Boston is referred to as the “City of Champions” for a reason.
Especially as of recently, fans have been spoiled rotten by the success of its four major sports teams, and the quality of athletes that have played here are a huge part of that.
But who are the greatest athletes for each of the four major Boston Sports over the last decade? Tucker Boynton of the “Stats Over Stories” podcast used a few stats to determine that.
New England Patriots
According to each NFL player’s Approximate Value (AV), which puts a single number on the season value of any player, here are the ten best Patriots of the last 10 years:
- Tom Brady (AV: 160)
- Rob Gronkowski (82)
- Devin McCourty (76)
- Dont’a Hightower (70)
- Julian Edelman (65)
- Nate Solder (60)
- Rob Ninkovich (59)
- Sebastian Vollmer (54)
- Logan Mankins (52)
- Vince Wilfork (52)
Of these players, three are still with the Patriots, three are playing elsewhere and four have retired. We’re thinking those Tom Brady numbers will be hard to touch for some time.
Boston Bruins
The top B’s were calculated using the Point Shares stat, an estimate of the number of points contributed by a player. Here’s who makes the Top 10:
- Brad Marchand (PS: 88)
- Patrice Bergeron (76.9)
- Zdeno Chara (71.4)
- David Krejci (57.5)
- Torey Krug (54.1)
- David Pastrnak (50.5)
- Milan Lucic (32.3)
- Dennis Seidenberg (23.3)
- Kevan Miller (20.0)
- Charlie McAvoy (19.4)
Of that list, a whopping eight players still suit up in black and gold. Loyal. Only Milan Lucic (Calgary Flames) and Dennis Seidenberg (retired) are no longer on the Bruins.
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Boston Celtics
Win shares are an NBA player statistic that try to divvy up credit for team success between the individuals. These 10 current and former Celtics rank in the top:
- Paul Pierce (WS: 25.8)
- Isaiah Thomas (24.4)
- Al Horford (21.6)
- Kevin Garnett (21.5)
- Marcus Smart (20.3)
- Brandon Bass (19.8)
- Jayson Tatum (18.3)
- Kyrie Irving (18.0)
- Jae Crowder (17.3)
- Rajon Rondo (16.8)
Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum are the only current Celtics on the list; three of them have retired and four are playing elsewhere in the NBA. Isaiah Thomas, meanwhile, is a free agent and after seeing this, we miss him even more. Oh, and hey, Brandon Bass.
Boston Red Sox
The top 10 members of the Red Sox were determined using their Wins Above Replacement (WAR), a sabermetric used to summarize a player’s total contributions to the team.
- Mookie Betts (WAR: 41.8)
- Dustin Pedroia (35.9)
- David Ortiz (25.3)
- Xander Bogaerts (21.5)
- Jackie Bradley Jr. (15.9)
- Chris Sale (15.2)
- Jon Lester (15.2)
- Jacoby Ellsbury (14.9)
- Eduardo Rodriguez (13.6)
- Clay Bucholz (13.4)
Five of these players are still in Boston, two are free agents, and Mookie Betts and Jon Lester are playing elsewhere in Major League Baseball. It looks like Eduardo Rodriguez may be a bit underappreciated in this city, and TBT to the Clay Bucholz days.
