Where run differential is concerned, the current version of the A’s could easily be worse than that 1916 version that went 36-117.
The 1916 A’s were at -329.
The 2023 A’s are currently at -326.
I know the two are not entirely comparable, given different eras and different numbers of games. Still, when you’re just three runs up on a team that won only 36 games…
Five of the ten worst run differentials in history belong to A’s teams, from four different decades. 1915, 1916, 1936, 1954, and 2023. Note that this year’s version could still escape the top ten with some good play over the last six games. OTOH, if they don’t play well, they could also pass the '62 Mets…
The Expos were a cursed organization, that’s for sure.
The long period of ineptitude was not THAT atypical for an expansion team prior to the 1993 expansion:
1961 - Angels - 2 years
1961 - Senators II - 9 years
1962 - Mets - 8 years
1962 - Astros - 8 years
1969 - Expos - 10 years
1969 - Pilots (Brewers) - 9 years
1969 - Padres - 9 years
1969 - Royals - 3 years
1977 - Mariners - 14 years
1977 - Blue Jays - 7 years
Different expansions had different rules and conditions; they didn’t all get the same opportunities. The Mariners and Blue Jays, for instance, were not allowed to sign high level free agents right away. The 1969 expansion was done two years prior to when MLB wanted to do it because of political pressure.
The 1916 differential is over a shorter season and a lower run scoring environment so it’s measurably worse when you look at the Pythagorean.
1916 baseball is just a completely different beast, though.
I note the 1916 A’s still had Bullet Joe Bush. I am pretty sure Bush and his teammate Wally Schang were the first two players to win the World Series with three different franchises; they both won with the A’s, Red Sox, and Yankees.
Over a dozen players have won with three franchises but none with four; Lonnie Smith came really, really close to getting that fourth.
Oh sure, as I said the two achievements aren’t directly comparable, and I’m happy to agree that the 1916 version of the Athletics was worse.
The difference is mostly the lower run-scoring environment; the 1916 team played 153 games and the 2023 version is only at 156, so not much difference there.
But when you’re rubbing elbows with the worst of the worst, even if it’s not directly comparable it’s still impressive.
That’s true. Of course, without Smith, the Braves wouldn’t have gotten to Game 7; he hit critical home runs in their wins in Games 3 and 4.
Smith was a strange player. He was an exceptional offensive player who teams kept giving up on in part because he fell down a lot, and later because of drug scandals. Many years after his career he claimed that when he couldn’t find a team to employ him after 1987 he bought a gun and thought about murdering Royals GM John Schuerholz. He was often traded for players you no longer remember (in some cases might not have remembered ten days after the trade.) He seems to have found happiness and peace now, which is nice.
Just to reiterate, by the way; the Atlanta Braves offense is amazing. They have scored just over 900 runs already, which is a lot. They have hit 299 bombs, so have a chance to break the record of 307 set by the Twins in 2019. Their TEAM slugging percentage is .501. The team OPS+ is 123, which is staggering, a number exceeded by the 1927 Yankees and… uh, no other team I can find offhand.
Matt Olson has hit 53 homers and no one talks about it because Ronald Acuna sets some statistical achievement every other night no one else has ever done before.
I cannot let the subject of Lonnie Smith go by without mentioning that the one and only foul ball that I caught at a Major League game came off the bat of Lonnie Smith. Royals Stadium, 1985.
Lonnie Smith hit two inside the park home runs. I was at the game where he hit the second one, but missed it because my wife had sent me to the concession stand to get her a beer.
So the Yankees are playing a three game set in Toronto, but any games they win potentially helps Houston. Ugh. Oh gee look, I think Cole might have a little blister on his index finger.
I was at that game. Couldn’t figure out why he pulled up at the time.
Bill James once commented in the '80s that Lonnie was known to kick baseballs rather than catch them and that he fell down at least once a game. He seemed to go into vapor lock on the bases at times, but James said it never seemed to cost his team. Until it did.
The Mariners continued their late-season swoon by losing to Verlander and the Astros last night, 5-1. They now trail Houston for the last WC spot by 1 1/2 games with 6 to play (Astros have five games left). Seattle has two more games with Houston before finishing with four against Texas.
This is so damn frustrating. They play .500 ball most of the year. Get hot and actually into first place by a hair, and just need to take care of business down the stretch. Or not completely collapse. The could still do it, but I don’t see any sign that they will.
I’m not sure how one measures “Streakiness” but the M’s have got to be near the top of that heap. Through June they were 38-42. Then for two months they went 38-15. At the end of August they were absolutely cruising. In September they’re 8-15. If they’d played .500 ball in September everything would be different.
The thing is, they can still go nuts and make it. Every remaining game is against Houston or Texas. Speaking as a Jays fan, of course, it doesn’t much matter; if they blow this, the Jays are in, but if they go insane and win out the rest of the way they’re beating Houston and Texas and the Jays are still likely in. Screw Houston, I hope Seattle overtakes them. Toronto won’t face either in the wild card round anyway.