The Toronto Raptors didn’t just have their best regular season in franchise history, they had one of the best single seasons (based on regular-season winning percentage) in all of Toronto sports history.
See how they stack up against some of the best Toronto regular-season teams in the four major North American sports.
1) 2015-16 Raptors (.683 win percentage): After a miserable playoff disappointment, the 2015-16 Raptors reloaded their roster over the off-season and it led to the most successful regular season they have ever had. The Raptors went 56-26 to finish with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference entering the post-season. Their success will ultimately be determined by how they fare in the playoffs, but the Raptors deserve major respect — in terms of a historical perspective in Toronto given some of the other teams below on this list.
2) 1950-51 Toronto Maple Leafs (.679 win percentage): It’s worth noting that there were only six teams in the NHL at this period in history, but the 1950-51 Maple Leafs were still an impressive team, going 41-16-13 in the regular season before beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in the Stanley Cup final. In case you’ve never heard this before, Maple Leafs forward Bill Barilko scored the winning goal in the Cup final that year.
3) 1960-61 Maple Leafs (.643 win percentage): The Maple Leafs went 39-19-12 in 70 regular season games, led by Vezina Trophy winner Johnny Bower who racked up 33 wins with a 2.50 goals-against average. Toronto finished second in the regular-season standings (Note: six team league) before falling in the semifinals to the Detroit Red Wings 4-1.
4) 2003-04 Maple Leafs (.628 win percentage): The Maple Leafs finished second in the now-defunct Northeast Division with a 45-24-10-3 record, which was the highest single-season point total in franchise history (Remember, there were points for ties/OT losses). However, they only won one playoff round, beating the Ottawa Senators in seven games before falling the Philadelphia Flyers in Round 2. In hindsight, Pat Quinn’s tenure with the Maple Leafs remains criminally underrated despite never making the Cup final.
5) 1985 Toronto Blue Jays: (.615 win percentage) We’re just talking about regular-season success on this list or else the 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays would clearly rank higher. The newer generation of Blue Jays fans may forget that the ’85 squad has the highest regular-season win total in franchise history (99) in 161 games en route to their first AL East title in franchise history. The Blue Jays, however, fell to the Kansas City Royals (familiar?) in an epic seven-game ALCS.
