05-09-2023, 07:18 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-18-2023, 09:06 AM by Aneeqs. Edited 1 time in total.)
After having gone over every single ISFL franchise one by one, I wanted to see just how things shook up when compared to each other directly.
I decided to start with a decade by decade comparison, with comments at the end of each comparison, before going into the final rankings.
1. 94-46 (67.1%)
2. 87-52-1 (62.6%)
3. 81-59 (57.9%)
4. 79-61 (56.4%)
5. 58-67-1 (46.0%)
6. 53-86-1 (37.9%)
7. 47-78-1 (37.6%)
8. 45-95 (32.1%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 4 appearances, 3 wins
2. 3 appearances, 3 wins
3. 4 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 1 win (in 9 seasons)
5. 3 appearances, 1 win
6. 2 appearances, 1 win
7. 1 appearance, 0 wins
8. 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 10
2. 7
T-3. 6
T-3. 6
5. 4
6. 3 (in 9 seasons)
7. 3
8. 1
Major Awards:
1. 10
2. 9
3. 6
4. 4
5. 2
6. 1
7. 0 (in 9 seasons)
8. 0
<Blank>/10:
Domination/10
Multi Dynasty/10
Runners Up/10
Needs More Titles/10
Successful Expansion/10
Redemptive Expansion/10
At least you're not the Yeti/10
Yeti/10
It's probably important to note that not all of these categories matter the same amount in my mind; most notably the award cabinet matters the least, and the playoff berth category doesn't matter as much as some others when talking about the bottom of the barrel. For example, the Yeti made the playoffs 3 times as often as the Sabercats, and made the Ultimus when the Sabercats did not, yet I don't think anyone would argue that the Sabercats were worse than the Yeti this decade. While later on I'm going to need to do some interpretation and opinion work with things like whether x number of playoff berths over x number of seasons are better, or the same with major awards, or however many Ultimus appearances versus wins matter more for this, but this one is extremely easy on those fronts; the only things that aren't hard numbers with obvious separation is whether 4 Ultimus trips and 1 win is better or worse than 3 Ultimus trips and 3 wins, and I don't think that is much of a debate.
Really, that can be said about pretty much everything with regards to which teams were better or worse this decade; the Outlaws move up a couple places from their win rate as the Wraiths drop a couple, mainly due to each team's respective Ultimus success; the Hawks get leapfrogged by both in both directions for similar reasons: more playoff success than the Wraiths but less than the Outlaws. The other change between win rate and final ranking is the Sabercats and Second Line switching places, which comes down to the fact that the Second Line had a far greater number of major awards and playoff berths despite playing one less season. Everything not mentioned is very much set in stone: the Otters are definitely first, the Liberty/Crash are definitely the best team that still was below .500 on the decade, and the Yeti are definitely last.
Record and Win Rate:
1. 99-54-1 (64.7%)
2. 89-52 (63.1%)
3. 95-59 (61.7%)
4. 90-63-1 (58.8%)
5. 90-64 (58.4%)
6. 51-45 (53.1%)
7. 50-46 (52.1%)
8. 79-75 (51.3%)
9. 74-78-2 (48.7%)
10. 66-87-1 (43.1%)
11. 59-81-1 (42.1%)
12. 63-91 (40.9%)
13. 53-101 (34.4%)
14. 46-108 (29.9%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 4 appearances, 3 wins
2. 2 appearances, 2 wins
3. 3 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 1 win
5. 2 appearances, 1 win
6. 1 appearance, 1 win (in 6 seasons)
7. 2 appearances, 0 wins
8. 1 appearance, 0 wins (in 6 seasons)
T-9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
T-9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
11. 0 appearances (in 9 seasons)
T-12. 0 appearances
T-12. 0 appearances
T-12. 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 8
T-2. 7
T-2. 7
4. 4 (in 6 seasons)
T-5. 6
T-5. 6
T-7. 5
T-7. 5
9. 3 (in 6 seasons)
10. 4
11. 2
12. 1 (in 9 seasons)
T-13. 1
T-13. 1
Major Awards:
1. 7
2. 6
3. 4
4. 3
T-5. 2
T-5. 2
T-5. 2
8. 1 (in 6 seasons)
T-9. 1
T-9. 1
11. 0 (in 6 seasons)
12. 0 (in 9 seasons)
T-13. 0
T-13. 0
<Blank>/10:
Getting the monkey off your back/10
One more title and you might have taken first/10
Most Successful Expansion Decade/10
Most Unlucky Decade in terms of Titles/10
One half win and 6 awards worse/10
Best ASFC team that won a title/10
Winning Record and Title for an expansion franchise/10
How the hell did this team win 2 titles/10
Winning Record for an expansion franchise/10
Moderate success but not exceptional in any category/10
The Unsuccessful expansion franchise for the decade/10
Worse than the Hahalua but not as shockingly bad as the next two/10
Third worst decade ever is somehow not the worst decade this period/10
Literally worse than the S1-10 Yeti/10
This decade, despite having 2 different pairs of expansion franchises, took basically no debating on any of the major stats. At most, I decided that 1 win in 1 Ultimus appearance was better than 2 appearances and 0 wins if the first team compiled that number in 6 seasons.
This decade has what I believe is the most leapfrogging and shuffling of a bunch of different teams by win percentage; definitely the most thus far. Starting with the team I believe was the best of the decade in the Wraiths. Technically they were 3rd in Win percent, but they were just so much better than their closest competitors in both getting to and winning the Ultimus, and they weren't that far behind the Sailfish or the Yeti. The Sailfish and the Yeti are thus leapfrogged, but stay where the win% would have them in relation to each other, even if the Sailfish had the better Playoff berth stat in both number and rate compared to the Yeti. 4th and 5th are easy; a pair of teams that were in the same ballpark of win rate as the Wraiths, but ended the decade with only a single Ultimus appearance and without a win. I don't know if the Outlaws would have leapt over the Otters if the win rates were reversed and a little farther apart. The playoff berth stat arguably should favor the Outlaws considering they were robbed of a playoff berth once and the Otters were handed a playoff berth once, and the Outlaws do have a large lead in major awards. But with the win rates the way they are, it's an easy Outlaws > Otters for the decade in my book. New Orleans jumps from 8th in win percent to 6th, mainly due to the 2 other appearances in the Ultimus compared to the Silverbacks and the better award/playoff stats, and if they're better than the Silverbacks then almost by definition they're better than the Berlin Fire Salamanders. Speaking of teams jumping up due to titles, I put the Sabercats up at 8th for the decade. This has them jumping the Fire Salamanders and the Copperheads for the decade, the Fire Salamanders by nearly 10 percent win rate. But the big stat here is 2 titles to 0, even if this decade only had the Sabercats enter the playoffs twice. The Salamanders and Copperheads are next up, teams that were near .500 with moderate success in basically every stat except for Fire Salamander awards, but the lack of titles put them 9th and 10th. Then, the final 4 and their order are basically screamed out to me from the rooftops; the Butchers have the edge over the Hahalua in terms of everything but win rate, but the Hahalua get buoyed a bit by being an expansion franchise. And even then, the Butchers' win rate is too low compared to Hahalua to have them leapfrog with that in mind. Then the final 2 are the most stone cold final 2 of maybe this entire section: The Liberty are DEFINITELY the second worst team this decade, and the Hawks are even more DEFINITELY the worst team of the decade.
I decided to start with a decade by decade comparison, with comments at the end of each comparison, before going into the final rankings.
The First Decade
Record and Win Rate:1. 94-46 (67.1%)
2. 87-52-1 (62.6%)
3. 81-59 (57.9%)
4. 79-61 (56.4%)
5. 58-67-1 (46.0%)
6. 53-86-1 (37.9%)
7. 47-78-1 (37.6%)
8. 45-95 (32.1%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 4 appearances, 3 wins
2. 3 appearances, 3 wins
3. 4 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 1 win (in 9 seasons)
5. 3 appearances, 1 win
6. 2 appearances, 1 win
7. 1 appearance, 0 wins
8. 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 10
2. 7
T-3. 6
T-3. 6
5. 4
6. 3 (in 9 seasons)
7. 3
8. 1
Major Awards:
1. 10
2. 9
3. 6
4. 4
5. 2
6. 1
7. 0 (in 9 seasons)
8. 0
<Blank>/10:
Domination/10
Multi Dynasty/10
Runners Up/10
Needs More Titles/10
Successful Expansion/10
Redemptive Expansion/10
At least you're not the Yeti/10
Yeti/10
It's probably important to note that not all of these categories matter the same amount in my mind; most notably the award cabinet matters the least, and the playoff berth category doesn't matter as much as some others when talking about the bottom of the barrel. For example, the Yeti made the playoffs 3 times as often as the Sabercats, and made the Ultimus when the Sabercats did not, yet I don't think anyone would argue that the Sabercats were worse than the Yeti this decade. While later on I'm going to need to do some interpretation and opinion work with things like whether x number of playoff berths over x number of seasons are better, or the same with major awards, or however many Ultimus appearances versus wins matter more for this, but this one is extremely easy on those fronts; the only things that aren't hard numbers with obvious separation is whether 4 Ultimus trips and 1 win is better or worse than 3 Ultimus trips and 3 wins, and I don't think that is much of a debate.
Really, that can be said about pretty much everything with regards to which teams were better or worse this decade; the Outlaws move up a couple places from their win rate as the Wraiths drop a couple, mainly due to each team's respective Ultimus success; the Hawks get leapfrogged by both in both directions for similar reasons: more playoff success than the Wraiths but less than the Outlaws. The other change between win rate and final ranking is the Sabercats and Second Line switching places, which comes down to the fact that the Second Line had a far greater number of major awards and playoff berths despite playing one less season. Everything not mentioned is very much set in stone: the Otters are definitely first, the Liberty/Crash are definitely the best team that still was below .500 on the decade, and the Yeti are definitely last.
The Second Decade
Record and Win Rate:
1. 92-43 (68.1%)
2. 79-56 (58.5%)
3. 71-64 (52.6%)
4. 69-66 (51.1%)
5. 66-69 (48.9%)
6. 63-72 (46.7%)
7. 30-35 (46.2%)
8. 57-78 (42.2%)
9. 54-81 (40%)
10. 24-41 (36.9%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 5 appearances, 5 wins
2. 4 appearances, 1 win
3. 2 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 0 wins
5. 1 appearance, 1 win (in 5 seasons)
6. 2 appearances, 0 wins
T-7. 1 appearance, 1 win
T-7. 1 appearance, 1 win
9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
10: 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 10
2. 8
3. 6
T-4. 5
T-4. 5
T-4. 5
7. 3 (in 5 seasons)
8. 2 (in 5 seasons)
T-9. 3
T-9. 3
Major Awards:
1. 6
T-2. 5
T-2. 5
4. 4
T-5. 3
T-5. 3
T-5. 3
8. 2
9. 1 (in 5 seasons)
10. 0
<Blank>/10:
5 Titles in 10 years/10
Best NSFC team/10
Thank Joilet Christ/10
Pulling a Bills/10
Basically the definition of 4.5/10
Somewhat Carried By the Title/10
Missing an Ultimus appearance/10
Only 3 good seasons/10
Above Yeti due to being an expansion franchise and winning an Ultimus/10
Still the Yeti/10
Due in large part to how overwhelmingly title dominant the Otters were during this stretch, and to a lesser extent the Hawks, there feels like there's only 3 teams with successful decades during this period. Only those two teams and the Sabercats were able to both win a title and go over .500 for the decade. Then there's a clear 4th and 5th, with a pair of teams decently above the rest of the pack in terms of win percentage and Ultimus berths, which actually leads to the first cases where I had to do some deliberation and debating with myself. The award area was easy, 1 award in half the time is technically the same rate as 2 but this league can be very 1 in the hand is worth 2 in the bush, especially with awards. So I decided to give that to the Outlaws who had 2 awards through 10 seasons over the Copperheads' 1 award through 5. The playoff berths were also pretty easy; I could technically have put the Copperheads much higher with them making the playoffs 60% of the time, but they did so with 3 expanded playoff formats so I put them below the teams who made it 50% of the time. Then I thought the Butchers making it 40% of the time was better than the two teams who made it 30% of the time, and we're done with any debate on those two. No, the real debate came from the Ultimus tally. I decided that 2 appearances and 1 win is better than 3 appearances and no wins, but 2 appearances and no wins is better than going to one Ultimus and winning it, though not as good when that 1 Ultimus appearance and win came in 5 years. All of that is opinion based and not numbers based, so you could easily come to your own conclusions on that front.
1. 92-43 (68.1%)
2. 79-56 (58.5%)
3. 71-64 (52.6%)
4. 69-66 (51.1%)
5. 66-69 (48.9%)
6. 63-72 (46.7%)
7. 30-35 (46.2%)
8. 57-78 (42.2%)
9. 54-81 (40%)
10. 24-41 (36.9%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 5 appearances, 5 wins
2. 4 appearances, 1 win
3. 2 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 0 wins
5. 1 appearance, 1 win (in 5 seasons)
6. 2 appearances, 0 wins
T-7. 1 appearance, 1 win
T-7. 1 appearance, 1 win
9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
10: 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 10
2. 8
3. 6
T-4. 5
T-4. 5
T-4. 5
7. 3 (in 5 seasons)
8. 2 (in 5 seasons)
T-9. 3
T-9. 3
Major Awards:
1. 6
T-2. 5
T-2. 5
4. 4
T-5. 3
T-5. 3
T-5. 3
8. 2
9. 1 (in 5 seasons)
10. 0
<Blank>/10:
5 Titles in 10 years/10
Best NSFC team/10
Thank Joilet Christ/10
Pulling a Bills/10
Basically the definition of 4.5/10
Somewhat Carried By the Title/10
Missing an Ultimus appearance/10
Only 3 good seasons/10
Above Yeti due to being an expansion franchise and winning an Ultimus/10
Still the Yeti/10
Due in large part to how overwhelmingly title dominant the Otters were during this stretch, and to a lesser extent the Hawks, there feels like there's only 3 teams with successful decades during this period. Only those two teams and the Sabercats were able to both win a title and go over .500 for the decade. Then there's a clear 4th and 5th, with a pair of teams decently above the rest of the pack in terms of win percentage and Ultimus berths, which actually leads to the first cases where I had to do some deliberation and debating with myself. The award area was easy, 1 award in half the time is technically the same rate as 2 but this league can be very 1 in the hand is worth 2 in the bush, especially with awards. So I decided to give that to the Outlaws who had 2 awards through 10 seasons over the Copperheads' 1 award through 5. The playoff berths were also pretty easy; I could technically have put the Copperheads much higher with them making the playoffs 60% of the time, but they did so with 3 expanded playoff formats so I put them below the teams who made it 50% of the time. Then I thought the Butchers making it 40% of the time was better than the two teams who made it 30% of the time, and we're done with any debate on those two. No, the real debate came from the Ultimus tally. I decided that 2 appearances and 1 win is better than 3 appearances and no wins, but 2 appearances and no wins is better than going to one Ultimus and winning it, though not as good when that 1 Ultimus appearance and win came in 5 years. All of that is opinion based and not numbers based, so you could easily come to your own conclusions on that front.
So, with all that said, the final ranking was pretty easy to make in most cases; despite having a worse win% than the Wraiths, the Sabercats were able to win the Ultimus so they got the nod, and they weren't worse by that much anyways; the Liberty were able to just hold off the Outlaws in my mind due to the superior win percentage and making 2 Ultimus as opposed to 1, even with the 0 wins to 1; if the win%, awards, and postseason gap was too large for the Outlaws to leapfrog the Liberty, then the 4% better win% was definitely enough to prevent the Second Line from leapfrogging the Butchers; and then the one thing that I'm most unsure about. I have the Copperheads as better for the decade than the Yeti. Sure, the Copperheads are 3 whole percent worse in win rate, and they have a deficit in major awards as well, but the Copperheads more than any other bad stretch in league history have an excuse for this one: as an expansion team with only 5 seasons total, they intentionally and immediately put themselves in a massive hole in terms of win rate via their strategy of putting everything on Easton Cole from the start, and this paid off for them in a title. As such I ended up putting the title-less Yeti below them. If this was any other situation, except maybe the S25 expansion teams with only a 6th season added on, the Yeti's resume would be better than the Copperheads in my mind. But as is, I give the Copperheads the spot of...9th in the decade.
It's also extremely telling that the team I put at 5th for the decade is a team that I consider to be below average in every single stat I cover; this was just an extremely thin decade outside the Otters, Hawks, Sabercats, and Wraiths.
The Third Decade
Record and Win Rate:
1. 99-54-1 (64.7%)
2. 89-52 (63.1%)
3. 95-59 (61.7%)
4. 90-63-1 (58.8%)
5. 90-64 (58.4%)
6. 51-45 (53.1%)
7. 50-46 (52.1%)
8. 79-75 (51.3%)
9. 74-78-2 (48.7%)
10. 66-87-1 (43.1%)
11. 59-81-1 (42.1%)
12. 63-91 (40.9%)
13. 53-101 (34.4%)
14. 46-108 (29.9%)
Ultimus Appearances and Wins:
1. 4 appearances, 3 wins
2. 2 appearances, 2 wins
3. 3 appearances, 1 win
4. 3 appearances, 1 win
5. 2 appearances, 1 win
6. 1 appearance, 1 win (in 6 seasons)
7. 2 appearances, 0 wins
8. 1 appearance, 0 wins (in 6 seasons)
T-9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
T-9. 1 appearance, 0 wins
11. 0 appearances (in 9 seasons)
T-12. 0 appearances
T-12. 0 appearances
T-12. 0 appearances
Playoff Berths:
1. 8
T-2. 7
T-2. 7
4. 4 (in 6 seasons)
T-5. 6
T-5. 6
T-7. 5
T-7. 5
9. 3 (in 6 seasons)
10. 4
11. 2
12. 1 (in 9 seasons)
T-13. 1
T-13. 1
Major Awards:
1. 7
2. 6
3. 4
4. 3
T-5. 2
T-5. 2
T-5. 2
8. 1 (in 6 seasons)
T-9. 1
T-9. 1
11. 0 (in 6 seasons)
12. 0 (in 9 seasons)
T-13. 0
T-13. 0
<Blank>/10:
Getting the monkey off your back/10
One more title and you might have taken first/10
Most Successful Expansion Decade/10
Most Unlucky Decade in terms of Titles/10
One half win and 6 awards worse/10
Best ASFC team that won a title/10
Winning Record and Title for an expansion franchise/10
How the hell did this team win 2 titles/10
Winning Record for an expansion franchise/10
Moderate success but not exceptional in any category/10
The Unsuccessful expansion franchise for the decade/10
Worse than the Hahalua but not as shockingly bad as the next two/10
Third worst decade ever is somehow not the worst decade this period/10
Literally worse than the S1-10 Yeti/10
This decade, despite having 2 different pairs of expansion franchises, took basically no debating on any of the major stats. At most, I decided that 1 win in 1 Ultimus appearance was better than 2 appearances and 0 wins if the first team compiled that number in 6 seasons.
This decade has what I believe is the most leapfrogging and shuffling of a bunch of different teams by win percentage; definitely the most thus far. Starting with the team I believe was the best of the decade in the Wraiths. Technically they were 3rd in Win percent, but they were just so much better than their closest competitors in both getting to and winning the Ultimus, and they weren't that far behind the Sailfish or the Yeti. The Sailfish and the Yeti are thus leapfrogged, but stay where the win% would have them in relation to each other, even if the Sailfish had the better Playoff berth stat in both number and rate compared to the Yeti. 4th and 5th are easy; a pair of teams that were in the same ballpark of win rate as the Wraiths, but ended the decade with only a single Ultimus appearance and without a win. I don't know if the Outlaws would have leapt over the Otters if the win rates were reversed and a little farther apart. The playoff berth stat arguably should favor the Outlaws considering they were robbed of a playoff berth once and the Otters were handed a playoff berth once, and the Outlaws do have a large lead in major awards. But with the win rates the way they are, it's an easy Outlaws > Otters for the decade in my book. New Orleans jumps from 8th in win percent to 6th, mainly due to the 2 other appearances in the Ultimus compared to the Silverbacks and the better award/playoff stats, and if they're better than the Silverbacks then almost by definition they're better than the Berlin Fire Salamanders. Speaking of teams jumping up due to titles, I put the Sabercats up at 8th for the decade. This has them jumping the Fire Salamanders and the Copperheads for the decade, the Fire Salamanders by nearly 10 percent win rate. But the big stat here is 2 titles to 0, even if this decade only had the Sabercats enter the playoffs twice. The Salamanders and Copperheads are next up, teams that were near .500 with moderate success in basically every stat except for Fire Salamander awards, but the lack of titles put them 9th and 10th. Then, the final 4 and their order are basically screamed out to me from the rooftops; the Butchers have the edge over the Hahalua in terms of everything but win rate, but the Hahalua get buoyed a bit by being an expansion franchise. And even then, the Butchers' win rate is too low compared to Hahalua to have them leapfrog with that in mind. Then the final 2 are the most stone cold final 2 of maybe this entire section: The Liberty are DEFINITELY the second worst team this decade, and the Hawks are even more DEFINITELY the worst team of the decade.
The rest will be in the first comment due to Image Limit