2003 Detroit Tigers

2003 Detroit Tigers / Franchise: Detroit Tigers / BR Team Page

Record: 43-119, Finished 5th in AL Central Division (2003 AL)

Managed by Alan Trammell

Coaches: Bob Cluck, Bruce Fields, Kirk Gibson, Mick Kelleher, Lance Parrish and Juan Samuel

Ballpark: Comerica Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The 2003 Detroit Tigers threatened to break the 1962 New York Mets' record for most losses in a season since 1900. However, a late-season push in which they won five of their last six games helped them to fall one loss, short, at 119. They still had the distinction of having in Mike Maroth the first twenty-game loser in the major leagues since Brian Kingman of the 1980 Oakland Athletics and hold the American League record for most losses in a season, having displaced the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics and their 117 losses.

The Tigers got to their large number of losses through being extremely streaky, more than any team in the expansion era: they had ten streaks of six or more consecutive losses, which accounted for 81 of their losses just by themselves!

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Dmitri Young

Further Reading

• Paul H. Kvam and Zezhong Chen: "A Comprehensive Analysis of Team Streakiness in Major League Baseball: 1962-2016", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 46, Number 2 (Fall 2017), pp. 112-115.
• Jonathan Weeks: Cellar Dwellers: The Worst Teams in Baseball History, Scarecrow Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham, MD, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8108-8532-5

2003 MLB season by team