You might have to move over, extremely stylish gentlemen. (Via HOF's 'Dressed To The Nines' Uniform Database)
The 2-10 start feels like a long time ago. Getting laughed at following the sweep in Cleveland, the Daisuke Matsuzaka “he’s grooving fastballs on purpose” theories, the Dennys ‘Big Sweat’ Reyes experiment … it’s all given way to the heady optimism that buoyed so many people through the winter. Production’s coming from across nearly the entire lineup. The starters have been lights out 1-5, putting together a run of dominance not seen here in six decades. The bullpen’s been mostly electric, the team yet to lose a game they’ve led after the sixth inning.
Regardless of what happens on Tuesday night in Baltimore when Clay Buchholz — the weak link, what with him not even finishing the sixth inning his last two times out — opposes rookie Zach Britton, the Sox have steadied themselves and shown the potential of what they can be. A victory tonight, though, means something pretty significant.
The .500 mark. A win tonight and the 2011 Red Sox will have gone from 2-10 to 11-11, a symbolic statement to how quickly they’ve circled the wagons.
It probably wouldn’t surprise you to learn that turnaround would be a record: The fastest turnaround from a 12-game start as bad as 2-10 to the .500 mark. What might surprise you is just how long the current record for such a recovery has stood.
Try nearly 95 years.
Starting with what’s considered the first real major-league season in 1901, 72 teams have started a year at 2-10 or worse, with 56 of the 71 (79%) to come before these Sox failing to reach the .500 mark at any point. Among the 15 that did reach .500 is one former Red Sox team — the 1996 edition so often quoted a couple weeks back … it took until Aug. 22, but Roger Clemens‘ final Boston squad got to 64-64 on that date, needing 116 games to erase the 2-10 beginning.
Among the slow starters who actually reached .500, no team took longer to do it. And the team that took the shortest amount of time to do it did so eight decades earlier in nearly one-tenth the time.
FROM 2-10 OR WORSE TO .500
1916 N.Y. Giants – 14 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 13-13 on May 21
1984 Orioles – 16 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 14-14 on May 6
1922 Reds – 24 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 18-18 on May 23
1951 N.Y. Giants – 26 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 19-19 on May 26
1931 Brooklyn Robins – 28 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 20-20 on June 2
2001 A’s – 32 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 22-22 on May 22
1982 Orioles – 32 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 22-22 on May 29
1959 Tigers – 38 GAMES
Opened 1-11, reached 25-25 on June 7
1947 Cardinals – 44 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 28-28 on June 20
1983 Astros – 50 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 31-31 on June 14
1973 Cardinals – 54 GAMES
Opened 1-11, reached 33-33 on June 23
2008 Tigers – 68 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 40-40 on June 28
1987 Rangers – 86 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 49-49 on July 27
1974 Pirates – 104 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 58-58 on Aug. 12
1996 Red Sox – 116 GAMES
Opened 2-10, reached 64-64 on Aug. 22
The 1916 New York Giants, who led the National League in runs and stolen bases, and sported Christy Mathewson on the pitching staff in his final year before retirement, actually started the year 2-13. Coming off a last-place finish in 1915, that wasn’t terribly surprising.
What I’d imagine was surprising was their winning the next 17 consecutive games, a run that (since 1919) has only been exceeded by four other teams in a single season: the 1935 Cubs (who won an MLB-record 21 straight), the 2002 A’s (20 straight), and the 1947 (19 straight) and 1953 (18 straight) Yankees. The Giants would actually slip back below .500 around the Fourth of July before winning 13 of 16 at the end of that month, then reeled off a ridiculous 26 wins and a tie across 27 September games on the way to an 86-66 finish.
That was only good enough for fourth in the NL that year, but three of the above 15 did reach the postseason: the 2001 A’s (who won 102 games and the AL Wild Card), the 1974 Pirates (whose 88-74 mark would have been tied for third in the NL West, but won the NL East) and the 1951 N.Y. Giants, who rather famously won the pennant in a three-game playoff with rival Brooklyn that left them 98-59.
Of course, a win tonight guarantees no sort of similar success. It does, however, guarantee that whenever a team stumbles out of the gate in the future, they won’t have to look far to find evidence of how quickly the recovery can come.
Well, they won’t have to look far provided it’s not nine decades down the road.
Major kudos, as always, to Baseball Reference for making this sort of research possible to crazies like myself. And, on the off chance you’re dying to know the identities of the other 56 teams to start a season 2-10 or worse, they are … the 1902 Cardinals (2-10), 1904 Senators (0-11), 1906 Brooklyn Superbas (2-10), 1907 Brooklyn Superbas (1-11), 1907 St. Louis Browns (2-10), 1912 N.Y. Highlanders (2-10), 1913 Yankees (2-10), 1918 Brooklyn Robins (2-10), 1919 Boston Braves (2-10), 1919 Cardinals (2-10), 1920 Tigers (0-12), 1925 Red Sox (2-10), 1927 Brooklyn Robins (2-10), 1927 Red Sox (2-10), 1931 Reds (1-11), 1935 Philadelphia A’s (2-10), 1935 St. Louis Browns (2-10), 1938 Phillies (2-10), 1944 Cubs (1-11), 1946 Philadelphia A’s (2-10), 1951 Philadelphia A’s (1-11), 1952 Pirates (2-10), 1953 Reds (2-10), 1953 Tigers (2-10), 1955 Pirates (2-10), 1955 Reds (2-10), 1962 Mets (1-11), 1962 Senators (2-10), 1964 Mets (2-10), 1965 K.C. A’s (2-10), 1966 K.C. A’s (2-10), 1966 Yankees (2-10), 1968 White Sox (1-11), 1969 Indians (1-11), 1970 Expos (2-10), 1981 Cubs (1-11), 1983 Cubs (2-10), 1986 White Sox (2-10), 1987 Indians (2-10), 1987 Padres (2-10), 1988 Braves (2-10), 1988 Orioles (0-12), 1990 Braves (2-10), 1992 Royals (1-11), 1994 Padres (2-10), 1997 Cubs (0-12), 1998 A’s (2-10), 1998 Diamondbacks (2-10), 1998 Marlins (1-11), 2002 Tigers (1-11), 2003 Tigers (1-11), 2004 Expos (2-10), 2005 Rockies (2-10), 2006 Royals (2-10), 2009 Nationals (2-10) and 2010 Orioles (1-11).
I’d have much rather tried to explain why the 1916 Giants made their uniforms out of tablecloths, though I have to admit they look like they could have been pretty snazzy.
(May 28 Edit: The Red Sox ultimately needed 28 games to get to .500 at 20-20, but did become the quickest team in MLB history to go from 2-10 to first place, doing so on May 27 at 29-22. That’s courtesy Sox PR and the Elias Sports Bureau.
They also report the Sox are just the fifth team to reach first place after starting 2-10, though that’s a little less impressive given the number of years there weren’t six divisions — and, thus, fewer teams to jump. However, Boston’s 27-12 record since their start is four games better than any other AL team since the morning of April 16, and 2.5 games better than anyone in baseball.)
