25 sports stats that no longer seem to matter

With a 17-game schedule, the 1,000 dashing mark has misplaced a bit little bit of its luster. Because the begin of the 2021 season, there have been 51 1,000-yard rushers. Maybe 1,200 yards is the brand new 1,000, with solely 17 rushers gaining that a lot throughout that very same span. There has solely been one 2,000-yard rusher since 2021 — Saquon Barkley (2024). To not point out, it is a large deal when a workforce’s featured working again truly performs a full season. Or, take into account, that that is nonetheless a pass-happy NFL. 

Here is the knock on the assist-to-turnover ratio: It tends to glorify amount over high quality. How about these guards — like Chris Paul — who’ve made a dwelling with high-quality, game-changing passing? The unofficial “high quality assists” is one thing that may be a greater indicator of the significance placed on a participant’s passing. And, in terms of turnovers, even the perfect guards within the recreation — professional or school — will see comparatively excessive numbers occasionally as a result of quantity of ball dealing with they do. 

Based on Workforce SpeedKills, essentially the most indicative correlation between penalty statistics and successful proportion — when it comes to penalties per recreation — was -0.128. Hardly a powerful stat, and proof that it’s not a severe predictor of success. Throughout the 2024 school soccer season, solely two groups — Ohio State and Indiana — that made the Faculty Soccer Playoff ranked among the many prime 20 in lowest common penalties per recreation. On the flipside, SMU averaged greater than 8 penalties per contest, among the many most within the nation, and likewise reached the CFP.

In an age the place slugging nonetheless packs followers within the seats, hanging out on the plate does not imply as a lot as one would suppose. By no means thought-about a “high quality out,” the strikeout hardly ever helps an offense. However, a number of the recreation’s greatest gamers — notably energy hitters — have struck out essentially the most. As of June 1, 2025, Corridor-of-Famer Reggie Jackson is the majors’ all-time chief with 2,596 strikeouts. Additionally within the prime 10 for many strikeouts — fellow Corridor-of-Famer Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Cabrera.

To these old-school followers or baseball purists, batting common continues to be an enormous deal when speaking a few participant’s offensive success. Nevertheless, with the rise of superior stats and analytics, there may be much less emphasis positioned batting common, alone. Particularly as a result of the house run ball continues to be king. Sexier numbers like on-base proportion, complete bases and the ever-popular OPS — on-base + slugging — have develop into the brand new go-to elements when figuring out the success of a participant on the plate. Now, as of Might 30, 2025, the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, one of many recreation’s nice sluggers, was hitting .398 — which, clearly, is sort of spectacular.

Merely put, size now not appears an vital issue to be an excellent beginning pitcher. Positive, high quality begins are nonetheless thought-about a key consider pitching success, however going past six innings will not be frequent with extra emphasis positioned on pitch counts, openers and never getting damage the third time by an order. In 2024, there have been 28 full video games thrown within the majors — two apiece by Max Fried, Kevin Gausman and Cristopher Sanchez. Received again to 2015, and 104 full video games have been recorded.

Based on Shot Scope , on common, golfers who hit the golf green off the tee (on a non-par 3) are 15 % extra more likely to attain the inexperienced in regulation. On this statistical instance an argument may be made both manner simply how vital fairways hit are on the PGA Tour. In 2024 Aaron Rai led the Tour by hitting fairways 73.45 % of the time. Rai has just one PGA Tour win in his profession. In the meantime, Scottie Scheffler, at present the perfect golfer on the planet, ranked nineteenth (66.51 %). Let the argument proceed.

Lately, the idea is that efficient field-goal proportion, which takes under consideration 3-point capturing, is the higher indicator of an total profitable capturing participant and workforce. There’s all the time been the argument towards its worth as a result of put up gamers usually have the best field-goal percentages as a result of they theoretically take the closest pictures. In 2024-25, Cleveland heart Jarrett Allen led the league, capturing 70.6 %. In relation to perimeter performers, the stat tends to have extra worth.  

It is protected to say, Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive video games performed streak of two,632 is not going to be damaged any time quickly. Off days are beneficial, platooning is well-liked and main leaguers now not play damage. As of Might 30, 2025, the closest energetic streak of the type was by way of Matt Olson at 675. The times of the ironman in Main League Baseball are lengthy gone. In actual fact, solely 4 big-leaguers performed in all 162 video games in 2024 — Olson, Pete Alonso, Nick Castellanos and Marcell Ozuna.

In some ways, the goals-against common is a bit outdated. Within the sense is {that a} netminder’s GAA can be considerably based mostly on what is occurring in entrance of the online. The method takes under consideration the typical pictures confronted and saved. Now, if goalie has a strong protection to work with, the variety of pictures, theoretically will not be excessive. A greater indicator of goaltender success and value ought to be save proportion. Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild ranked sixth within the NHL with a .914 save proportion, however his 2.56 GAA barely cracked the highest 10.

There’s apparent worth in piling up innings for a beginning pitcher, however in 2024, solely 4 pitchers tossed not less than 200 innings — Logan Gilbert, Set Lugo, Logan Webb and Zack Wheeler. However, none of these pitchers attain 210 innings. That goes again to the aforementioned matter of full video games. Examine that to 2019, when 15 pitchers reached the 200-inning mark. Or again to 2015, when 28 pitchers completed that feat, with seven throwing not less than 220.

The NFL and school video games have develop into pass-happy. For higher or worse. Nevertheless, a quarterback’s passing yards usually do not inform the true story. Loads of groups play from behind, permitting passing yards to be padded, typically amid “rubbish time.” In 2024, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts completed twentieth within the NFL with 2,903 yards, however gained the Tremendous Bowl. Sure, Patrick Mahomes was the sport’s prime passer in 2022, and gained the Tremendous Bowl, however that is the case fewer occasions than not. Within the school recreation, when Michigan gained the nationwide title to conclude the 2023 marketing campaign, J.J. McCarthy ranked thirty fourth within the nation with fewer than 3,000 passing yards.

One other stat that over time has misplaced its luster. Once more, starters should not going lengthy into video games and openers have develop into all the craze in terms of game-planning the rotation, particularly if accidents come into play. Whereas present MLB stars resembling Tarik Skubal and Shota Imanaga have piled up spectacular win totals, one solely wants to have a look at Boston’s Tanner Houck. In 2024, he ranked among the many main league leaders with a 3.12 ERA over 30 begins, however posted a 9-10 file. Not far behind was Seattle’s Logan Gilbert, who pitched a big-league excessive 208 2/3 innings, had a 3.23 ERA and was an All-Star, however personal a tough 9-12 in 2024.

The statistic sounds all-encompassing, a seemingly thorough analysis of a participant’s total expertise. That stated, it focuses closely on offensive acumen. Thus, primarily forgoing a participant’s defensive worth and different intangibles. Truly, the stat has been thought-about somewhat historical for a while within the age of next-generation statistics.

The plus-minus statistic stays well-liked as a result of it is enjoyable for the speaking heads of the sport to banter round. However, it mainly is determined by how good a workforce is on a given season, so consistency generally is a issue. In 2024-25, the Nashville Predators endured a disappointing season, with star Filip Forsberg a career-worst minus-27, after being a plus-16 a season prior, whereas nonetheless among the many greatest gamers within the NHL. And, how concerning the nice Alex Ovechkin, who totaled 73 targets in 2022-23 and 2023-24, however was a mixed minus-38?

For many years, the punt common statistic has hardly ever ever been an correct predictor of a punter’s expertise or success. How one punts the soccer — whether or not within the NFL or the school recreation — may be deceptive. Hangtime, accuracy, placement, avoiding touchbacks and common return yards all appear extra vital. After all, the state of affairs of the sport, and area place usually dictates a punter’s focus at any given time. In 2024, Las Vegas’ AJ Cole ranked second within the NFL with a 42.5 yards per punt, however the Raiders gained 4 video games. In the meantime, 4 of the highest 5 punters in fewest common return yards from 2024 have been members of playoff groups.

One other statistic that raises questions on total accuracy. If a golfer constantly hits greens in regulation, she or he will usually have extra placing alternatives every spherical. On the similar time, there are stellar bunker or tough gamers, who, relying on elements resembling inexperienced slope or pin placement, purposely intention to overlook the inexperienced as a result of they’re sturdy on the up-and-down recreation. As of Might 31, 2025, Englishman Harry Corridor led the PGA Tour with a median 27.50 putts per spherical. Who? Precisely. Once more, Scottie Scheffler, on the similar level, ranked twelfth.

Whether or not school or professional, simply what objective does the Quarterback (or Passer) Score serve? The method takes under consideration completion proportion, yards per try, landing proportion, and interception proportion, a strong indicator of total efficiency. Nevertheless, does any of that translate into constant and championship success? Since 2021, among the many prime 10 quarterbacks in Quarterback Score throughout that span, solely Patrick Mahomes, who ranks tenth with a 105.2 from 2022, gained a Tremendous Bowl that season.

The RBI statistic has all the time been a sensitive topic (particularly whether or not to name it RBI or RBIs) in terms of describing offensive value. Although nonetheless a strong offensive speaking level, like batting common, next-generation statistics and analytics have overshadowed this conventional metric. A longtime opposing argument for the RBI value has been that there are such a lot of methods to carry him a run, together with a number of when making an out. In 2024, the Arizona Diamondbacks led the majors with 845 RBIs, however did not make the playoffs. 

Serve velocity in tennis may be the equal to driving distance in golf. All people loves to speak about how laborious a participant can smash a serve, however it clearly doesn’t inform the entire story in terms of figuring out service success. Different components, resembling placement, spin, accuracy and consistency all play main roles in terms of distinctive serving. That stated, success normally would not all the time translate right into a Corridor-of-Fame profession. John Isner posted a file 14,470 aces, however by no means gained a Grand Slam occasion.

Let’s be aware that there’ll all the time be chatter in terms of figuring out what’s an official shot on purpose. And, why is an try that clanks off the iron of the online not thought-about a shot on purpose? Regardless, for years, a excessive pictures on purpose has not all the time equaled success. In 2024-25, the New York Islanders, Calgary, Nashville, and Columbus every ranked among the many prime 10 within the NHL for highest common pictures on purpose, however none made the playoffs. Conversely, Montreal and St. Louis ranked within the backside 5 of the identical class and have been playoff groups.

A mega-popular stat throughout the Seventies and ’80s, the stolen base started to wane as the ability surge in baseball turned prevalent, whereas small ball was now not a constant strategy to win video games. Because the late Nineteen Nineties, the stolen base has develop into kind of dangerous. It is all about scoring runs, and getting a runner thrown out on the bases has develop into extra of a legal responsibility. In 1985, Vince Coleman stole 110 bases. In 2019, the main league steals leaders have been Seattle’s Mallex Smith with 46. Nevertheless, the steal may be making a comeback. Thrilling Cincinnati star Elly De La Cruz swiped 67 baggage in 2024.

A membership that may go the ball effectively usually with additionally holds a majority of a match’s possession. Now, that does not all the time assure victory. In actual fact, the profitable passes statistic has been one dubbed meaningless from some time. There are a number of different elements that decide a workforce’s success in terms of passing — high quality, issue, type of play and the caliber of gamers on the pitch. This stat is simply too generic to correctly point out success.

The argument has lingered for years that tackles, whether or not in professional or school soccer, do not inform a complete lot a few participant’s worth. Sure, a majority of the sport’s sort out leaders are linebackers, particularly within the center, the place they can roam an excellent chunk of the sector and may defend each the run and go. Whereas solo tackles may be a bit extra informative, it ought to be identified that the highest 4 tacklers (complete) within the NFL from 2024 have been from groups that didn’t make the playoffs — or personal a successful file. Plus, if a workforce cannot defend the run up entrance, second-level tackles would be the norm. Additionally, if a squad offers up chunk yards, secondary members, normally safeties, will see excessive charges of stops.

For these not within the know, the win rating method is as follows: (Factors)+(Rebounds)+(Steals)+(½Assists)+(½Blocked Photographs)-(Discipline Objective Makes an attempt)-(Turnovers)-½(Free Throw Makes an attempt)-½Personal Fouls. Sure, it’s extremely intricate, however what worth does it maintain? Truly, a greater indicator of particular person success when it comes to producing victories ought to be the “Win Share.” The highest three all-time leaders (as of June 2025) in that class are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (273.41), LeBron James (271.38) and Wilt Chamberlain (247.26)