10000 losses – Optimistic Mets Fan

February 25, 2010February 25, 2010

Unsuccessful Franchises

There are eight teams remaining in Major League Baseball that played in the National League in the 19^th century through to today: The Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the San Francisco Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

From MetsStuff

Even though I’m not a basketball fan, I find myself routing for the New Jersey Nets. They’re on pace to break the record for worst NBA season this year, surpassing the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers. It’s my feeling that I want to keep the city of Philadelphia associated with failure. Prior to the Phillies winning in 2008, the city had gone 25 years without a championship in any major sport. The Phillies are the only professional sports team to have lost 10,000 games: an unprecedented level of failure.

This got me thinking about the other older teams that have been around as long as the Phillies. How are those teams doing?

The Braves will be the next team to lose 10,000 games. They have a record of 9854-9883. That’s good for a .499 winning percentage, which is pretty decent. They actually have a shot at reaching 10,000 wins first. They need to win 96 games next season to get above .500 for their history.

The Giants were the first team to 10,000 wins and the Dodgers, Cubs, and Cardinals have joined them.

The Pirates and the Reds both have winning records. The Reds have 9824 wins to 9548 losses, and the Pirates, even after being a joke for the last two decades, have a record of 9753-9579.

The other old team, the Philadelphia Phillies, are in another class altogether. They hold a record of 9038-10,167. That’s good for a .471 winning percentage which is 26^th of active franchises. Only the Padres, the Rangers, and the expansion Rays have a worse winning percentage. If the Phillies went 96-66 every season it would take them 38 years to get over the historical .500 mark.

The Mets aren’t exactly in great shape either, although they’ve won as many championships as the Phillies in roughly a third of the time. They only have a .479 winning percentage and a 3655-3981 record. They have a losing record in all three stadiums they’ve played in, but hopefully they can fix that this year.

Read and comment on this post at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

October 31, 2008

Losingest Team in MLB

The Phillies are one of the oldest baseball teams, and have lost the most games. They found lightning in a bottle in their bullpen this year, and the teams they faced, which weren’t the top teams in the game, were unable to exploit their weaknesses. They played a strong September and October, much like the Rockies last year, or the Cardinals the year before. They won. It sucks. I take solace in that they only get one title a century, and they’ve used up this one’s only eight years in.

My money’s on 20,000 losses before the third championship.

However, from a rivalry standpoint, this just amps it up. Despise years and chances, both teams have two. Phillies fans aren’t going to discard their hatred for us, and we know they only come out when they’re winning. But now we’ve grown an intense dislike for them too. This could get interesting. Or the Phillies could pack it in and place fourth next year, and the rivalry, like the Phillies themselves, will be a flash in the pan.

July 22, 2008

They’re Just Not That Good

Fear! Panic! Dismay! These are the feeling in Philadelphia today as the Phillies get read to play the Mets at Shea. Likely these feelings are mimicked in the visitors clubhouse.

The Phillies signed a new starting pitcher, and the Mets may lose one in Pedro Martinez. The Phillies are bringing back Brett Myers from his Trachselesque exile to AAA, and the Mets may have an injured closer. Yet the momentum and the good feels are all on the New York side of Jersey.

After a half-season where it seemed like everything that could go wrong for the Mets, did. The Phillies consequentially played well, fighting with the Marlins for the division lead while the Mets wallowed around .500 with the perennial rival Braves. Even a weekend that saw the Mets lose two out of three giving the Phillies a chance to enter this series with a lead has now gone the Mets favor; the Phillies also lost two out of three so the teams remain tied.

While the Phillies fans start remembering how much they disliked their team before the Mets handed them the division, the Mets fans are starting to remember how much they like this team. The second Reyes has replaced most thoughts of Ruben Gotay has step-in second baseman, Delgado is playing like it’s 2006 and Endy and Tatis have stepped up to man the outfield in the absence of Ryan Church and whoever the Mets theoretically sign to take over the left field role.

Since the Mets took the division by storm in 2006, the East has been theirs. They took it for granted, let it slip through their fingers, and watched a rival get Rockied in the 2007 playoffs. Now it’s time to step up, knock the crown from the Phillies undeserving heads, and run with it. This week is the week the Mets take the last dregs of Philly confidence, turn the Phillies away with their tails between their legs and down the Turnpike back to Philadelphia and 20000 losses.