01-28-2023, 12:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-29-2023, 09:17 AM by Aneeqs. Edited 1 time in total.)
The S39 Yellowknife Wraith's defense started the year off on an absolute tear, giving only 13 points up with 3 shutouts in the first four game. They tapered off a bit including giving up a surprising 35 points in a week 16 loss to the Butchers, but they still ended up leading the league in points allowed per game with 13.8. How do they stack up vs. other historical defenses?
Lowest points per game leaders each season
S38: The fewest points allowed were also by Yellowknife, but at a much higher 20.9 per game.
S37: Continuing the streak, the leader was again Yellowknife with 19.4 per game.
S36: In the first change, Sarasota and Yellowknife tied at 19.2 points per game. Both gave up exactly 308 points but for some reason the index places Yellowknife as second for no obvious reason.
S35: The now rebuilding but them dominating Hahalua were the league leaders at 17.4 allowed per game.
S34: Chicago took over with the worst leader so far at 22.3 per game.
S33: Sarasota with 21.0 per game led this season.
S32: The Outlaws were the lowest and got back under 20 with 19.4 per game.
S31: Back to the Butchers with 20.6 per game
S30: Arizona at 18.7 per game.
S29: Berlin with its first appearance on the list was lowest at 20.9 per game.
S28: With what I was convinced was an index misclick, Berlin had exactly the same number of points allowed in S28 as in S29 (335) and so also allowed 20.9 per game.
S27: The Butchers return with a 17.3 mark that's the lowest per game so far.
S26: The Wraiths return to the board with 19.5 per game.
S25: Far from their Yeeti days, Colorado was lowest with 20.3 per game.
S24: Orange County and its ferocious secondary led with 17.4 per game.
S23: Colorado reclaimed the title of stingiest with 17.8 per game. Of note: a week 9 6-3 loss to Honolulu seems critical as they only allowed 6 fewer points than second place Philadelphia.
S22: Yellowknife again, with a best so far of 15.1 per game (and most points scored per game as well, ouch).
S21: The Otters again were best with 17.7 per game.
S20: Austin makes its first entry here with exactly 20 per game.
S19: Back to Orange County with 18.7 per game.
S18: Otters again at 17.9 per game.
S17: The Wraiths were best at 20.5 per game but amazingly gave up 1 fewer point than the Butchers and the Outlaws (267 vs 268/268).
S16: Orange County at 18.8 per game this year.
S15: The first San Jose entry with 18.9 per game.
S14: SaberCats repeat here at 16.6 per game.
S13: Triple crown for San Jose at 19.7 per game.
S12: The first solo 4-time leader, it's again the SaberCats with 17.9 per game.
S11: Philadelphia makes the list with 22.4 per game.
S10: Baltimore makes it a second new team in a row with 19.5 per game.
S9: New Orleans makes a third new team in a row at 14.1 per game as well as the best mark so far.
S8: The new team streak is broken as Yellowknife retakes the pole at 20.4 per game.
S7: The Wraiths again at 19.4 per game.
S6: Return of the Otters with 18.1 per game.
S5: Orange County again with 18.9 per game.
S4: Arizona with 14.5 per game (and if I remember correctly, the multi scandal written extensively about here) led the league but is only the second-best historical mark so far.
S3: Outlaws repeat with a remarkable 11.9 per game, the first team so far to be under the S39 Wraiths. The second best was Baltimore at 19.3.
S2: Outlaws once more, this time with 12.5 per game. Colorado was second at 15.4 per game, which would have led the league most seasons.
S1: And back to the Otters at 14 exactly per game.
Seasons as leader S1-39 (1 tie, so 40 total counted):
Yellowknife: 9
Orange County: 8
Arizona: 5
San Jose: 4
Chicago: 3
Berlin: 2
Colorado: 2
Sarasota: 2
Austin: 1
Baltimore: 1
Honolulu: 1
New Orleans: 1
Philadelphia: 1
Analysis
I admit that I entered into this article assuming that there were going to a much larger number of teams from the earlier years in the league which were better at point prevention than the S39 Wraiths. Instead, the only team to have been lower were the S2-S3 Outlaws but were tainted by the multi situation. In the modern league with its much larger playerbase we've never seen a defense as good as this year's Wraiths - the only other 2 really close were S22 and S9. I'm not going to try and explain the methodology of what they did to do so well (though spoilers having 7 defensive players over 900 TPE probably helps), just looking at the output. As a result, I think that this was the best defensive performance by a team of all time, given the situation now as compared to S2-3.
Will that be enough for Yellowknife to triumph in the playoffs? Well, I'm certainly hoping not since Austin is in it this year and I'm rooting for us. Additionally, Yellowknife has some painful history in the playoffs when they were best in points scored and points allowed but didn't make the Ultimus - regular season stats clearly aren't enough on their own. They were a league-best 13-3 but managed to lose to the 4-12 Fire Salamanders by 22 points. Maybe that's a lot of words to say "the sim has a mind of its own" or "any given sunday" but I can't see anyone not having the Wraiths as the favorites entering the playoffs.
Lowest points per game leaders each season
S38: The fewest points allowed were also by Yellowknife, but at a much higher 20.9 per game.
S37: Continuing the streak, the leader was again Yellowknife with 19.4 per game.
S36: In the first change, Sarasota and Yellowknife tied at 19.2 points per game. Both gave up exactly 308 points but for some reason the index places Yellowknife as second for no obvious reason.
S35: The now rebuilding but them dominating Hahalua were the league leaders at 17.4 allowed per game.
S34: Chicago took over with the worst leader so far at 22.3 per game.
S33: Sarasota with 21.0 per game led this season.
S32: The Outlaws were the lowest and got back under 20 with 19.4 per game.
S31: Back to the Butchers with 20.6 per game
S30: Arizona at 18.7 per game.
S29: Berlin with its first appearance on the list was lowest at 20.9 per game.
S28: With what I was convinced was an index misclick, Berlin had exactly the same number of points allowed in S28 as in S29 (335) and so also allowed 20.9 per game.
S27: The Butchers return with a 17.3 mark that's the lowest per game so far.
S26: The Wraiths return to the board with 19.5 per game.
S25: Far from their Yeeti days, Colorado was lowest with 20.3 per game.
S24: Orange County and its ferocious secondary led with 17.4 per game.
S23: Colorado reclaimed the title of stingiest with 17.8 per game. Of note: a week 9 6-3 loss to Honolulu seems critical as they only allowed 6 fewer points than second place Philadelphia.
S22: Yellowknife again, with a best so far of 15.1 per game (and most points scored per game as well, ouch).
S21: The Otters again were best with 17.7 per game.
S20: Austin makes its first entry here with exactly 20 per game.
S19: Back to Orange County with 18.7 per game.
S18: Otters again at 17.9 per game.
S17: The Wraiths were best at 20.5 per game but amazingly gave up 1 fewer point than the Butchers and the Outlaws (267 vs 268/268).
S16: Orange County at 18.8 per game this year.
S15: The first San Jose entry with 18.9 per game.
S14: SaberCats repeat here at 16.6 per game.
S13: Triple crown for San Jose at 19.7 per game.
S12: The first solo 4-time leader, it's again the SaberCats with 17.9 per game.
S11: Philadelphia makes the list with 22.4 per game.
S10: Baltimore makes it a second new team in a row with 19.5 per game.
S9: New Orleans makes a third new team in a row at 14.1 per game as well as the best mark so far.
S8: The new team streak is broken as Yellowknife retakes the pole at 20.4 per game.
S7: The Wraiths again at 19.4 per game.
S6: Return of the Otters with 18.1 per game.
S5: Orange County again with 18.9 per game.
S4: Arizona with 14.5 per game (and if I remember correctly, the multi scandal written extensively about here) led the league but is only the second-best historical mark so far.
S3: Outlaws repeat with a remarkable 11.9 per game, the first team so far to be under the S39 Wraiths. The second best was Baltimore at 19.3.
S2: Outlaws once more, this time with 12.5 per game. Colorado was second at 15.4 per game, which would have led the league most seasons.
S1: And back to the Otters at 14 exactly per game.
Seasons as leader S1-39 (1 tie, so 40 total counted):
Yellowknife: 9
Orange County: 8
Arizona: 5
San Jose: 4
Chicago: 3
Berlin: 2
Colorado: 2
Sarasota: 2
Austin: 1
Baltimore: 1
Honolulu: 1
New Orleans: 1
Philadelphia: 1
Analysis
I admit that I entered into this article assuming that there were going to a much larger number of teams from the earlier years in the league which were better at point prevention than the S39 Wraiths. Instead, the only team to have been lower were the S2-S3 Outlaws but were tainted by the multi situation. In the modern league with its much larger playerbase we've never seen a defense as good as this year's Wraiths - the only other 2 really close were S22 and S9. I'm not going to try and explain the methodology of what they did to do so well (though spoilers having 7 defensive players over 900 TPE probably helps), just looking at the output. As a result, I think that this was the best defensive performance by a team of all time, given the situation now as compared to S2-3.
Will that be enough for Yellowknife to triumph in the playoffs? Well, I'm certainly hoping not since Austin is in it this year and I'm rooting for us. Additionally, Yellowknife has some painful history in the playoffs when they were best in points scored and points allowed but didn't make the Ultimus - regular season stats clearly aren't enough on their own. They were a league-best 13-3 but managed to lose to the 4-12 Fire Salamanders by 22 points. Maybe that's a lot of words to say "the sim has a mind of its own" or "any given sunday" but I can't see anyone not having the Wraiths as the favorites entering the playoffs.
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