BoondockSaint’s Contest Results
Posted by Raphy on November 5, 2009
Many months ago, back when the Mets were in the conversation as the best team in the National League, I posted a contest created by a reader named BoondockSaint. Prior to the start of the season he posted 40 questions and invited everyone to test their prognostication skills. Now that the season has ended, I invited BoondockSaint to send me the results and here are the final scores:
1. Whiz - 26 correct
2. BoondockSaint - 25
3. Redsauce - 24
4. JohnnyTwisto - 23
5. Bunnywrangler - 22
6. PCG -21
BoondockSaint also sent me the questions with the final results:
1.Number of wins for Pirates (62)
Number of wins for Royals (65)
2.Number of errors by Yuniesky Betancourt (18)
Number of stolen bases by David Wright (27)
3.Team batting average for Blue Jays (.266)
Team batting average for Rockies (.261)
4.Number of games behind division leader for Pirates (28.5)
Number of games behind division leader for Mariners (12.0)
5.Number of wins by CC Sabathia (19)
Number of wins by Johan Santana (13)
6.Number of strikeouts by Barry Zito (154)
Number of walks issued by MLB leader at end of season (103)
7.Number of stolen bases by Rays (194)
Number of home runs by Nationals (156)
8.Number of double plays turned by Marlins (129)
Number of errors committed by Tigers (88)
9.Number of home runs by Manny Ramirez (19)
Number of home runs by Jimmy Rollins, Michael Young and Derek Jeter combined (62)
10.Number of strikeouts by Mark Reynolds (223)
Number of strikeouts by Ryan Howard (186)
11.Team ERA of Rangers (4.38)
ERA of Livan Hernandez (5.44)
12.Number of saves by Francisco Rodriguez (35)
Number of saves by all Cubs pitchers (40)
13.Number of innings pitched by Cliff Lee (231.2)
Number of innings pitched by Zack Greinke (229.1)
14.Number of home runs by Jose Reyes (2)
Number of triples by Jose Reyes (2) ---- Push, no points
15.Number of games started by A.J. Burnett (33)
Number of games started by Andy Pettitte (32)
16.Number of teams from AL East in playoffs (2)
Number of teams from NL East in playoffs (1)
17.Number of divisions won by Angels (1)
Number of divisions won by Mariners, Athletics and Rangers combined (0)
(Basically, will the Angels win the AL West or will one of the other three teams)
18.Number of wins by Phillies (93)
Number of wins by Cubs (83)
19.Number of bases stolen by all catchers in MLB (286)
Number of bases stolen by all first basemen in MLB (390)
20.Number of home runs hit in Coors Field (Rockies) (172)
Number of home runs hit in Nationals Park (Nationals) (162)
21.Number of stolen bases against the Orioles (119)
Number of stolen bases against the Braves (97)
22.Number of players with over 35 home runs (11)
Number of players with over 35 stolen bases (7)
23.Number of pitchers with 20+ wins (0)
Number of pitchers with 210+ strikeouts (8)
24.Number of doubles by MLB leader at end of season (56)
Number of stolen bases by MLB leader at end of season (70)
25.Number of different pitchers used by Yankees (24)
Number of different pitchers uses by Tigers (23)
26.Number of teams with over 95 wins (2)
Number of teams with over 95 losses (5)
27.Number of players in 30-30 club at end of season (30 HRs and 30 SBs) (1)
Number of home runs hit by Micah Owings (3)
28.Number of RBI by MLB leader at end of season (141)
Number of home runs hit by top three MLB leaders at end of season (138)
29.Batting average by AL leader at end of season (.365)
Batting average by NL leader at end of season (.342)
30.Games won by NL in interleague play (114)
Games won by AL in interleague play (138)
31.Slugging percentage of Alex Rodriguez (.532)
Slugging percentage of David Ortiz (.462)
32.Number of stolen bases by B.J. Upton (42)
Number of stolen bases by all Pirates players (90)
33.Number of times home gets stolen by all of MLB (15)
Number of times players get caught stealing home by all of MLB (34)
34.Number of complete games by Roy Hallady (9)
Number of complete games by CC Sabathia (2)
35.Number of home runs by Prince Fielder, Mark Teixeira and Miguel Cabrera (119)
Number of bases stolen by Grady Sizemore, Brian Roberts and Jacoby Ellsbury (113)
36.Number of walks taken by all Athletics players (527)
Number of walks taken by all Brewers players (610)
37.Number of games lost by Nationals (103)
Number of games won by Red Sox (95)
38.Number of games it takes to decide World Series (6)
Number of teams that don’t have any player hit 20 home runs (1)
39.Number of teams that finish over .500 in NL West (3)
Number of teams that finish under .500 in AL East (2)
40.Number of AL pitchers with 20+ wins (0)
Number of NL pitchers with 20+ wins (0) --- Push, no points
November 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Yay, I'm #6! Oh wait, there were only 6 entries...
November 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I totally forgot about this. Nice to know we were all slightly smarter than monkeys.
November 5th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Good job, guys.
Totally unrelated, can somebody tell me why they still let Miach Owings pitch? You're telling me he couldn't learn a new position, and there's no AL team with a crappier DH?
November 6th, 2009 at 10:47 am
That was a fun little exercise in randomness. Let's do this again next year.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I had forgotten about this as well. Funny how the scores lined up so nicely -- 26, 25, 24, 23, 22 , 21 -- no ties and no gaps. By all means, let's do it again!
Redsauce: "That was a fun little exercise in randomness."
I beg to differ, obviously there was a ton of skill involved 🙂
JohnnyTwisto: "Nice to know we were all slightly smarter than monkeys."
LOL, actually, there were two pushes, so we really need to compare to 38. If these were all coin tosses (debatable, I know), there's roughly a 1 in 60 chance of getting 26 out of 38 correct...