Which MLB Team Is Toughest To Sweep In A 3-Game Series? (And More MLB Sweep Data)

There have been a lot of questions in the comment section of our post on which MLB teams are best at avoiding being swept, and some of those can only be answered by posting more data. Rather than having this data buried in a comment where most people will miss it, we thought it would be better to publish a new blog post, and spread the word to more people.

So, without further ado, some more data on MLB series performance, this time broken down by team.

Overall Sweep/Swept Percentage, By Team

Jeff S looked into how often MLB teams have swept their opponent, or been swept by their opponent, in 2 to 4 game series so far in 2012, but was curious about the same numbers from 2011. So, here are all teams, ranked by the frequency they *got* swept (regular season only):

SeasonTeam#SeriesSweep%GetSwept%
2011Texas Rangers5221.2%1.9%
2011Philadelphia Phillies5221.2%3.8%
2011New York Yankees5215.4%5.8%
2011Arizona Diamondbacks5215.4%5.8%
2011Tampa Bay Rays5219.2%5.8%
2011Detroit Tigers5121.6%5.9%
2011Toronto Blue Jays517.8%5.9%
2011Atlanta Braves5221.2%7.7%
2011Los Angeles Dodgers527.7%7.7%
2011St. Louis Cardinals5213.5%9.6%
2011Cincinnati Reds5211.5%9.6%
2011Milwaukee Brewers5230.8%9.6%
2011Los Angeles Angels5211.5%9.6%
2011Chicago Cubs525.8%11.5%
2011San Francisco Giants5213.5%11.5%
2011Washington Nationals519.8%11.8%
2011Boston Red Sox5117.6%11.8%
2011New York Mets506.0%12.0%
2011San Diego Padres529.6%13.5%
2011Colorado Rockies529.6%13.5%
2011Oakland Athletics527.7%15.4%
2011Chicago White Sox529.6%15.4%
2011Kansas City Royals523.8%17.3%
2011Cleveland Indians5119.6%17.6%
2011Baltimore Orioles519.8%19.6%
2011Pittsburgh Pirates513.9%21.6%
2011Miami Marlins4912.2%22.4%
2011Minnesota Twins5211.5%25.0%
2011Seattle Mariners517.8%25.5%
2011Houston Astros523.8%26.9%

That 1.9% for the Rangers means they only got swept in a single 2/3/4-game series last season.

Team Sweep% & Swept% For 3-Game Series Only, By Location

Rick Liguori pointed out that for certain betting systems, knowing how often teams execute sweeps or get swept needs to be broken down into home/away performance, and also filtered to include only 3-game series.

Here, then, is every team’s home Sweep% and GotSwept% for 2012, in 3-game series only:

SeasonTeamLoc# SeriesSweep%GetSwept%
2012Los Angeles Dodgershome862.5%0.0%
2012New York Metshome540.0%0.0%
2012Houston Astroshome1020.0%0.0%
2012Texas Rangershome616.7%0.0%
2012Los Angeles Angelshome616.7%0.0%
2012Chicago White Soxhome714.3%0.0%
2012Cleveland Indianshome812.5%0.0%
2012Toronto Blue Jayshome812.5%0.0%
2012Pittsburgh Pirateshome911.1%0.0%
2012New York Yankeeshome70.0%0.0%
2012Washington Nationalshome40.0%0.0%
2012Cincinnati Redshome70.0%0.0%
2012Milwaukee Brewershome100.0%0.0%
2012Tampa Bay Rayshome825.0%12.5%
2012Arizona Diamondbackshome812.5%12.5%
2012San Diego Padreshome80.0%12.5%
2012Baltimore Orioleshome728.6%14.3%
2012Detroit Tigershome714.3%14.3%
2012Chicago Cubshome714.3%14.3%
2012Philadelphia Phillieshome70.0%14.3%
2012Miami Marlinshome633.3%16.7%
2012St. Louis Cardinalshome616.7%16.7%
2012Seattle Marinershome60.0%16.7%
2012Atlanta Braveshome520.0%20.0%
2012Oakland Athleticshome50.0%20.0%
2012Boston Red Soxhome40.0%25.0%
2012Colorado Rockieshome80.0%25.0%
2012Kansas City Royalshome60.0%33.3%
2012Minnesota Twinshome616.7%50.0%

And here are the same numbers for teams on the road:

SeasonTeamLoc# SeriesSweep%GetSwept%
2012Chicago White Soxroad650.0%0.0%
2012Seattle Marinersroad633.3%0.0%
2012Texas Rangersroad616.7%0.0%
2012Kansas City Royalsroad70.0%0.0%
2012Tampa Bay Raysroad70.0%0.0%
2012Philadelphia Philliesroad60.0%0.0%
2012Cincinnati Redsroad70.0%0.0%
2012Houston Astrosroad50.0%0.0%
2012Arizona Diamondbacksroad70.0%0.0%
2012Los Angeles Dodgersroad60.0%0.0%
2012New York Metsroad911.1%11.1%
2012St. Louis Cardinalsroad911.1%11.1%
2012Atlanta Bravesroad837.5%12.5%
2012Miami Marlinsroad825.0%12.5%
2012Baltimore Oriolesroad812.5%12.5%
2012Los Angeles Angelsroad80.0%12.5%
2012Colorado Rockiesroad80.0%12.5%
2012Boston Red Soxroad714.3%14.3%
2012Oakland Athleticsroad70.0%14.3%
2012Pittsburgh Piratesroad70.0%14.3%
2012Detroit Tigersroad633.3%16.7%
2012New York Yankeesroad633.3%16.7%
2012Cleveland Indiansroad616.7%16.7%
2012Milwaukee Brewersroad50.0%20.0%
2012Washington Nationalsroad911.1%22.2%
2012Minnesota Twinsroad80.0%25.0%
2012Toronto Blue Jaysroad50.0%40.0%
2012Chicago Cubsroad60.0%50.0%
2012San Diego Padresroad60.0%50.0%

Yes, you read that right: the Houston Astros are one of the few teams that haven’t been swept in a single 3-game series this year. Of course, they were swept in a 4-game series, but that doesn’t count here.

  • Jeff S

    Thanks David! Great stuff. Interesting, but certainly not surprising, that 6 of the top 8 overall GetSwept% teams were playoff teams in 2011. The other 2 playoff teams came in 10th and 12th.

  • http://www.teamrankings.com/ David Hess

    I found it kind of funny that the World Series champs were the ones in 10th place — nearly the most easily-sweepable playoff team.

  • Trader4

    This list must only be good through 6/10/2012. I know Cinci swept Clev at home 6/12 thru 6/14.

  • http://www.teamrankings.com/ David Hess

     Yes, it was posted 6/9/2012.

  • Waltermims

    How often do MLB teams win 2 or more games in a row? Road or home. Would like to know often teams lose 2 or more in a row.

  • http://www.teamrankings.com/ David Hess
  • ponchopunch

    Since this article was written, Oakland has gone on to sweep the Dodgers, RedSox and Twins all at home in 3 game series (not to mention the sweep of the Yankees in 4) without being swept themselves anywhere.

  • http://www.teamrankings.com/ David Hess

    Yep, this just goes to show you that tiny sample sizes like this are generally not predictive. We would not recommend assuming any of these trends will continue, based solely on the numbers here.

  • Al

    is there a place where we can find these stats updated regularly?

  • http://www.teamrankings.com/ David Hess

    No, not at this point. Adding a section with updating sweep-related info is something that’s on our to-do list, but right now we are focused on football, since college football started this week, and the NFL starts Wednesday. This may be an offseason project.

  • Al

    Cool, thanks for the reply.

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