# The most winningest cities in sports **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 18, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874 "2009-05-18T17:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/1 "2009-05-18T17:23:37Z")
Can you guess what they are from this decade? From [The Toronto Star](http://www.thestar.com/sports/article/635370): > [@](#): > > To measure the relative sporting success of major North American cities, the Toronto Star ranked 37 cities with at least two professional sports teams based on their winning percentages since 2000. Teams — which were drawn from baseball, hockey, football and basketball — were awarded bonus points for making the playoffs or winning a championship. The results above rank the winningest — and losingest — across the continent. So, without peeking at the article, what cities would you guess are at the top and bottom of the list? As a Bay Area resident, the news is rather bitter indeed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/2 "2009-05-18T17:29:26Z")
Gotta be New York, right? Maybe Boston? EDIT: Well, one right. I wouldn’t have picked the winner, though. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/3 "2009-05-18T17:40:17Z")
Boston for sure, between two Patriot Super Bowl victories and two Red Sox titles. And the Bruins are perenially good. Pittsburgh always gets more than their fair share of sports glory, Pirates notwithstanding. So I’ll guess Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/4 "2009-05-18T17:45:51Z")
The metric seems a bit flawed. 11-5 is the record of a pretty good football team, but not really an elite one. For a baseball team to have an equivilant percentage they would need 111, which has happened less than a handful of times in the game’s history. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/5 "2009-05-18T17:59:50Z")
I guess it included the CFL because Calgary and Edmonton were included. Montreal was included too, but they did have the Expos for awhile in the 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/6 "2009-05-18T18:14:48Z")
Holy crap we’re number one?!?!? I wouldn’t have put us in the top 10…yeah we have the Colts (Atlanta Braves of the NFL), but the Pacers have been terrible for years…not to mention they can’t GIVE away tickets to the games. Hell, our WNBA team (The Fever) have had a much better winning percentace than the Pacers, and they are about 200% emptier. I dunno about this poll, I would never have put Indy even in the top 10, much less number one. Also, as an aside…Indy is the most fair-weather sports town I have ever seen (much less lived in)…once their precious Colts start losing again the city’s pride will fade into medeocrity as it has the past 10-15 years ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/7 "2009-05-18T18:18:21Z")
How about London? Liverpool, Madrid, Barcalona, Manchester, Munich, Milan, Turin etc? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/8 "2009-05-18T18:21:33Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > How about London? > Liverpool, Madrid, Barcalona, Manchester, Munich, Milan, Turin etc? I don’t think any of those have professional sports franchises. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/9 "2009-05-18T18:21:48Z")
Vancouver? Number 3? Really? I realize they’re also counting Canadian football, but sheesh. Detroit is only 15? Well, it’s interesting to see something a little different, even though I don’t agree with it. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/10 "2009-05-18T18:27:51Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I don’t think any of those have professional sports franchises. You kidding me? Liverpool FC, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Byern Munich, Real Madrid etc? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/11 "2009-05-18T18:33:22Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Holy crap we’re number one?!?!? I totally agree with your post. I never would have considered Indy for the top spot, especially considering Boston’s incredibly decade. I cannot possibly imagine how a city with 1 Super Bowl win beats out a city with 3 Super Bowls, 4 AFC Championships, an NBA Championship, and 2 World Series. It doesn’t add up. But I did get really close with guessing Kansas City for the bottom. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/12 "2009-05-18T18:38:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You kidding me? Liverpool FC, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Byern Munich, Real Madrid etc? From the OP’s linked article: “the Toronto Star ranked 37 cities _ **with at least two** _ professional sports teams” ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/13 "2009-05-18T19:12:38Z")
The OP is explicitly talking about North American cities, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/14 "2009-05-18T19:24:05Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Boston for sure, between two Patriot Super Bowl victories and two Red Sox titles. And the Bruins are perenially good. _Three_ Super Bowls, and another AFC Championship from their _near_ perfect season (still had a perfect regular season and the most games won in any season ever.) Also there’s an an NBA Championship in there somewhere. It seems they balanced the points more in favor of overall winning percentage. They say they gave bonus points for Championships, but IMO not enough. When you think “Best North American Sports City of the Decade,” you think Boston. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/15 "2009-05-18T19:31:57Z")
I also wanted to add that for almost every other city, having more than two teams was a detriment. It seems to me that Indianapolis only won _because_ it has just the two teams. Look at New York. They have…at least 6 (9 if you count the Islanders, Nets, and Devils.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/16 "2009-05-18T20:16:05Z")
> [@](#): > > The metric seems a bit flawed. 11-5 is the record of a pretty good football team, but not really an elite one. For a baseball team to have an equivilant percentage they would need 111, which has happened less than a handful of times in the game’s history. You also ought properly to account for the different number of games in a season. A city with an undefeated football team (16-0) and a perfectly average baseball team (81-81) has a total of 97 wins and 81 losses, while a city with a slightly above-average baseball team (say, 90-72) and a perfectly average football team (8-8) has a total of 98 wins and 80 losses. Is the second city really better overall, just because it has a higher total win-loss ratio? And Cleveland deserves some sort of mention on the bottom of the list, here: Of all North American cities with a big-league professional team in any sport, Cleveland’s gone longest without any championship win. We haven’t had one since the 1948 Indians World Series win. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/17 "2009-05-18T20:36:23Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > From the OP’s linked article: > > “the Toronto Star ranked 37 cities _ **with at least two** _ professional sports teams” Milan has both AC Milan and Internazionale of Milan, London has Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, etc., Manchester has both Manchester United and Manchester City F.C., etc. The point is that none of them are in North America. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/18 "2009-05-18T20:52:47Z")
Liverpool has both Liverpool FC and Everton. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/19 "2009-05-18T21:15:29Z")
Winningest is not a word. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874/20 "2009-05-18T21:27:59Z")
> [@bup](#): > > And the Bruins are perenially good. The _Bruins_? They had a good season this year for the first time since 2004. And they’ve been perennial also-rans since the early 90s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-winningest-cities-in-sports/496874.md?page=2)