D-backs Preview #63: 6/9 @ Athletics

At 20-42, the D-backs are on pace for an epic disaster of a 52-110 season, which would be one of the worst in National League history. However, you might be surprised at how often teams have got off to such a bad start before. In the wild-card era i.e. since 1995, they are just one of 21 teams to have begun the year winning twenty or fewer of their first sixty-two games (discounting 2020, for obvious reasons). In the last full season alone, 2019, both the Royals and the Orioles opened worse, going 19-43. Over that time, the Diamondbacks are the fifth team to start 20-42, so I thought it might be instructive to take a look at the four who went before, and see how the rest of their seasons went.

• 2001 Pirates: final record 62-100
• 2002 Rays: final record 55-106
• 2004 Expos: final record 67-95
• 2005 Rays: final record 67-95

That’s an average record of 63-99, though it is worth noting that all four teams did play better over the rest of the season, than they had to this point in the schedule. Indeed the last two were close to .500 ball from here on, going 47-53. However, a fear might be that if the D-backs do go into full-on fire sale mode, their record might not improve. Oh, and while Arizona close in on the all-time record for a losing streak on the road, their overall mark of 9-26 there is far from the worst. Indeed, it’s not even the worst this season... in their own division. For the Colorado Rockies are a startling 4-23 on the road. The last team with fewer road wins through 62 games? Forty years ago, when the 1981 Cubs had just two.

He's probably busy clearing out his desk.