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Boston sports, by the numbers

Has your city won as many championships as Boston?

By Patrick Garvin
February 4, 2019

The New England Patriots' victory over The Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII not only further cemented the legacies of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but showed how powerful Boston is as a sports city.

Boston is one of seven cities that have won at least one championship in professional football, baseball, hockey, and basketball:

The data for these charts were pulled from every World Series since 1903, every Stanley Cup final since 1918, every pro football championship since 1933, and every NBA final since 1947.

It is impressive to be part of such a small group and to have won more championships than most of those other cities. Here are the cities whose teams Boston beat to win championships:

Football
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey

Let’s start with the obvious: In games with championships on the line, no city's teams have lost to Boston teams more often than Los Angeles teams. But that's only in two sports. When it comes to losing to Boston, Los Angeles has nothing on St. Louis.

The Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins have all won championships by defeating teams from St. Louis. Boston is the only city to have won a championship in all four sports by beating a team from the same city. Chicago and Philadelphia have played each other in the World Series, the Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Finals, and the pre-Super Bowl NFL championship game. But Philadelphia has beaten Chicago in only three of the four sports. When the Flyers faced the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, Chicago won the series, 4-2.

Football
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey
Boston/St. Louis
Football
1
Baseball
2
Basketball
3
Hockey
1
Los Angeles/New York
Football
0
Baseball
2
Basketball
1
Hockey
1
Philadelphia/Chicago
Football
1
Baseball
2
Basketball
1
Hockey
0

Boston has won seven championships by beating St. Louis teams, which is notable given that St. Louis no longer has an NBA team or an NFL team.

Boston is the only city that has won a championship in each of the four sports since 2000.

Not surprisingly, Boston has the most overall championships in that time.

These data were pulled from every World Series since 2000, every Stanley Cup Final since the 1999-2000 season, every Super Bowl since 2000, and every NBA Finals since the 1999-2000 season.

Looking at the total number of championships won in all sports, Boston comes out second only to New York.

X
Baseball
X
Football
X
Basketball
X
Hockey
These data were pulled from every World Series since 1903, every Stanley Cup Final since 1918, every pro football championship since 1933, and every NBA championship since 1947.

Boston comes out on top in the number of basketball championships:

These data were pulled from every World Series since 1903, every Stanley Cup Final since 1918, every pro football championship since 1933, and every NBA championship since 1947.