't pulled a late penalty from elbow-deep out of its ass, it would have been the fifth. This is way, way above historical trends....
Are MLB No-Hitters Really Getting More Common?
Tim Lincecum's no-hitter yesterday was the 22nd since 2010 and a walk away from becoming the sixth perfect game in that same time. This makes no-hitters and perfect games sound abnormally common today. So just how much has the frequency of no-hitters and perfect games changed?...
Which NFL Stadiums Are The Most Convenient To Drive To?
When the 49ers begin playing in the new Levi's Stadium this season they'll be 43.3 miles away from San Francisco's downtown as seen in the chart above from Redditor Tashre. But the Niners, now playing in Santa Clara, aren't the only NFL team having to drive outside their team's namesake city. Accord...
Which Countries Swap The Most World Cup Players?
Like the Olympics, athletes in the World Cup weren't necessarily born in the country they play for. This interactive graphic illustrates player migrations by country. ...