What a distinction a half-decade makes.
The Athletics have been baseball’s dominant franchise within the years from 1971 via 1975, profitable three of the span’s 5 world championships. Separate Oakland squads completed third, fourth, and seventh in my earlier rankings of the interval’s greatest ballclubs.
However a few issues have modified. We’re now inspecting the worst groups of the Trendy Period at five-year intervals. And we’re leaping 5 years past Oakland’s halcyon days.
Free company and trades gutted the Athletics after they received the American League West in 1975, their fifth straight divisional championship. They plummeted to final place in 1977 and stayed there in 1978 and 1979.
That latter membership — the 1979 Oakland Athletics — ranks because the very worst within the stretch from 1976 via 1980, primarily based on my calculations of group scores. (Click on right here to be taught extra about TS.)
These A’s misplaced twice as many video games (108) as they received (54), and so they have been outscored by a median of 1.77 runs per sport. Their ensuing TS of 11.385 factors (on a 100-point scale) was not solely the worst of the half-decade, however was additionally the Nineteenth-worst amongst all 1,656 groups that performed within the Trendy Period, which dates again to 1961.
One other membership from the identical season, the 1979 Toronto Blue Jays, is second in right this moment’s rankings of 1976-1980’s worst golf equipment, adopted by the 1977 Atlanta Braves, 1976 Montreal Expos, and 1978 Seattle Mariners.
That is the fourth installment in my sequence of tales in regards to the worst groups of the Trendy Period. New tales each Monday will cowl successive five-year spans. Observe these hyperlinks to see earlier tales in regards to the tailenders in 1961-1965, 1966-1970, and 1971-1975. And click on this hyperlink to see the mirror picture for 1976-1980, a listing of its greatest groups.
Scroll under for a rundown of 1976-1980’s 10 worst golf equipment. Every is listed with its win-loss file and its Trendy Period percentile, which is the proportion of all golf equipment between 1961 and 2022 that it outperformed. Crew scores and extra details and figures are offered for the half-decade’s 5 worst golf equipment.
A brand new installment will arrive in your e mail every weekday morning
-
Document: 54-108
-
Crew rating: 11.385 factors
-
Trendy Period percentile: 1.1%
-
Supervisor: Jim Marshall
-
Stars: First baseman Dave Revering batted .288 and drove in 77 runs, main the A’s in each classes. Pitchers Rick Langford and Steve McCatty respectively eked out 12 and 11 wins, accounting for 43 p.c of the group’s complete of 54 victories.
-
Backside line: The Athletics dropped into final place within the American League West on Might 31, by no means to rise once more. They completed 34 video games out of first. Oakland’s followers weren’t exuberant even when the A’s received world titles, however they turned positively glacial in 1979. Dwelling attendance totaled 306,700.
-
Document: 53-109
-
Crew rating: 13.628 factors
-
Trendy Period percentile: 1.6%
-
Supervisor: Roy Hartsfield
-
Stars: First baseman John Mayberry equipped the facility in Toronto’s lineup, swatting 21 homers and driving house 74 runs. Third baseman Roy Howell ranked second on the membership in each classes (15 and 72). Tom Underwood led the pitching workers with a 9-16 file and a 3.69 ERA.
-
Backside line: It’s unusual, however true, that the worst group of the half-decade didn’t publish the poorest file in 1979. The Blue Jays misplaced another sport than the aforementioned A’s, however Toronto’s group rating was barely higher. The Jays have been final within the AL East, 50.5 video games behind first-place Baltimore.
-
Document: 61-101
-
Crew rating: 16.259 factors
-
Trendy Period percentile: 2.5%
-
Supervisor: Dave Bristol, Ted Turner, and Vern Benson
-
Stars: Proper fielder Jeff Burroughs, a former AL Most Worthwhile Participant, arrived in a commerce with the Texas Rangers. He blasted 41 homers and drove in 114 runs in his Atlanta debut. Future Corridor of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro by some means received 16 video games. The one disadvantage was that he misplaced 20.
-
Backside line: The Braves completed final within the Nationwide League West each season from 1976 via 1979. They reached their nadir in 1977, struggling greater than 100 losses for the primary time in franchise historical past for the reason that Boston Braves dropped 115 video games in 1935.
-
Document: 55-107
-
Crew rating: 16.785 factors
-
Trendy Period percentile: 2.8%
-
Supervisor: Karl Kuehl and Charlie Fox
-
Stars: Pitcher Steve Rogers customary a blinding 3.21 earned run common, but he was nonetheless saddled with 17 losses. Fellow workers member Woodie Fryman managed to interrupt even at 13-13 with a 3.37 ERA. Rookie middle fielder Ellis Valentine paced the group with a .279 batting common.
-
Backside line: The Expos had prevented final place within the NL East in every of the earlier 5 years — a good accomplishment for a younger growth membership — however their streak got here to a halt in 1976. Montreal wrapped the season 46 video games behind division-leading Philadelphia.
-
Document: 56-104
-
Crew rating: 17.225 factors
-
Trendy Period percentile: 3.3%
-
Supervisor: Darrell Johnson
-
Stars: Proper fielder Leon Roberts received the Mariners’ unofficial Triple Crown, main the group in batting common (.301), house runs (22), and runs batted in (92). Reliever Enrique Romo not solely notched 10 saves, however he additionally recorded 11 wins in 56 aid appearances.
-
Backside line: The Mariners performed poorly of their inaugural season of 1977, as indicated by their 64-98 file, however they have been six losses worse in 1978. A depressing September (7-21 for the month) cemented their maintain on final place within the American League West.
-
6. Toronto Blue Jays (1977), 54-107, 3.5%
-
7. Toronto Blue Jays (1978), 59-102, 3.6%
-
8. Seattle Mariners (1980), 59-103, 3.7%
-
9. Chicago Cubs (1980), 64-98, 4.0%
-
10. Chicago White Sox (1976), 64-97, 5.8%
