Worst team in baseball?

[Schwartzy61]

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The Yankees are the worst team.

Oh, we aren't talking about wins/dollar?

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Well if you want to include payroll, I would say the Cubs are a bigger failure at this point than the Yankees. The Cubs have the highest payroll in the NL central and are a game and a half from last place...

[crockpot]

i haven't watched many mariners games not started by king felix, but the idea that their baserunning could possibly be worse than the cubs' strikes me as laughable. i wish mlb.com had searchable video for jones, alou and patterson getting thrown out on the bases in the past few years.

if a little league team got its baserunners thrown out on the bases all the time, i would blame the coaches for not teaching the players the fundamentals of baseball. just a thought.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
...it's been sad to watch the decline of a franchise that for a long time from 1976-1990 was the equal of any in baseball.


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The Royals were truly a great franchise. In their first season (1969), they were a respectable 69-93. Just two years later, the finished above .500 with a 85-76 record.

They were always a contender starting in the mid-70's to late 80's.

1975 91 71 .562 2nd place
1976 90 72 .556 1st place (lost ALCS)
1977 102 60 .630 1st place (Lost ALCS)
1978 92 70 .567 1st place (Lost ALCS)
1979 85 77 .525 2nd place
1980 97 65 .599 1st place (Lost World Series)
1981 50 53 .485 4th place
1982 90 72 .556 2nd place
1983 79 83 .488 2nd place
1984 84 78 .519 1st place (Lost ALCS)
1985 91 71 .562 1st place (Won World Series)
1986 76 86 .469 3rd place
1987 83 79 .512 2nd place
1988 84 77 .522 3rd place
1989 92 70 .568 2nd place


Since the 1994 strike, they've had only one winning seasons (83-79 in 2003).

[Jack of Arcades]

Their 2003 season was pretty bad, you know, for an 83 win season...

[ripdog]

[ QUOTE ]
i haven't watched many mariners games not started by king felix, but the idea that their baserunning could possibly be worse than the cubs' strikes me as laughable. i wish mlb.com had searchable video for jones, alou and patterson getting thrown out on the bases in the past few years.

if a little league team got its baserunners thrown out on the bases all the time, i would blame the coaches for not teaching the players the fundamentals of baseball. just a thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't re-read my OP, but I think I qualified it by admitting extreme bias. I don't see many KC games and I knew that my post would generate a bunch of "KC is worse" replies, but it's frustrating to watch a bunch of guys who are being paid million$ play such thoughtless ball. Your little league analogy is right on the mark--that's what came to my mind too, but shouldn't these guys be a few steps above having to re-learn the basics? I expect that I'll be a little league coach within the next few years and one of the things I'll teach them is to have a plan when they step into the box--the Lopez squeeze play indicates to me that he isn't a thinking player. Ichiro has been absolutely awful on the basepaths. I have watched the M's 3rd base coach wave guys in that have no shot at being safe. The incompetence is maddening. I became aware that baseball is a thinking man's game when I was 15. I was playing in the city championship game and in the on-deck circle when my coach grabbed my arm and said "Swing over the first pitch as hard as you can, no matter how high the pitch is." It never crossed my mind to think about why he might want me to do it. Our pitcher, who was the slowest guy in the league was on first. He stole second and I came within a few inches of tearing the opposing catchers head off with my swing. I wouldn't copy this play at the youth level myself, but there was some bad blood between our teams and I can understand why he had no qualms with the play--they beat us 16-4 a few weeks earlier and were some of the sorest winners I've ever seen. We mercy-ruled them, 10-0, in the final and I went on to be best friends with one of their players in high school.

[ripdog]

[ QUOTE ]
OBP the last six years:
.310
.303
.290
.388
.303
.294

SLG:
.411
.426
.424
.629
.413
.300

So he's a little down this year. But the peculiar year was his contract year with the Dodgers. It's doubtful he'll ever do that again. The other numbers are his norm.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the record, I don't get all bent out of shape when a guy struggles at the plate and I don't blame Beltre or Sexson for the M's woes. I don't get upset when a guy throws a ball away or has one bounce off of the top of his head and over the fence for a homer. When stupidity rears its ugly head, I get irritated.

[kyleb]

How is anyone answering anything besides the Royals here?

[TheNoodleMan]

The Royals are the worst team. There are others that can compete for current incompetence, but the Royals trump them all due to the fact that they are starting a bunch of old men that don't belong in the league anymore.
Its one thing to let some unproven youngsters get kicked around in the hope that they get some valuable experience, it is quite another to lose with 30-something journeymen.

[Spy Dog]

Cubs are the worst team. At least the Royals have an excuse because they are a small market franchise.

Well, correction, the Royals are the worst team. The Cubs are the worst franchise.

[blinden84]

Comeon, seriously, do all you people only watch AL?

How can my Pirates get not at least an honorable mention!

www.piratingpittsburgh.com