10 Athletes/Teams Who Absolutely Own an Opponent
No matter how hard some players or teams try, they can't overcome a certain obstacle.
The laws of probability won't allow every matchup to play out evenly. Some teams simply have no answers for another franchise. Or maybe an individual has made their lives miserable for years.
Two notable examples played out on the gridiron last week, when a duo shredded a defense for the third straight season and a powerhouse again upended its top rival. They're the most recent but far from only examples of one-sided success.
Let's take a look at athletes or organizations who have a firm upper hand over a mismatched opponent.
Honorable Mentions
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New Zealand vs. Ireland (Rugby)
The Chicago Cubs weren't the only team to snap a century-long drought in November. By beating New Zealand at Soldier Field, Ireland won the head-to-head matchup for the first time ever.
They first played in 1905, with the All Blacks notching 28 straight victories before the 40-29 upset on Nov. 5.
David Ortiz vs. New York Yankees
The Boston Red Sox will particularly miss David Ortiz when facing their archrival. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the designated hitter retired a career .303/.394/.567 hitter against the New York Yankees, going deep 53 times in 243 games.
That's not including the 2004 American League Championship Series, when he carried the Red Sox back from a 3-0 deficit by going 12-for-31 with three homers and 11 RBI throughout the series.
Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets
In vastly different circumstances, the Golden State Warriors have eliminated the Houston Rockets in back-to-back postseasons.
The high-scoring squads met in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, which the Warriors promptly took in five games. The following year, they also won a first-round matchup in five despite an injured Stephen Curry playing 39 total minutes.
Including both postseason series, Golden State is 16-2 against Houston since 2014.
Tom Brady vs. Buffalo Bills
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The New England Patriots own the entire AFC East, winning the division 12 out of the last 13 years. The one holdover occurred in 2008, when they went 11-5 despite losing Tom Brady for the season in the first game's opening quarter.
While the Patriots have dominated all three division rivals since Brady's emergence, they have taken particular delight in tormenting the Buffalo Bills.
Since 2001, the future Hall of Famer's first season starting under center, the Patriots are 28-4 against their overmatched AFC East foe. Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Brady has thrown 66 touchdowns with a 101.5 quarterback rating in 29 starts.
Bills fans will claim that head coach Rex Ryan has ended their misfortune against archrival Bill Belichick. After all, the Bills have won twice in the last three seasons, including a 16-0 shutout earlier this year.
Not so fast. Buffalo claimed the first triumph in the final week of 2014, which New England entered with the division and a first-round bye clinched. As a result, Belichick yanked Brady and other key starters early. During 2016's loss, Brady served the final game of his delayed Deflategate suspension as the Bills shut down third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett in Week 4.
The Bills have not won a game started and finished by Brady since Sept. 25, 2011, when the star passer surrendered four interceptions alongside as many touchdown throws. The 34-31 upset snapped a 15-game losing streak highlighted by a 56-10 decimation in 2007.
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Clayton Kershaw
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Hate hearing about Clayton Kershaw's postseason struggles? Blame the St. Louis Cardinals.
The ace's 4.55 career playoff ERA was drastically inflated by two disastrous starts against the Red Birds. In 2013, he surrendered seven runs—four in the third and three in the fifth—as the Cardinals clinched their spot in the World Series.
On the verge of earning redemption, Kershaw stayed in for the seventh inning of the 2014 National League Division Series' opening game. He again fell apart in his final frame, relinquishing six hits and six runs as the Cardinals rallied to a 10-9 win.
Manager Don Mattingly didn't learn his lesson. In Game 4, he let his star southpaw start the seventh with a 2-0 lead. He coughed up a three-run homer to Matt Adams, who has nine career regular-season homers against lefties, and the Cardinals once again eliminated the Dodgers.
In the regular season, per Baseball-Reference.com, Kershaw wields a 3.18 ERA versus St. Louis with 100 strikeouts over 96.1 innings. While the Cardinals don't permanently have his number, the ace doesn't have a higher ERA against another NL team. (He also has a 3.18 mark against the Pittsburgh Pirates.)
Two starts boiling down to two horrific innings is an awfully small grudge to hold, but it stands out when a three-time Cy Young Award winner gets shellacked on the grand stage.
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Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks
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In an alternate universe where LeBron James played in the Western Conference or pursued football instead, the Atlanta Hawks may have reaped the rewards.
Every icon guts another contender's championship aspirations. Because of Michael Jordan, John Stockton and Karl Malone never won a ring for the Utah Jazz. His Airness also left Patrick Ewing's New York Knicks and Reggie Miller's Indiana Pacers in the cold.
Over the last two years, Atlanta has turned into the potent runner-up good enough to rise above everyone except for James' Cleveland Cavaliers.
In 2015, head coach Mike Budenholzer led a "San Antonio Spurs East" assortment of unheralded All Stars to a 60-win season, only to get swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by Cleveland. The following year, Cleveland again sent Atlanta packing in four games.
Making matters worse, the Cavs compiled a 12.9-point average margin of victory. They had notched 11 straight victories over the Hawks until Nov. 8, when Dwight Howard grabbed 17 rebounds in a 110-106 triumph at Quicken Loans Arena.
Nevertheless, the 13-2 Cavs are leaving the Hawks and everyone else fighting for the No. 2 seed. Don't be surprised if they collide again in the playoffs with the same result.
Daniel Murphy vs. New York Mets
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Daniel Murphy's late power outburst vaulted the New York Mets into the 2015 World Series, but the National League champions showed a quick willingness to move on by acquiring second baseman Neil Walker from the Pirates. Spurned by the organization who drafted him in 2006, he joined their division rivals, the Washington Nationals.
After staying in the National League East, Murphy received ample opportunities to make his old employer sorry. He did just that, batting .413/.444/.773 with six doubles, seven home runs and 21 RBI in 19 games. Washington won 12 of those contests en route to claiming the division by a comfortable eight-game margin.
"He's pumped up to play against us and show us we made a mistake," Mets manager Terry Collins said in July, per NJ.com's Maria Guardado. "It's human nature, and it's part of the game."
This is the same Murphy who finished both 2011 and 2012 with six home runs each season for the Mets. Before last year's October breakthrough, he set a new season-high with 14 dingers. He clobbered 25 of them for the Nationals with an NL-best .985 OPS.
The fact that he demolished the entire league is likely of little consolation for the Mets. Murphy can make them suffer for at least two more years before earning a much larger payday if he maintains this monstrous offensive production.
Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Michigan Wolverines
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Michigan still leads the overall rivalry (58-48-6) over Ohio State, but the Buckeyes are quickly gaining ground behind head coach Urban Meyer.
On Saturday, the Buckeyes pulled out a double-overtime thriller over the Wolverines, making Meyer a perfect 5-0 in The Game since taking over for Jim Tressel and Luke Fickell. The 30-27 victory puts them in the driver's seat for a College Football Playoff spot at the expense of their Big Ten enemy.
Ohio State has won 12 of the last 13 meetings and is averaging 36.4 points per game under Meyer's watch. The program has certainly come a long way from scoring 21 points over their first 15 combined head-to-head showdowns.
The recent triumph came with controversy, as the Buckeyes benefited from a questionable spotting on a fourth-down play. If they're better than Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines this season, it's only by an infinitesimal margin fans will dissect for months.
But hey, it still goes down as a win for Meyer's team. College football's most illustrious rivalry has proved cyclically one-sided, and it's currently Ohio State's turn to control the feud.
Chris Paul vs. Los Angeles Lakers
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The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Los Angeles Clippers for years, defeating their Staples Center cohabitant 16 straight times from 1997 to 2000. After that, they continued to control the one-sided geographic rivalry for another decade.
Then Chris Paul—who nearly joined forces with Kobe Bryant before the NBA vetoed a trade—orchestrated a complete role reversal after getting dealt to the Clippers instead.
Since Paul arrived to start the 2011-12 season, the Clippers are 19-3 against their L.A. roommates. The Clippers have rattled off 13 straight victories since the Lakers opened the 2013-14 campaign with a 116-103 upset without Bryant.
According to Basketball-Reference.com, Paul has averaged 20.0 points, 11.2 assists and a 132 offensive rating in 38 games against the Lakers, including as a member of the then-New Orleans Hornets. His team hasn't accrued more points per possession against another opponent with him on the court.
During their active winning streak, the Clippers have embarrassed the Lakers by earning a 20.5-point average victory margin. They especially humiliated their fading adversary in 2014, winning by tallies of 35, 48 and 23.
They have yet to play this season, but the NBA gave Paul and Co. the perfect Christmas gift by scheduling their first matchup on Dec. 25. Their last win came without Bryant, so perhaps the young Lakers can pull off a holiday miracle.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals
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The Pittsburgh Penguins always give the Washington Capitals hope, just to take it away at the last moment.
As noted by ESPN Stats & Information's Alexa Dettelbach, the Capitals have led seven of their eight Stanley Cup playoff matchups with the Penguins but only advanced once. In the first postseason collision between superstars Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, the Capitals jumped to a 2-0 edge in the 2009 conference semifinals before losing in seven.
Ovechkin's crew finally got a chance for revenge in 2016, and Washington once again seized Game 1. Pittsburgh, however, won the second-round series in six before once again capturing the Stanley Cup.
Per Dettelbach, including the two 2016-17 meetings they have split, Crosby's Penguins hold a 25-15 advantage over Ovechkin's Capitals in the regular season. On Nov. 16, however, they unleashed years of frustration in a 7-1 clobbering with two goals apiece from T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom.
Both teams have reached the playoffs in seven of the last eight years, and they're well-positioned to return once more with 13 victories each. If they meet again, maybe Washington should drop the first game and see if the tables turn.
St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks
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The Seattle Seahawks are very good. The Los Angeles Rams? Not so much. Considering how tough the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals have occasionally been in years' past, the Seahawks should relish the opportunity to procure two easy wins every season against their mediocre NFC West foe.
Yet the Rams have somehow won their last three games and four of the last five. Over these three seasons, the Seahawks are 28-9-1 against everyone else. The Rams, meanwhile, are 13-25 against the rest, and they're still fighting for their first winning season since 2003.
"The Rams know something," former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson tweeted after Week 2's 9-3 loss. "I don't know what it is but they know something about Seattle."
They have hardly dominated their superior opponent, absconding all four wins by a combined 17 points. The Rams edged out those single-digit triumphs with a defense or special teams touchdown in three of them, including when they deceived the Seahawks by pretending to field a punt on one side as Stedman Bailey returned it for a score on the other.
Those tricks are necessary to narrow the talent gap. While Los Angeles recently learned that it can't keep up with the New Orleans Saints in a Superdome shootout, it can steal victories in close, ugly defensive struggles. Seattle has also played that way but with a consistently elite defense and far-superior quarterback play.
Yet if the Rams have any hope of keeping the Seahawks' number, Jared Goff must solidify their bleak passing attack so their offense can contribute to the upsets.
Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown vs. Indianapolis Colts
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Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown celebrated Thanksgiving by connecting for a trio of touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts, who by then had ample experience getting burned by the quarterback-receiver dynamic duo.
To the Colts' chagrin, the Steelers have appeared on the schedule three straight years. Compared to the previous two encounters, they shut down Roethlisberger's offense during a 28-7 loss. Here's how the quarterback fared in those meetings:
2014: 40-of-49, 522 passing yards, 6 TDs, 0 INT (51-34 W)
2015: 24-of-39, 364 passing yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT (45-10 W)
2016: 14-of-20, 221 passing yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT (28-7 W)
“He's a dynamic, dynamic football player and has been a thorn in our side and a lot of other people's sides for a long time,” Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said of Roethlisberger after the recent lost, per the team's official site.
He threw seven of those touchdowns to Brown, who accumulated 342 combined yards with multiple scores in each contest. While the superstar receiver shreds all secondaries, he had never produced three touchdowns in a single game before thrice visiting the end zone in Week 12.
Le'Veon Bell missed last year's rout, but he tallied 148 total yards in 2014's matchup while Roethlisberger hogged all the scoring. Last Thursday, he scored his fourth touchdown in three weeks with 142 yards from scrimmage.
Few teams have an answer for Pittsburgh's offense at full strength, but nobody else has suffered its wrath quite like Indianapolis.
Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova
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Maria Sharapova has won five Grand Slam titles during a burgeoning career halted by a 15-month doping ban. Yet she hasn't defeated Serena Williams in 12 years.
In 2004, the teenager cemented her legitimacy by besting Williams in the Wimbledon final. For good measure, she claimed their next meeting to capture the WTA Finals. Perhaps Sharapova had the upper hand on Williams, who then had a mere six major titles to her name.
Or maybe not. Williams has won each of their last 18 encounters, including three Grand Slam finals triumphs and a gold-medal victory in the 2012 London Olympics. Sharapova has taken a set in only three of those defeats.
Throughout most of the one-sided feud, the Russian star still netted higher earnings than Williams, who recently claimed her deserved spot as the world's highest-paid female athlete. The all-time great now has a new foe to conquer, as Angelique Kerber ended her 186-week reign as the world's No. 1-ranked player.
When Sharapova returns from her suspension, she'll once again have to prove she can hang with the best. Based on past evidence, her chances don't look too great.
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