Random Baseball Thoughts

By Blaidd Drwg

Just had a random thought – the Rays have now made the playoffs in 3 of the last 4 seasons and prior to 2008, were the only baseball team that had not appeared in a post season game. They also made it to the World Series that season, which means they beat these teams to the punch:

Seattle Mariners (no WS appearance since 1977)
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (no WS appearance since 1969)
Texas Rangers (made their first WS appearance in 2010)

This then lead me to the question, “How many teams have failed to win a World Series?” The list is a bit longer:

Colorado Rockies (lost in 2007)
Houston Astros (lost in 2005)
Milwaukee Brewers (lost in 1982)
San Diego Padres (lost in 1984 & 1998)
Seattle Mariners (No WS)
Tampa Bay Rays (lost in 2008)
Texas Rangers (lost in 2010)
Washington Nationals (no WS)

The Rangers are still alive, so one of them still has a chance to remove themselves from the list, although it would have been interesting to have both them and the Brewers in this year’s World Series looking for their first title.

Other interesting never have lists:

Never thrown a no-hitter:
The Padres and Mets are the only 2.

In researching this, I found the longest stretches without being no-hit in each league belongs to the A’s in the AL, who have not been no-hit since 1991 and Cubs in the NL, who were surprisingly last no-hit by Sandy Koufax back in 1965, in a game that featured just 1 run and 1 hit 1 walk and 1 error by both teams, combined.

Never had a 200 hit season:

Just one – Tampa Bay. Aubrey Huff had the highest single season total with 198, but no one has cracked the 200 mark.

Never had a 20 game winner:
Colorado and Tampa Bay. Both teams have had a 19 game winner, but no 20 game winner.

Never had a 40 Home Run Hitter:
Only the Royals have failed to accomplish this (the franchise record is 36 by Steve Balboni in 1985). They somehow completely missed out on the steroid era.