Series Sweeps

Monday, September 05 2016 @ 11:36 PM EDT

Contributed by: John Northey

It was asked in a recent thread if the Jays this year have swept many series and how that is vs what a division leader should do. Figured lets check.

Using good old Baseball Reference and Excel. I'm not counting playoffs for Jay playoff teams.

2016 Jays: 4 sweeps so far in 43 series (just starting #44 now with a loss).
2015 Jays: 10 sweeps in total, 9 by September. 51 series in total
1993 Jays: 11 sweeps, of note - never were swept. Only 6 by September (7th ended on Sept 1st).
1992 Jays: 13 sweeps, 11 by Sept 1st, 52 series total
1989 Jays: 9 sweeps, 7 by Sept 1st, 52 series total
1985 Jays: 12 sweeps, 10 by Sept 1st, 52 series total

Hmm. Seems 4 by September 1st is unusual in Jays reaching the playoffs history.

Lets see some other teams this year - division leaders and AL East opponents with a shot at playoffs.
Cubs: 14 sweeps
Red Sox: 7 sweeps
Orioles: 7 sweeps
NYY: 3 sweeps (even fewer than the Jays)
Cleveland: 12 sweeps
Texas: 9 sweeps
Washington: 9 sweeps
Dodgers: 5 sweeps

So, what does this all tell us? Not a lot unless we start digging into individual teams and try to see what commonalities the teams with lots of sweeps have vs those without.

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