Sunday, December 29, 2019

Bandits' Loose Ball Differential

In losing to Halifax on Dec. 28, 2019, the Bandits lost the loose ball battle by 30. The Thunderbirds picked up 102 of them, while Buffalo had 72.

The question came to mind: Is the 30-ball difference any sort of team record? It was time to find out.

Let's go back into history and see the biggest differences in loose ball collections by game. By the way, they only go back to 2006. We start with Buffalo's biggest edge in this department:

Team - Date - LB-LBA - Diff.
Minnesota - 2/4/11 - 88/44 - +44
@Vancouver - 1/17/15 - 79-39 - +40
Philadelphia - 4/14/06 - 89-50 - +39
New England - 4/30/16 - 101-66 - +35
Toronto - 4/16/16 - 96-62 - +34
Minnesota - 3/4/06 - 84-53 - +31
@Georgia - 2/14/16 - 73-44 - +29
Rochester - 2/14/15 - 62-34 - +28
Boston - 4/16/11 - 82/55 - +27
@New England - 3/23/18 - 98-72 - +26
@Philadelphia - 1/15/11 - 93-67 - +26

And now for the worst numbers in recent team history; we had an addition to this list in 2023-24 in Albany's game in February:

Team - Date - LB-LBA - Diff.
Washington - 4/28/12 - 49-97 - -48
@Philadelphia - 2/17/07 - 73-117 - -44
@Halifax - 3/27/22 - 67-103 - -36
@Toronto - 12/17/22 - 64-100 - -36
Halifax - 12/28/19 - 72-102 - -30
Boston - 4/18/09 - 52-82 - -30
Arizona - 4/7/07 - 43-73 - -30
Albany - 2/24/24 - 56-86 - -30
@San Diego - 4/27/19 - 57-83 - -26
Toronto - 1/18/20 - 35-61 - -26
Calgary - 12/4/21 - 58-84 - -26

LB is loose balls, LBA is loose balls against. 

Updated on May 3, 2024

The 2023-24 Season

It had all gone so easily for the Buffalo Bandits in the spring of 2023. The Bandits had been the best team in the National Lacrosse League ...