Atlanta Braves 2017 over/under contest results
There is no W in Team
The Braves finished up at 72-90 on the year. Remember that point in which we heard that a Las Vegas book had set that over/under win total at 73.5 and many of us ridiculed that number as being too low? Well, here is one that went way low at 71.5… Here’s another one that went with 74.5 wins.
Yeah, good times. I picked 82.
That’s why they have really large casino hotels out there and why we don’t.
At this point, I pause for reflection on the events of last night in Las Vegas and pray for the recovery of those injured as well as the comfort of the surviving families and friends of those killed.
Here are the team questions asked from early April:
- TEAM Question 1: How many wins will the Braves have during the regular season?
My Over/Under for the purposes of this question was 77.5. I took the ‘over’ and 65% of you did as well.
We were feeling pretty good about that when the team reached 45-45… and then they went 27-45 the rest of the way. Ouch.
Correct answer: 77 or less (under)
- Team Question 2: Of the 25 players on the Opening Day roster, how many will still be with the club in any capacity (includes demoted, DL) on September 1st?
Okay, this was a bad question from me… or else a really bad over/under point. 80% selected the “under”, and they were right. My own thought at the time probably gave too much weight to the “in any capacity” part.
That said, it actually came out a lot closer than I thought it might.
Those not meeting the test include Anthony Recker (traded as part of the Jaime Garcia deal), Emilio Bonifacio (dropped off at an undisclosed Home Depot location), Brandon Phillips (shipped across country), Bartolo Colon (still playing with the Twins), Jaime Garcia (still playing in the Bronx, by way of Minneapolis), Chase d’Arnaud (currently an El Paso Chihuahua), and Eric O’Flaherty (thought he might be held onto, but he was released).
For the record: Josh Collmenter did not meet that test, as he’s still on the Gwinnett roster.
So that’s 7 players from the original 25-man list… 18 remain attached to the team.
Correct answer: 20 or less (18; under).
- Team Question 3: With Swanson and Phillips in the middle infield, where will the Braves rank in double plays turned this season (13th in 2016)?
A funny thing happened on the way to this answer… a lot of balls hit to the outfield, it seems.
The Braves turned 340 double plays – good enough only for 19th place overall and ninth in the National League. The Rangers were first with 443 followed by the Padres with 441 (which could certainly have helped them to win a lot more than originally forecasted).
But I nailed this one: setting the over/under at 8th in the NL (though the question didn’t mention this, the answer did) was the right spot.
Correct answer: ‘Top 8 in the NL’ (8th)
- Team Question 4: The Braves drew just over 2 million fans in 80 home dates last year. How will they do in 2017?
Too optimistic here by around 10%.
The Braves drew just over 2.5 million in 2017, which ranked 12th overall in the majors… not quite the over/under point of 2.75 million, but still a definite improvement over the slide from the last several years.
2.75 million would have required an average paid attendance of 33,950 per game. The actual number was roughly 3,000 less than that.
Correct answer: less than that (under)
- Team Question 5: With the funky right field wall at SunTrust, how many inside-the-park homers will we see at home in 2017?
Of all the questions in this quiz, this is the one I want a mulligan on. the over/under point of 3 or more was kind of silly… even with Ozzie Albies routinely hitting triples (more on him later).
Nonetheless, I thought at the time that we’d be seeing a lot of odd caroms off the corners of the brick and the fencing of the right field wall.
Nope. There were none. Fortunately, almost 77% of you weren’t duped.
Correct answer: 2 or less (under)