Has DFW Ever Had a Better Sports Scene Than Right Here and Right Now?

The Rangers won it all. Now, here come the Stars and Mavericks to make runs next.

As a kid who knew I wanted to work in sports someday, I dreamed that I would be able to live in a city that had it all.

You could go see a NBA, NHL, MLB, and NFL game and if you play your cards right, you could do it all in the same month.

I actually did last October.

In fact, I went to a NBA game on the night the Rangers won the World Series and was watching the baseball game while at the basketball game. The entire NBA arena cheered as they switched the scoreboard to the baseball game in the final innings. Earlier in the playoffs, I had watched Game 2 of the ALCS while at the stadium in Los Angeles for the Cowboys-Chargers game that would start an hour later.

It is absolutely the best to have teams in all four sports and even better when they all are very good at the same time.

So, is this the best time we have ever had here in this sports city?

You may not know that Dallas is one of 13 Metropolitan areas that can boast having a team in each of the “big 4” leagues. Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Phoenix appears on borrowed time, by the way, so I believe we will be back to 12 here in a small bit.

Of those 13 cities, there have been nine occasions in the last 50 years where a city has won two titles in one calendar year.

• 1979 - Pittsburgh with the Steelers and Pirates.

• 1986 - New York with the Giants and Mets.

• 1988 - Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers.

• 2000 - New York (sort of) had the Devils and Yankees, but that city cheats with nine different franchises.

• 2002 - Los Angeles Lakers and Angels also sort of cheating with eight franchises.

• 2004 - Boston had the Patriots and Red Sox.

• 2018 - Boston again had the Patriots and Red Sox.

• 2020 - Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers the bubble-Covid year and they were not the only team, because Tampa would do it, too.

• 2020 - Tampa had the Buccaneers and Lightning (and almost the Rays, too, who lost to the Dodgers).

No city has ever had three champions in the same year, but we may have a Tiger Slam situation where a city is the champion in multiple sports simultaneously, if not in the same calendar year.

As a brief aside, my young boyhood brain nearly broke because in 1980, I could not believe that Philadelphia had all four of their franchises make the final round and have a chance for a parade. Luckily, for those of us who find Philadelphia to be a rival, they only won the World Series. The Flyers, Eagles, and Sixers all lost. A real shame!

Championships are the best. They really are. The trouble is, they have been so rare in our city since the Dallas Stars moved to town in 1993-94 and pushed Dallas up to a four-sports city.

In fact, since the 1994 was the first year they could all win a title, we have one Dallas Cowboys title (1995), one Dallas Stars Cup (1999), one Dallas Mavericks title (2011), and one Texas Rangers World Series win (2023).

They are all legendary, but nobody has scored another as we enter Year 31 with everyone together.

Here is a visual aid to demonstrate the three decades of 4-sports bliss:

As you might expect, P = playoff year and then we give either a W for a winning round or a L for a losing round. If you string three Ws together, you might win a Super Bowl and if you string four Ws together, you might win a MLB, NHL, or NBA title.

At the moment, the Stars have the best record of making the playoffs (19 times) and have 21 series wins with the Mavericks in a virtual tie in berths (19 playoff trips) with just 15 series wins. The Cowboys have made the playoffs in 15 of those 30 years, too, but of course have failed big-time when they do make the playoffs with only 9 playoff rounds won, while the Rangers were the least successful of them all….until last fall when they won as many rounds in one month as the franchise had won in its lifetime.

What a wild run that was.

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But, the question I was asked recently is the actual reason for this entry today.

“Are we currently living in the best time in the 4-sport era in this city?”

It is obviously a bit subjective. Many would say that unless the Cowboys are winning another Super Bowl, it is impossible. In those minds, football is king and if football can’t get out of the divisional round anymore, then it cannot be the best of times.

Let’s take a look at that chart above and make a few observations.

• There has only been one year out of 30 where all four teams made the playoffs and that was 2016. In that year, the Stars won one round, but the Mavericks, Rangers, and Cowboys all went one-and-done. Brutal.

• Whenever the Mavericks have been good the Rangers have not been good – except for 2011 when they both almost combined to give Dallas a two-championship year. Otherwise, there has never been a year where they both have won even a single round each.

• From 1998-2000, the Dallas Stars won nine playoff series and the rest of the city combined for zero. Incredible.

• There have been two years during this stretch when the entire city missed the playoffs. 2013 and 2017. During those times, the city went 0-4 and Jason Garrett proved twice that there was nothing he could do to get himself fired. He had missed the playoffs in 2013 for the 3rd straight year in the prime of Tony Romo and he was not removed, which demonstrated how serious Jerry Jones was about winning it all.

• 2011 and 2023 were both years where the city won six series in one year. In 2011, the Mavericks took four scalps and the Rangers two. In 2023, the Stars thought they might win the Cup, but settled for two wins and then the Rangers beat everyone.

But, the general answer seems obvious. Yes, the Cowboys are frustrating, but they also have been one of the best teams in the NFC over the last three seasons.

36-15 might be an annoying stat, but it is a true one, too. They have won over 70% of their games and yet they are fourth of the four teams in the city right now, right? That is an extremely high floor in this sports city at the moment.

The Mavericks are probably in third right now, but they enter the playoffs as the team nobody should want to play. If the Mavericks were to win the title, that would be a major shock to the league this spring, but if they win it all in the next 26 months, it would not be a major shock, I suspect. They appear to be a top 8-10 team in the league and have an arrow pointing straight up. They surely can win a round or two this spring, we should think – although the competition will be stiff from the jump.

The Stars appear to be a reasonable Stanley Cup Champion pick this spring. They probably are not the Vegas favorite and may not be top three in that regard. But, they are a high quality team and will be a team that can absolutely win it all this spring and if they don’t, they will likely be a favorite next year, too. It is a great time for Stars hockey.

And then the Rangers. They are defending champions of Major League Baseball and have a very good opportunity to return to the playoffs. It is impossible to know what that means, but we can definitely say this: they have done their part already and have a trophy to prove it. Technically, they are the 2023 champions, but given that they are the current trophy holder, they are simply looking for company from one of their three city sports neighbors.

If you have four teams in a city that all are – at worst – a top-10 team in their sport’s league and expected to be in the post-season this year, well, then you clearly have equalled or bettered the best this sports city has been able to turn out in the last 30 years.

That promises nothing moving forward. The Stars and the Mavericks could lose in Round 1 and it would not be too far-fetched. The Stars could well draw the defending Cup Champions from Vegas and the Mavericks will draw the Clippers with “Playoff Kawhi” and all that would imply.

But, yeah, it is pretty sweet around here right now. We have had times where this city had very little to get excited about in these sports and yet now they have a chance to add another trophy to the modest haul this city has had in 30 years.

Those playoff times are here in a few days, so soak it all up. You might have to plan for another celebration before you know it. Is this the best era for this sports city?

Of course it is.

It is so good right now that maybe even the Cowboys will decide to join the fun.

Don’t laugh. It might happen right when you give up hope.