The Crane Pool Forum

ARZ	17	8	0.680
NYM	17	10	0.630
OAK	15	9	0.625
PIT	15	10	0.600
SDP	13	9	0.591
KCR	13	10	0.565
DET	14	11	0.560
HOU	14	11	0.560
TEX	14	11	0.560
BOS	13	11	0.542
TBR	13	11	0.542
CHC	13	11	0.542
MIN	12	11	0.522
CLE	13	12	0.520
STL	13	12	0.520
CIN	13	12	0.520
SFG	13	12	0.520
BAL	12	13	0.480
ATL	12	13	0.480
NYY	11	13	0.458
MIL	11	13	0.458
LAD	11	13	0.458
LAA	11	14	0.440
COL	11	15	0.423
SEA	10	14	0.417
PHI	10	14	0.417
MIA	10	14	0.417
WSN	10	16	0.385
CHW	3	22	0.120

So the second best record for the month and tied for most wins.
Also played more games than anyone, at least one more than every other team and as many as
five more (SDP) which is kind of odd. 27 games is a lot in a month with the ASB in the middle.

For a team that was supposed to be punting the season in a way that no season has ever been punted before, the Oakland A's have been surprisingly respectable. Their July was only a half a game behind the Mets. It didn't hurt that they played 7 games against the Angels and went 6-1, but all of their other July games were against good teams.

I checked the roster just to see if I'd heard of any of them. TJ McFarland and Vinny Nittoli, who were vaguely familiar because they pitched five innings for the Mets between them.

They also have a backup catcher named Kyle McCann who, strangely enough, is not related to catcher James McCann or to catcher Brian McCann.

And yet they're still in last place in the AL West and 20 games under .500

Well, they were pretty terrible in May and June, but sometimes teams remaking themselves find themselves when they find themselves. That applies to the Mets as well, even though they're not exactly remaking themselves.

It wouldn't be the first of Billy Beane's teams to turn things around in the second half.

Good lord the White Sox are horrible.

Not a good month for division leaders. Or even WC leaders.

Slate pulls no punches with the Pale Hose:


https://slate.com/culture/2024/07/baseb ... -ever.html

DocTee wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 11:00 am Slate pulls no punches with the Pale Hose:


https://slate.com/culture/2024/07/baseb ... -ever.html

In some perverse way, Fans remember that 1962 team record of 40-120 with a 25% WPct. fondly. It was "our" record. It was something we felt no future team would ever (is beat the right word?) challenge. But, years later the ChiSox will challenge, and even might break, it.
Fie on them if they do.
Later

I've never been proud of that record. Any time a team approaches 120 losses, I root for them to get there.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 11:35 am I've never been proud of that record. Any time a team approaches 120 losses, I root for them to get there.

Me too. Years ago some team finished with 119 and won like 3 games at the end to keep them there. That sucked.