80+ Losses In 1st 115 Games
Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 13, 2010
This is the flip side of what was reviewed 2 days ago. How many teams, since 1920, have lost 80+ of their first 115 games of the season?
Here's the answer:
From 1920 to 2010, Losses, In team's first 115 games, sorted by greatest Wins by a Team
| Rk | Tm | Year | #Matching | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOS | 1932 | 86 | Ind. Games |
| 2 | NYM | 1962 | 85 | Ind. Games |
| 3 | DET | 2003 | 85 | Ind. Games |
| 4 | PHI | 1961 | 84 | Ind. Games |
| 5 | PHI | 1941 | 83 | Ind. Games |
| 6 | BSN | 1935 | 83 | Ind. Games |
| 7 | PIT | 1952 | 82 | Ind. Games |
| 8 | PHI | 1928 | 82 | Ind. Games |
| 9 | SLB | 1939 | 81 | Ind. Games |
| 10 | PHI | 1945 | 81 | Ind. Games |
| 11 | PHI | 1942 | 81 | Ind. Games |
| 12 | BOS | 1925 | 81 | Ind. Games |
| 13 | TOR | 1979 | 80 | Ind. Games |
| 14 | SDP | 1969 | 80 | Ind. Games |
| 15 | PHA | 1946 | 80 | Ind. Games |
| 16 | OAK | 1979 | 80 | Ind. Games |
| 17 | NYM | 1965 | 80 | Ind. Games |
| 18 | ARI | 2004 | 80 | Ind. Games |
.
How about the 1932 Red Sox? Then again, the Bosox really had their issues from 1925 through 1932. Also note the 1941 Phillies here. They're sort of the cap on an ugly run from 1936 to 1945 for that franchise. Any other teams on this list catch your eye?
August 13th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
really interesting how this tends to happen in bunches. 2 in 1979 then nothing until 2003, then again in 2004!
August 13th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
The 2003 Tigers are notable for having the first and last (so far) 20 game loser since 1980. And they almost had 2!
August 13th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
The 2003 Tigers went 1-12 in their next 13 games after 115. They were 31-97 through 128 games.
August 13th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
03 tigers also won 5 of their last 6 to avoid losing 120+ games.
August 13th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
After 115 games, the 1916 Athletics were 25-89 with one tie.
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders were 19-96. Which is really, really bad . . . but they then lost 38 of their final 39 games.
August 13th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
The 1899 Cleveland Spiders don't really count. I mean, they do, but they shouldn't. That year, their owners managed to also purchased St. Louis, so they decided "Hey, let's put all our good players on the one team" and they did.
Teams even refused to play in Cleveland that year so they ended up with an absurd amount of road games, too.
August 14th, 2010 at 12:03 am
Pretty amazing the 1988 Orioles aren't on this list. That's the team that lost 21 games to start the season. At game 115, they had 77 losses.
August 14th, 2010 at 7:32 am
[...] it’s bad, but it’s not this bad…what teams have lost 80 games in the first 115 games of the season. Share this [...]
August 14th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Seconded about the Spiders. I think part of why we use 1900 as the cut off for the modern era is so that we don't have to start every statistical argument with "Excepting the Cleveland Spiders, who were 1-for-378 with RISP in August, the worst team was...."
August 14th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
115 games is pretty late in the season. Here's full list from the frivolities section:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/streaks.cgi?games=115&year=ALL&SHOW=TOT&includes=start_year&game_start=10&game_end=135&teams=ALL&orderby=losses&submit=Find+Streaks
1899 CLE-NL (Syndicate year)
1890 PIT-NL (Players League Year)
1889 LOU-AA
1916 PHI-AL (Connie Mack Fire Sale)
1886 WAS-NL
1897 STL-NL (the team would would become the Spiders two years later)
1932 BOS-AL
1904 WAS-AL
1911 BOS-NL
August 17th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Shouldn't this table title say "sorted by the greatest losses by a team"?