By worst start ever, I don't mean worst starting pitching performance ever, although I will undoubtedly write a blog post seeking to discover that exact thing. Rather, I'm talking about the worst start to the season that any team has ever had. Inspired by the 4-9 start to this Red Sox season (analyzed in depth here), I decided to highlight a team that was far worse through the first 13 games. And, for that matter, through the first three weeks of the season.
In 1988, people weren't exactly expecting great things out of the Orioles. The previous year, they had finished with a dismal 67-95 record, but I don't think anything prepared their fans for the start of the next season. Despite having Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Fred Lynn in their starting lineups, the Orioles got off to an 0-6 start, at which point manager Cal Ripken, Sr. was fired. Frank Robinson took over, but the losing streak continued. They didn't get their first win until April 29, after 21 straight losses to start the season. They had been swept in seven straight series, and finished April with a 1-22 record. By the end of the season though, they improved their record enough to finish 54-107, a mere 34.5 games out of first place.
Monday, April 19, 2010
The First 13 Games
It seems like the worst possible way for the Red Sox to start the season; through 13 games, they are 4-9, and have lost five in a row. They already have two different 3-game losing streaks, and the season is only two weeks old. Many Red Sox fans are panicking, declaring that the season is already over, and the team might as well have a firesale and start rebuilding for the future. Sure, it's a lousy start, but how does it compare to other lousy starts in the team's history, and how did those teams fare for the rest of the season. So, here we go, the top 10 (technically, top 14) worst Red Sox teams after 13 games, plus their final regular season record:
7. 2010, 4-9, ??-??
7. 1984, 4-9, 86-76
7. 1972, 4-9, 85-70
7. 1958, 4-9, 79-75
7. 1954, 4-9, 69-85
7. 1943, 4-9, 68-84
7. 1933, 4-9, 63-86
7. 1929, 4-9, 58-96
3. 1966, 3-10, 72-90
3. 1932, 3-10, 43-111
3. 1925, 3-10, 47-105
3. 1905, 3-10, 78-74
1. 1996, 2-11, 85-77
1. 1927, 2-11, 51-103
Of the teams that have gone before, seven of them have had identical records as the 2010 Red Sox thus far. Of those, three finished above .500 for the season, and overall five of the previous 13 teams with identical or worse records have finished over .500. Not exactly the bext company to be in; many of the teams on the list were from the infamously bad teams of the late 20's and early 30's. The best that any Sox team has done after such a rough start was the 1984 team, which finished at a respectable 86-76, although this was only good enough for 4th in the seven-team AL East. Interestingly enough, within a month of this rough start, the Sox called up a rookie pitcher named Roger Clemens...
But, now that I've broken down the worst through 13 games, which teams fared the best in the same time period, and how did they end up? Because so many teams started off 9-4, I'm only going to list the six teams that won 10 or more of their first 13:
3. 1993, 10-3, 80-82
3. 1952, 10-3, 76-78
3. 1946, 10-3, 104-50-2
3. 1904, 10-3, 95-59-3
2. 1920, 10-2-1, 72-81-1
1. 1918, 11-2, 75-51
This list is interesting because it includes, as expected, three pennant-winning teams (1946, 1918, and 1904), but the other three not only didn't win the pennant, they didn't even finish over .500! So, while starting out 4-9 or worse seems to generally bode poorly for the Sox, starting 10-3 or better seems to be little indication on how the rest of the season will play out. So, I think it can be concluded that 13 games are a very small sample size (8% of the entire season) so just because the 2010 Sox started 4-9, it doesn't mean they are going to end up 50-112 at the end of the season. But still, it is concerning to see so many poor teams and no playoff teams at all have started 9-4 or worse. I guess we'll know within the next five months...
7. 2010, 4-9, ??-??
7. 1984, 4-9, 86-76
7. 1972, 4-9, 85-70
7. 1958, 4-9, 79-75
7. 1954, 4-9, 69-85
7. 1943, 4-9, 68-84
7. 1933, 4-9, 63-86
7. 1929, 4-9, 58-96
3. 1966, 3-10, 72-90
3. 1932, 3-10, 43-111
3. 1925, 3-10, 47-105
3. 1905, 3-10, 78-74
1. 1996, 2-11, 85-77
1. 1927, 2-11, 51-103
Of the teams that have gone before, seven of them have had identical records as the 2010 Red Sox thus far. Of those, three finished above .500 for the season, and overall five of the previous 13 teams with identical or worse records have finished over .500. Not exactly the bext company to be in; many of the teams on the list were from the infamously bad teams of the late 20's and early 30's. The best that any Sox team has done after such a rough start was the 1984 team, which finished at a respectable 86-76, although this was only good enough for 4th in the seven-team AL East. Interestingly enough, within a month of this rough start, the Sox called up a rookie pitcher named Roger Clemens...
But, now that I've broken down the worst through 13 games, which teams fared the best in the same time period, and how did they end up? Because so many teams started off 9-4, I'm only going to list the six teams that won 10 or more of their first 13:
3. 1993, 10-3, 80-82
3. 1952, 10-3, 76-78
3. 1946, 10-3, 104-50-2
3. 1904, 10-3, 95-59-3
2. 1920, 10-2-1, 72-81-1
1. 1918, 11-2, 75-51
This list is interesting because it includes, as expected, three pennant-winning teams (1946, 1918, and 1904), but the other three not only didn't win the pennant, they didn't even finish over .500! So, while starting out 4-9 or worse seems to generally bode poorly for the Sox, starting 10-3 or better seems to be little indication on how the rest of the season will play out. So, I think it can be concluded that 13 games are a very small sample size (8% of the entire season) so just because the 2010 Sox started 4-9, it doesn't mean they are going to end up 50-112 at the end of the season. But still, it is concerning to see so many poor teams and no playoff teams at all have started 9-4 or worse. I guess we'll know within the next five months...
Imperfect Game
Baseball is an unusual game, with a history unlike any other major sport. As America's first significant spectator sport, its history at the professional level can be traced back almost to the Civil War. Major League Baseball is generally understood to have started in 1876, with the creation of the National League, and since then nearly 200,000 MLB games have been played. With so many games, there are bound to be oddities and strange events going on, and my purpose in writing this blog is to highlight some of those. While I will probably discuss some relatively well-known events, my goal is to describe strange and unusual happenings in the world of baseball that do not receive as much attention.
To start off, I'm a 23 year old college graduate, with bachelor's degrees in English and Regional Planning. I first jumped on the Red Sox bandwagon during the 2003 postseason. The first Red Sox game that I ever recall watching was Game 1 of the Sox-Yankees ALCS that year, and at the time I knew very little about the team, or even about baseball in general for that matter. (Sure, I knew the basics, but in my ignorance I didn't discover until that year that foul balls count as strikes for the first two strikes) Either way, I quickly took a liking to the team, despite the way that the series ended. The next year, I continued to watch the Red Sox games, and it just so happened that it was the year that they won the World Series for the first time since 1918. Ever since then, I've been a fan of Red Sox in particular, but baseball history as well, and I enjoy not only current events, but also learning about the history of the game as well.
To start off, I'm a 23 year old college graduate, with bachelor's degrees in English and Regional Planning. I first jumped on the Red Sox bandwagon during the 2003 postseason. The first Red Sox game that I ever recall watching was Game 1 of the Sox-Yankees ALCS that year, and at the time I knew very little about the team, or even about baseball in general for that matter. (Sure, I knew the basics, but in my ignorance I didn't discover until that year that foul balls count as strikes for the first two strikes) Either way, I quickly took a liking to the team, despite the way that the series ended. The next year, I continued to watch the Red Sox games, and it just so happened that it was the year that they won the World Series for the first time since 1918. Ever since then, I've been a fan of Red Sox in particular, but baseball history as well, and I enjoy not only current events, but also learning about the history of the game as well.
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