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May 28, 2007
A Brief History Of 18-32 Teams
With Sunday’s loss, Texas’s 18-32 record ties the second worst 50-game start in team history (the worst being 1982’s 17-33). From 1900-2006, 57 teams began their seasons with a record of 18-32, including the ’73 Rangers. What hope did these teams have?
Not much. On the whole, they played as you’d expect: better than their .360 winning percentages coming in, but still poorly. The average team finished the season at 67-95 and played .436 ball in its final 112 games (all numbers scaled to a 162-game season). Only twelve teams (21%) declined to a sub-.360 win rate, including, ahem, the ’73 Rangers.
Four teams finished with winning records, two of which are recent:
| Team | Year |
First 50 | Division Status | Last 112 | Final Record | Division Status / Postseason |
| Pittsburgh | 1974 |
18-32 | 6th, 9.0 GB | 70-42 | 88-74 | 1st, +1.5, lost div series to LA |
| San Diego | 1988 |
18-32 | 5th, -10.5 | 65-46 | 83-78 | 3rd, -11.0 |
| Oakland | 2005 |
18-32 | 4th, -11.5 | 70-42 | 88-74 | 2nd, -7.0 |
| Houston | 2005 |
18-32 | 6th, -15.0 | 71-41 | 89-73 | 2nd, -11.0, Wild Card, lost World Series to Chicago |
Coming soon: A Brief History of 18-33 Teams.
Posted by Lucas at May 28, 2007 12:44 PM