With just a few days left in the regular season, the AL West might make a particularly mediocre kind of history.
uncertain
West → leave → history
After Tuesday night’s games, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros were tied for first place at 78-79.
asserted
Rangers → tie → 78
No full-season division champion has ever had a losing record.
asserted
champion → have → record
In fact, no team has made the postseason with a sub-.500 record, unless you count a trio of participants from years the playoffs were temporarily expanded: In the 2020 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukee and Houston were both 29-31 and made the postseason.
asserted
Milwaukee → make → postseason
In 1981, the Kansas City Royals went 50-53 overall — but they were the AL West’s top team in the post-strike second half, meaning they got in.
asserted
they → go → half
MLB expanded its postseason to 12 teams in 2022, raising the likelihood that a sub-.500 team would sneak into October at some point.
asserted
team → expand → point
Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the American League could have several clubs with losing marks in this year’s playoffs.
uncertain
League → look → playoffs
The AL Central’s Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox have since reached 81 wins, so that won’t happen.
asserted
that → reach → wins
But the AL West title race could still yield a losing team.
uncertain
race → yield → team
In honor of that, here are 10 of the weakest teams to make the postseason, listed in chronological order with their records and run differentials in mind.
asserted
10 → make → mind
Note that some of them went on lengthy postseason runs — so don’t count out the Rangers or Astros just yet.
asserted
some → note → Rangers
Run differential: 20
Postseason: Beat Cincinnati 3-2 in NL Championship Series, lost to Oakland 4-3 in World Series
The rallying cry was “Ya gotta believe!” from reliever Tug McGraw.
asserted
Ya → Beat → McGraw
It wasn’t easy when New York was in last place after an Aug. 30 loss, but the Mets went 21-8 the rest of the way to win the division by 1 1/2 games.
asserted
Mets → go → games
Tom Seaver (19-10, 2.08 ERA, 18 complete games) was still at the peak of his powers, and New York held the Reds to eight runs in five games in the NLCS — a series best remembered for a brawl involving Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose.
asserted
York → hold → Harrelson
The Mets led the World Series 3-2 and had Seaver starting Game 6, but they couldn’t close out the Athletics.
asserted
they → lead → Athletics
1984 Kansas City Royals
Record: 84-78 (first in AL West)
Run differential: minus-13
Postseason: Lost to Detroit 3-0 in ALCS
The Royals were 11 games under .500 in the middle of July, but they did enough to win the AL West.
asserted
they → lose → West
George Brett hit .284 — his worst average in a 14-year span from 1975-88 — and he was one of just two All-Stars on the team.
asserted
he → hit → team
The other was Dan Quisenberry, who had 44 saves while throwing 129 1/3 innings.
asserted
who → have → innings
He finished second in the Cy Young race behind fellow reliever Willie Hernández of the Tigers.
asserted
He → finish → Tigers
Although Kansas City took the division almost by default in ‘84, the Royals improved to 91 wins the following year and won the World Series.
asserted
Royals → take → Series
1987 Minnesota Twins
Record: 85-77 (first in AL West)
Run differential: minus-20
Postseason: Beat Detroit 4-1 in ALCS, beat St. Louis 4-3 in World Series
Frank Viola was the star of a pitching staff that otherwise offered little — aside from a trio of big names on the downside of their careers.
asserted
that → beat → careers
Bert Blyleven allowed 46 home runs, Joe Niekro posted a 6.26 ERA and Steve Carlton made seven largely woeful starts for this Minnesota team.
asserted
Carlton → allow → team
The Twins could hit, though.
uncertain
Twins → hit → ?
Kirby Puckett was third in the MVP race, while Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Tom Brunansky each surpassed 30 homers.
asserted
Hrbek → surpass → homers
Home-field advantage wasn’t determined by record back then, so Minnesota had it in the ALCS despite finishing 13 games behind the Tigers, and again in the World Series after being 10 games worse than the Cardinals.
asserted
Minnesota → determine → Cardinals
The Twins went 6-0 at the Metrodome in the postseason.
asserted
Twins → go → postseason
The first wild card in National League history was this Colorado team in a season shortened by the end of the 1994-95 work stoppage.
asserted
card → shorten → stoppage
Colorado made up for that, not surprisingly, by leading the NL in runs.
asserted
Colorado → make → runs
Dante Bichette led the league in home runs and RBIs and finished third in batting average.
asserted
Bichette → lead → average
2005 San Diego Padres
Record: 82-80 (first in NL West)
Run differential: minus-42
Postseason: Lost 3-0 to St. Louis in NLDS
Jake Peavy and a Trevor Hoffman-led bullpen helped San Diego reach the playoffs, but this team never looked the part.
asserted
team → lose → playoffs
The Padres scored the fourth-fewest runs in all of baseball, and their starters went 52-60 with a 4.49 ERA.
asserted
starters → score → ERA
In the postseason, San Diego never had the lead at any point against the 100-win Cardinals.
asserted
Diego → have → Cardinals
The Cardinals won at least 95 games four times under Tony La Russa, but their best postseason success came as a wild card in 2011 and with this team five years earlier.
asserted
success → win → team
St. Louis nearly blew a seven-game lead in the division in the final two weeks of the regular season, but a roster with Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter and a young reliever named Adam Wainwright always had a chance to get hot.
asserted
roster → blow → chance
Yadier Molina’s homer — and Wainwright’s strikeout of Carlos Beltrán — gave the Cardinals the pennant in an epic series with the Mets.
asserted
homer → give → Mets
After 103 losses in 2016, the Twins were in first place for a little while before eventually capturing the AL’s final postseason spot and losing 8-4 to the Yankees.
asserted
Twins → capture → Yankees
Byron Buxton played 140 games, the most of his career to date, and Brian Dozier hit 34 home runs.
asserted
Dozier → play → runs
Joe Mauer had moved to first base by this point but was still quite good at the plate, batting .305.
asserted
Mauer → move → .305
Ervin Santana led the rotation in his last good major league season.
asserted
Santana → lead → season
it was good enough in an AL that produced only five teams above .500.
2023 Miami Marlins
Record: 84-78 (third in NL East, second wild card)
Run differential: minus-57
Postseason: Lost to Philadelphia 2-0 in NL Wild Card Series
The Marlins posted the worst run differential to date by a postseason team — this year’s Astros are currently at minus-59 — but Miami went 33-14 in one-run games.
asserted
Miami → produce → games
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
