Baseball Toaster: Mike's Baseball Rants : Whencegoes Metsgoes?

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Whencegoes Metsgoes?

2005-04-17 11:20

by Mike Carminati

The New York Mets have all of a sudden gone from 0-5 while being shut down by John Smoltz to whom they struck out 15 times to 6-5, after winning their sixth in a row, 4-3, over the Marlins yesterday. The streak includes two shutouts including an improbable one-hitter by Aaron Heilman.

The Mets are now tied for second with the Braves, one game behind the surprising Nationals. So can a team that starts off the season with a sweep at the hands of the lowly Reds turn its season around and possibly win the division?

Of the 78 previous teams, who started the season 0-5, two did win their division. They are the 1974 Pirates and the 1995 Reds. Also, 22 did finish the season with a winning percentage at or above .500.

However, let's not get crazy yet. The average such team finished with a .431 winning percentage. Translated into a 162-game schedule, that's a 70-92 record, one game wore than the Mets did last year. Also, 17 of those teams finished with 100 or more losses.

So, what does this litany tell us? Basically, there's a lot of season left. Keep in mind that those teams did on average finish fifth.

Here are all the teams that started 0-5 ranked by winning percentage (since 1901):

Tm	Yr	W	L	RS	RA	Tot W	Tot L	PCT	Pos	Postseason?
CIN	1995	0	5	24	37	85	59	.590	1	Division Champ
LAD	1976	0	5	13	24	92	70	.568	2
MON	1987	0	5	10	28	91	71	.562	3
BAL	1978	0	5	15	49	90	71	.559	4
STL	1960	0	5	11	22	86	68	.558	3
NYY	1930	0	5	16	30	86	68	.558	3
PIT	1974	0	5	20	38	88	74	.543	1	Division Champ
LAD	1970	0	5	4	23	87	74	.540	2
MLN	1962	0	5	12	28	86	76	.531	5
BOS	1996	0	5	14	37	85	77	.525	3
HOU	1983	0	5	14	29	85	77	.525	3
BRO	1931	0	5	18	37	79	73	.520	4
KCR	1993	0	5	16	26	84	78	.519	3
SDP	1988	0	5	7	25	83	78	.516	3
BOS	1905	0	5	10	16	78	74	.513	4
DET	1922	0	5	18	38	79	75	.513	3
SEA	1991	0	5	8	23	83	79	.512	5
PIT	1959	0	5	11	29	78	76	.506	4
ATL	1980	0	5	8	30	81	80	.503	4
HOU	1969	0	5	5	20	81	81	.500	5
STL	1973	0	5	16	23	81	81	.500	2
OAK	1987	0	5	16	26	81	81	.500	3
DET	1959	0	5	15	29	76	78	.494	4
CIN	1955	0	5	17	36	75	79	.487	5
CLE	1974	0	5	15	31	77	85	.475	4
DET	1992	0	5	16	32	75	87	.463	6
KCA	1966	0	5	7	18	74	86	.463	7
BOS	1945	0	5	14	31	71	83	.461	7
BRO	1929	0	5	21	33	70	83	.458	6
HOU	1978	0	5	19	32	74	88	.457	5
BRO	1918	0	5	11	27	57	69	.452	5
LAD	1987	0	5	16	30	73	89	.451	4
STL	1997	0	5	10	24	73	89	.451	4
BOS	1966	0	5	14	30	72	90	.444	9
KCR	1992	0	5	11	24	72	90	.444	5
CHC	1983	0	5	12	32	71	91	.438	5
SEA	1994	0	5	19	38	49	63	.438	3
BRO	1906	0	5	8	18	66	86	.434	5
CIN	1950	0	5	16	31	66	87	.431	6
BSN	1940	0	5	13	35	65	87	.428	7
MIL	2003	0	5	23	37	68	94	.420	6
CHC	1997	0	5	16	32	68	94	.420	5
STL	1902	0	5	11	34	56	78	.418	6
MIL	1984	0	5	17	24	67	94	.416	7
CHW	1968	0	5	7	24	67	95	.414	9
BSN	1919	0	5	11	24	57	82	.410	6
SLB	1926	0	5	13	33	62	92	.403	7
MON	1998	0	5	8	24	65	97	.401	4
SDP	1987	0	5	11	21	65	97	.401	6
ARI	1998	0	5	12	34	65	97	.401	5
DET	1920	0	5	22	37	61	93	.396	7
STL	1919	0	5	6	26	54	83	.394	7
PIT	1955	0	5	9	29	60	94	.390	8
SEA	2004	0	5	20	35	63	99	.389	4
TEX	1985	0	5	15	36	62	99	.385	7
CLE	1969	0	5	10	28	62	99	.385	6
CIN	1931	0	5	13	31	58	96	.377	8
PHI	1934	0	5	4	22	56	93	.376	7
SLB	1936	0	5	27	46	57	95	.375	7
SDP	1974	0	5	8	43	60	102	.370	6
CLE	1985	0	5	19	32	60	102	.370	7
BAL	1955	0	5	25	51	57	97	.370	7
CHC	1962	0	5	11	30	59	103	.364	9
MLA	1901	0	5	41	49	48	89	.350	8
PHA	1936	0	5	15	29	53	100	.346	8
DET	2002	0	5	12	35	55	106	.342	5
ATL	1988	0	5	17	35	54	106	.338	6
BAL	1988	0	5	5	36	54	107	.335	7
CLE	1914	0	5	11	18	51	102	.333	8
OAK	1979	0	5	8	20	54	108	.333	7
BOS	1927	0	5	9	37	51	103	.331	8
NYY	1912	0	5	12	29	50	102	.329	8
DET	1952	0	5	10	23	50	104	.325	8
BRO	1905	0	5	18	33	48	104	.316	8
NYM	1963	0	5	3	23	51	111	.315	10
DET	2003	0	5	4	26	43	119	.265	5
NYM	1962	0	5	13	33	40	120	.250	10
PHA	1916	0	5	7	18	36	117	.235	8
Avg						67.33	88.77	.431	5.54

Comments

2005-04-17 17:05:26

1. Cliff Corcoran

Mike, it sure would help to have the years listed on that chart.

2005-04-17 18:38:27

2. Mike Carminati

Sorry, fixed.

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