There are 2 sets of historical stats in this post, those concerning (1) overall WS outcomes for teams with HFA who were 2-0 up after 2 games, and those (2) relating specifically to Game 3's within such WS. Starting off with (1)...
(A) That
65-13 figure (a 83.9% series win rate) for teams up 2-0 covers all postseason series, not simply the WS nor simply teams who had HFA. If we whittle down the stat pool to...
- Team A's up 2-0 in the WS itself
- Team A's who had HFA in the WS
- WS that used the 2-3-2 format
- Team A's that didn't lose to their WS opponent in the previous year's WS
...then we arrive at a
23-4 record: that's a winning rate of 85.2%, compared to the (now) 82.4% win rate for the (51) remaining 2-0 series situations which don't fit these 4 criteria. The Mets are therefore in a 2-0 hole that's even more difficult to climb out of than the overall historical norm.
(B) Looking at the 23 teams who won the WS after going up 2-0:
- 21 of the 23 (91.3%) won at least 1 of their middle 3 road games
- 17 of the 23 (73.9%) won at least 1 their first 2 road games
- 3 of the 4 teams who won a road game in extra innings swept their opponents
(C) Looking at the 4 teams who blew their winning 2-0 position, there's one thing that stands out like a politician in a church confessional:
they all lost every road game they played (loser's score first):
1981 Yankees: 4-5, 7-8, 1-2 (lost WS in Game 6)
1971 ..Orioles: 1-5, 3-4, 0-4 (lost WS in Game 7)
1965 ...Twins: 0-4, 2-7, 0-7 (lost WS in Game 7)
1955 Yankees: 3-8, 5-8, 3-5 (lost WS in Game 7)
This is the history the Mets are up against: no one in their specific position has ever won the WS after dropping a solitary home game.
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Now looking at the historical stats pertaining specifically to Game 3, re any pointers they might have regarding pre-game & live betting for Friday's game.
(A) To cover the most relevant stat first: the Game 3 w/l record for teams up 2-0:
-
11 wins in regulation
-
_1 win in extra innings
-
12 losses in regulation
-
_3 losses in extra innings
(a1) Historically they've won this game pretty much 50% of the time when avoiding going beyond the distance, but beyond the 9th inning has seen natural home advantage dominate proceedings (the one home team to lose in extras - Houston in 2005 - twice had a man on 3rd before the winning road runs crossed home plate).
(a2) Every single one of the 12 road teams to win Game 3 went on to sweep the WS by winning Game 4. That's how big Game 3 is for Met fans hoping to see their team win at least once on the big stage in 2015.
(a3) How the home & road teams for these Game 3's have gone about winning is very different:
- Home teams have been all about restricting their opponents: in 9 of their 12 reg. innings wins (75.0% rate) they've restricted their opponent to 2 runs or less, compared to road teams managing that feat in only 4 of their 11 reg. innings wins (36.3% rate)
- Road teams have been all about piling on the runs against their opponents: in 8 of their 11 reg. innings wins (72.7% rate) they've scored at least 6 runs, compared to home teams managing that feat in only 2 of their 12 reg. innings wins (16.7% rate)
These stats above obviously run into the recognition that higher scoring G3's decided in reg. have been won by the road team, and lower scoring G3's decided in reg. have been won by the home team...
1-7 total runs scored: home teams
9-2 SU
_8+ total runs scored: road teams
9-3 SU
(Game 3's decided in extra innings have totaled 7, 9, 12 & 13 runs, with the only game not decided by 1 run being the only game won by the road team.)
(a4) Game 3 regulation innings result margins...
Margin .... Home .... Road
1 run .....
4 wins ...
1 win
2 runs ....
3 wins ...
2 wins
3 runs ....
0 wins ...
1 win
4 runs ....
3 wins ...
4 wins
5 runs ....
2 wins ...
2 wins
6 runs ....
0 wins ...
1 win
Mirroring the Home reg. wins being in lower scoring games and Road reg. wins being in higher scoring games, are the margin distributions for Game 3 results. Home teams have dominated the low-scoring close games, but have more readily been blown out in the higher scoring ones (curious to me is the dearth of 3 run results).
(B) The immediate stand-out stat that I came across re live betting angles concerns the 1st scoring team: teams scoring 1st in Game 3's have - in games decided in the regulation 9 innings - gone
20-3 SU. To put that into some context, here are the W/L-in-regulation records for 1st scorers over the first 4 games of these 27 WS (the numbers in brackets are the results for 1st scorers for those games that went into extra innings):
Game 1:
14-11 (1-1)
Game 2:
19-7 (0-1)
Game 3:
20-3 (1-3)
Game 4:
12-11 (4-0)
While G2's 73.1% reg. win rate is impressive, G3's 87.0% is off the charts. The 3 teams that make for the exceptions (SD 3 run 6th in '98; MIN 1 run 6th in '87; STL 2 run 1st in '28)...
- all were scored against within their opponent's next 2 AB
- all conceded a multi-run inning within 3 innings of their scoring 1st
- all trailed after scoring 1st before they scored again
- all lost their leads within 3 innings of their scoring 1st
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In keeping with the above 1st scoring stat, I'll now relate some stats that are aligned not with the 4 criteria introduced above, but will refer back to a previous post: The following stats are derived from Game 3 results for WS teams who...
- won Game 1 by a 1 run margin
- won Game 2 (margin irrelevant)
Game 3's from WS fitting those 2 criteria have seen the 1st scoring team...
- go 12-0 SU when Game 3 was decided in regulation innings.
- go 1-1 SU when Game 3 was decided in extra innings.
If KC scores 1st in Game 3 & then hold the Mets to 0 in the bottom of said inning, they should just stop the game at that point and hand them the trophy then & there.
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Coming back to stats related to the 4 criteria introduced intitally:
(C) KC restricted the Mets to 2 hits in Game 2. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in the WS by restricting their opponents to 3 hits or less in Game 2 have never lost the WS (given the 4 criteria listed)...
2012: SF held DET to 2 hits in G2, won the WS 4-0
2001: AZ held NYY to 3 hits in G2, won the WS 4-3
1988: LAD held OAK to 3 hits in G2, won the WS 4-1
1939: NYY held CIN to 2 hits in G2, won the WS 4-0
While the Yankees effort of 2001 might seem a good historical example for the Mets to hang their hats on, it can't ever be forgotten that Byung-Hyun Kim surrendered multi-run leads with the Yankees twice being 1 out away from losing. By all rights that WS at a minimum should've ended in 6 games, more probably 5. Of course Wade Davis is no reincarnation of Kim, so the miraculous way one New York team engineered a revisiting of their opponent's home field seems to have no possible counterpart in the present. Other than that example, the remaining outcomes seen here sound a rather resounding message: teams that have put in piss poor offensive efforts in Game 2's to go 2-0 down in the WS have taken it up the ass when they've gone back home (a total of 1 home win out of 7 games played).