Worst Red Sox Team Ever

Today, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine remarked that the Red Sox currently have the weakest roster in team history.  Given their thoroughly underwhelming 64-80 record, they are certainly the worst Red Sox team in recent history.  In fact, their .444 winning percentage is worse than any Red Sox team since 1966, when they had the same percentage.  However, do they actually have a chance at being the worst Red Sox team ever?

Actually, they won't even break the top ten.

Provided the Red Sox win one more of their remaining 18 games (admittedly a difficult challenge for this team), they can rest assured knowing they will be guaranteed to finish above .400 (someone forgot to tell them that hitting .400 doesn't mean reaching it in the standings).  This will put them ahead of 11 other Red Sox teams, mostly from the 1920s, that reached even lower points of futility.  The worst, however, is the team that I am focusing this blog post on, the 1932 Red Sox

The early 1930s is remembered as the low point of the Great Depression, and for Red Sox fans, that term described the era in more ways than one.  To fully appreciate the situation, it is important to note that in the ten seasons prior to 1932, the Red Sox had finished with a winning percentage lower than this year's team, every year.  The best season in that time period was 1924, when they managed a 67-87 record and didn't finish in last place (which was quite the accomplishment for them back then).  All of this to say, there wasn't much in the way of expectations for the Red Sox in 1932.  But I doubt that anyone was expecting a season quite as bad as what they experienced.

Since most of you (including myself) did not have the great fortune of watching this team in action, here are some facts and highlights from the season:

• The team went through 2 managers; Shano Collins was fired after an 11-44 start, and was succeeded by Marty McManus, who was able to improve the team enough to go 32-67 with them for the rest of the season.  I guess the one advantage to being hired midseason after an 11-44 start is that there can't be a whole lot of expectations on you.
• At the end of the first half of the season, the team had a 15-59 record, good for a .203 winning percentage.  However, they went on a tear, going 28-52 the rest of the way to finish 43-111.  Had they kept up the pace from the first half, they would have finished with the worst winning percentage in post-1900 MLB history.
• They finished the season a mere 64 games out of first place.
• They managed to put together a three game winning streak during the season.  And they did it twice!
• The star of the team was first baseman Dale Alexander, who was traded in mid-June and hit .372 for the team, the fourth highest single-season batting average in Red Sox history.
• The starting second baseman, shortstop, and centerfielder combined for zero home runs.
• The starting shortstop was Rabbit Warstler, whose name sounds like what a redneck would call someone who tackles hares.  In any case, he hit .211 with 0 home runs, 34 RBI, and an astonishingly low OPS+ of 42.  But, at least his defense was good, right?  Except for those 41 errors that he made...
• In 1932, the team hit a combined total of 53 home runs.  Jimmie Foxx, first baseman for the A's, hit 58.
• The "ace" of the staff was Ed Durham, whose 3.80 ERA was lowest on the team.  However, he also had a 6-13 record.
• The leader in wins was Bob Kline, who went 11-13 as both a starter and reliever.
• Starting pitchers Gordon Rhodes and Danny MacFayden had a combined win-loss record of 2-18.

Greatest Pitching Matchup Ever?

What are the chances of the two greatest pitchers in baseball history facing off in a game?  Probably not great, considering it would require two pitchers to have overlapping careers, play in the same league but on different teams, and have their rotation schedules coincide so that they end up starting against each other.  However, there just may have been three such games like that in baseball history.

It obviously depends on the answer to the highly subjective question of who the two greatest pitchers in baseball history are.  According to Bill James, it's Walter Johnson and Lefty Grove, and I tend to agree with him.  I won't get into all of the details as to why I think so in this post, but suffice to say they both have legitimate claims to being the two greatest ever.  And they started against each other three times in their careers.  So, I decided to take a look at what the outcomes were.

They played in the same league together for just three seasons: the last three of Johnson's career, and the first three of Grove's.   So, there are no intense pitcher's duels here, and likely the fans who saw the game didn't appreciate much about it.  Likely, all they saw it as was a washed-up veteran against a somewhat decent young player.  But in retrospect, these three games probably had the greatest pitching matchups in baseball history, when the whole of a pitcher's career is taken into account.

Game #1 - June 26, 1925, Shibe Park, Philadelphia.  Washington Senators 5, Philadelphia A's 3

This was the only one of the three games in which both starters pitched complete games.  Neither pitcher was amazing, but Johnson pitched well enough to earn the win, which at the time improved his record to 11-4.  Rookie Lefty Grove, on the other hand, gave up five runs and lost the game, lowering his record to 7-5.  However, he did strike out 7 batters, compared to none for Johnson.  Apparently it was a sign of things to come, because Grove ended up leading the league in strikeouts that year, and for the next six years after that.

Game #2 - September 7, 1925, Shibe Park, Philadelphia.  Washington Senators 2, Philadelphia A's 1

In a game that was played exactly 87 years ago yesterday, both Johnson and Grove pitched very well, but in the end it was Johnson again who earned the win.  Along the way, he gave up 9 hits but just one run, while Grove, who was taken out after 8 innings, gave up 8 hits and two runs.  It was definitely the best-pitched of any of the three games that they started against each other.

Game #3 - April 23, 1926, Shibe Park, Philadelphia. Washington Senators 9, Philadelphia A's 5

Johnson and Grove did not start against each other at all in 1927, so this was the last time they would do so.  For Grove, it would turn out to be his last chance to defeat the greatest pitcher in baseball history, but sadly for him he was unable to even record an out.  He gave up a hit, two walks, and four runs before being pulled from the game, while Johnson pitched another complete game to give him a 3-0 record against Lefty Grove.

The Contenders

Last September had one of the most dramatic playoff races in recent memory, with both wild card races going down to the last day of the season, largely thanks to astonishing collapses on the part of the Red Sox and Braves.  However, this September looks to be even more dramatic, for several reasons.

First, the addition of two new wild card spots has accomplished several things; it has enabled even more teams to remain in contention, and it has also made winning the division more of a priority.  As of right now, half of all MLB teams are still in contention (3.5 games back or fewer) for a playoff spot.  However, those in contention will need to carefully consider their strategy going forward for the rest of the month.  In previous years, since the wild card was introduced in 1995, teams that have clinched the wild card but that have barely been in contention for the division title have often chosen to "settle" for the wild card, and rest their starters in preparation for the playoffs.

The new playoff format, however, changes that.  Now, the league's two wild card winners must face off in a one-game playoff, while division winners automatically advance to the LDS.  This will make things particularly interesting in the last week of the season - should a manager rest his starters (especially his ace pitcher) for the wild card playoff, or should the team go all out in the last week and hope to win the division?  Obviously, anything can happen in one game, so teams would be hesitant to roll the dice on it if they don't have to.  Plus, A team will most likely use their best starter for that game, which leaves them (most likely) unavailable to pitch more than once in the LDS.  So, while adding the wild card may have reduced the importance of winning the division, the addition of a second one has had the opposite effect, and has kept teams playing competitively for longer.

The second reason why this September is shaping up to be significant is the fact that there is no single team that appears poised to win it all.  The Red Sox, Phillies, and Mets are hopelessly out of the running.  The Yankees just blew a 10 game lead and are in free-fall mode.  The Dodgers, despite making one of the biggest in-season trades in baseball history, are third in the wild card race.  The Angels, despite having Albert Pujols, plus contenders for Cy Young, MVP, and Rookie of the Year on their team, are a couple losses away from being out of contention.

In their place, teams like the Orioles, Nationals, and Reds are leading their divisions.  The Pirates, who haven't had a winning record since the first Bush administration, are just two games out of the wild card race.  The A's, who haven't been relevant since being swept in the ALCS in 2006, are somehow winning despite being made up of a combination of untested young players and aging cast-offs from other teams.  So, without a strong, clear favorite, the playoffs and the World Series are wide open for any one of a number of teams to step forward and win it all.  This should certainly be an interesting September and October to watch.

My call? Reds over Rangers in 5.