Before I get started I want to lay this out: Preseason is ultimately unimportant. It can indicate a level of trend, but ultimately the AI was not acting the way it will during the season. Some great players barely or never got playing time. On top of that, the numbers in the index don't reflect the games streamed. This does not bother me; I mention it purely so you, my dear reader, understand that if the numbers don't reflect what you saw, it's fine. I'm drawing all my data from the index.
Defense wins championships? I hope
POINTS AGAINST
Ducks 23 13 28 16 80
Luchadores 7 10 32 18 67
Seawolves 14 13 13 3 43
Royals 17 13 19 26 75
Birddogs 6 31 10 22 69
Pythons 27 35 10 26 84
Bucs 21 6 14 20 61
Coyotes 7 33 18 0 58
In some ways this is a table. This is actually probably a great time to mention I'm awful with stats. So what I've done here is tallied up all teams' points conceded and then added them together in the last column. On average a DSFL preseason team allowed 67 (and an eighth) points through four games. Somewhat surprisingly (and we'll get to more of why this data is inherently flawed in a little bit) Pythons and Ducks were the teams that allowed over 80 points, and Royals performed poorly as well, allowing 75. Bucs, Coyotes, and Seawolves were the three teams who conceded fewer than average points, with Norfolk allowing far fewer than anyone else. Birddogs, for an expansion team, performed above my expectations, only allowing 69 points. Nice. Statistically, Luchadores have a completely average defense, which tracks imo.
Offense is overrated... I hope
POINTS FOR
Ducks 7 31 14 3 55
Luchadores 23 13 10 26 72
Seawolves 7 19 27 16 69
Royals 20 6 10 13 49
Birddogs 17 13 32 0 62
Pythons 14 21 18 18 71
Bucs 33 35 28 26 122
Coyotes 6 13 10 22 51
I've done the same basic thing here, expect with points scored. So on average, DSFL teams scored 68 (and 7/8s) points in preseason, and we'll just round that up to 69 cause it's a nicer number. Royals, Coyotes, Ducks, and Birddogs all come in below average, Luchadores, Seawolves, and Pythons are all roughly average, and Myrtle Beach, with an eye popping 30 points a game are far and away the best offense.
I'm going to do some light analysis of these numbers, but I want to point out something that may be obvious to you. All of the teams did not play each other, so it's pretty unfair to compare teams directly. What I'm trying to say is, Norfolk has the best defense and Myrtle Beach has the best offense, but they never played each other, so who's to say if Norfolk would've held up against that attack? It also means that every team who played MB instantly looks like they have a porous defense.
For instance, Coyotes conceded 58 points overall, but 33 of those were allowed against MB! They only allowed 7 against Seawolves, and shut out the Birddogs (the only team to suffer the ignominy of scoring 0 points in a game). So the defense looks good, but if they hadn't played MB and Norfolk had, I can almost guarantee they would've had the best defense.
So light, if these numbers are useless, why write this? For the money, predominantly, but despite my caveats I do think this data gives some useful pieces. For instances, Luchadores look like a completely average, statistically, team. And that's not bad, average can potentially win you all your home games, and if they steal an away game or two they're looking pretty decent. MB is easily the team to beat. If they score 30 points a game it's going to be near impossible to take them down, and since they have an above average defense as well, it's going to be hard for every team to play in MB. They're also the only team to go 4-0 in preseason. At the other end of the pyramid, Royals went 0-4, their offense is tepid, and their defense is just below average. This is a losing combination. They'll have a lot to work out on offense if they want to even have a .500 season.
So there you have it. I expect teams to change a lot as their players progress, but I think the general trend will remain mostly true. Norfolk's defense and MB's offense are going to be defining characteristics of this upcoming season, and Birddogs look capable of snagging a playoff spot in their expansion year. In my opinion, Pythons and Royals have a lot of work to do if they want to have anything from this season, and Ducks have to figure out what was going wrong with their defense in preseason, because they're not going to defend the Ultimini if they're allowing about three scores a game.
Defense wins championships? I hope
POINTS AGAINST
Ducks 23 13 28 16 80
Luchadores 7 10 32 18 67
Seawolves 14 13 13 3 43
Royals 17 13 19 26 75
Birddogs 6 31 10 22 69
Pythons 27 35 10 26 84
Bucs 21 6 14 20 61
Coyotes 7 33 18 0 58
In some ways this is a table. This is actually probably a great time to mention I'm awful with stats. So what I've done here is tallied up all teams' points conceded and then added them together in the last column. On average a DSFL preseason team allowed 67 (and an eighth) points through four games. Somewhat surprisingly (and we'll get to more of why this data is inherently flawed in a little bit) Pythons and Ducks were the teams that allowed over 80 points, and Royals performed poorly as well, allowing 75. Bucs, Coyotes, and Seawolves were the three teams who conceded fewer than average points, with Norfolk allowing far fewer than anyone else. Birddogs, for an expansion team, performed above my expectations, only allowing 69 points. Nice. Statistically, Luchadores have a completely average defense, which tracks imo.
Offense is overrated... I hope
POINTS FOR
Ducks 7 31 14 3 55
Luchadores 23 13 10 26 72
Seawolves 7 19 27 16 69
Royals 20 6 10 13 49
Birddogs 17 13 32 0 62
Pythons 14 21 18 18 71
Bucs 33 35 28 26 122
Coyotes 6 13 10 22 51
I've done the same basic thing here, expect with points scored. So on average, DSFL teams scored 68 (and 7/8s) points in preseason, and we'll just round that up to 69 cause it's a nicer number. Royals, Coyotes, Ducks, and Birddogs all come in below average, Luchadores, Seawolves, and Pythons are all roughly average, and Myrtle Beach, with an eye popping 30 points a game are far and away the best offense.
I'm going to do some light analysis of these numbers, but I want to point out something that may be obvious to you. All of the teams did not play each other, so it's pretty unfair to compare teams directly. What I'm trying to say is, Norfolk has the best defense and Myrtle Beach has the best offense, but they never played each other, so who's to say if Norfolk would've held up against that attack? It also means that every team who played MB instantly looks like they have a porous defense.
For instance, Coyotes conceded 58 points overall, but 33 of those were allowed against MB! They only allowed 7 against Seawolves, and shut out the Birddogs (the only team to suffer the ignominy of scoring 0 points in a game). So the defense looks good, but if they hadn't played MB and Norfolk had, I can almost guarantee they would've had the best defense.
So light, if these numbers are useless, why write this? For the money, predominantly, but despite my caveats I do think this data gives some useful pieces. For instances, Luchadores look like a completely average, statistically, team. And that's not bad, average can potentially win you all your home games, and if they steal an away game or two they're looking pretty decent. MB is easily the team to beat. If they score 30 points a game it's going to be near impossible to take them down, and since they have an above average defense as well, it's going to be hard for every team to play in MB. They're also the only team to go 4-0 in preseason. At the other end of the pyramid, Royals went 0-4, their offense is tepid, and their defense is just below average. This is a losing combination. They'll have a lot to work out on offense if they want to even have a .500 season.
So there you have it. I expect teams to change a lot as their players progress, but I think the general trend will remain mostly true. Norfolk's defense and MB's offense are going to be defining characteristics of this upcoming season, and Birddogs look capable of snagging a playoff spot in their expansion year. In my opinion, Pythons and Royals have a lot of work to do if they want to have anything from this season, and Ducks have to figure out what was going wrong with their defense in preseason, because they're not going to defend the Ultimini if they're allowing about three scores a game.
Quote:843 Words Edit for anyone stumbling on this later. These games were resimmed and all my numbers are completely inaccurate now lol. Also that was like 45 minutes after I posted it so it aged worse than milk.