# How the hell did the pro-loaded Japanese "Dream Team" lose to Australia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 25, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493 "2004-08-25T20:31:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493/21 "2004-08-30T13:24:22Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Then let’s look at before Pete Rozelle’s dream was realized. How do you explain Joe Namath winning the Superbowl? I explain it easily: the Jets were BETTER than the Colts. The people who thought the NFL was way better than the AFL were just plain wrong! ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493/22 "2004-08-31T03:02:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I explain it easily: the Jets were BETTER than the Colts. The people who thought the NFL was way better than the AFL were just plain wrong! hehheh, you got me there. I cede that point. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493/23 "2004-08-31T03:36:36Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Let me get to the heart of it. The original statement is that the sport of baseball allows the greatest chance for an underdog to win of any sport. That means it is less likely for the favorite to win. Okay. So, in the 75 year history of the NFL, the longest winning streak by any franchise is around 20 games. How about baseball? Any winning streaks that long? > > Look at it this way: last year, the longest winning streak was…uh…(going by memory)…the Chiefs started 9-0, and the Pats won 15 in a row I believe. So last year in MLB, since it has so much more losing woven into it, I would assume there wouldn’t be a single double-digit winning streak. Is that the case? The MLB record for a winning streak is 26 by the 1916 NY Giants, who finished in fourth place that season. And they won all the games at home. And they had a tie in the middle of it, but MLB throws those out for this sort of record. Oakland won 20 straight in 2002. Tampa Bay has the longest streak this season at 12. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493/24 "2004-08-31T04:37:10Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > The MLB record for a winning streak is 26 by the 1916 NY Giants, who finished in fourth place that season. And they won all the games at home. And they had a tie in the middle of it, but MLB throws those out for this sort of record. > > Oakland won 20 straight in 2002. > > Tampa Bay has the longest streak this season at 12. Okay, I expected the streaks to be much longer. I stand corrected, and I retract my argument. I suppose the reality is that because a single MLB game is so monumentally meaningless, good teams can be expected to sandbag more often than in the NFL, where virtually every game is pivotal. So my answer to the OP is this: Good teams just don’t care about any one game, so the scrubs (who have something to prove) can step it up and beat them. That’s why you see more underdog wins in baseball. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493/25 "2004-08-31T05:39:49Z")
I think the wild card in baseball games is the pitcher. A really bad team, like Arizona, can have a really good starting pitcher, like Randy Johnson, so it’s possible that they can get a really good outing from their pitcher to overcome their crappiness. In football, the wild card tends to be turnovers. A very good team will usually only get upset if they turn over the ball a disproportionate amount. But good teams are usually coached well enough to avoid that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-hell-did-the-pro-loaded-japanese-dream-team-lose-to-australia/261493.md?page=1)