Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Celler Dwellers - Who is the Worst Team in Baseball?

Last week we made mentioned of the Yankees being only one game ahead of the worst record in the American League. Since then New York has gone 4-3 capped by A-Rod’s three home run 10 RBI performance last night. The Yankees are still below .500 but they have separated themselves from any talk of being a team with the worst record in baseball, mostly because Tampa Bay has gone 4-6 and Kansas City is 1-9 over their last 10 games.

With that said I got to thinking about which team is the worst in the Majors. As of today there are four teams who stand alone in last place of their respective divisions, which puts them in position to be MLB’s worst team. The candidates are Colorado, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay. They are all bad teams but only one of them can be the worst in major league baseball.

Philadelphia has the best record of these four teams at 9-12 and they are only three and a half games back of first place Florida Marlins. If you look at the division, Washington and the New York Mets are only two games ahead of Philly. The Washington Nationals play in a new stadium in a new city but they are still the same Expos. You know they are destined for a slide and Philly will pass them in the standings. The Mets are a different story, they have gone 5-5 over their last ten games and they could teeter either way. Bottom line the NL East is up for grabs and the Phillies could finish anywhere from first to fifth, which disqualifies them from being MLB’s worst.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are 8-12 and just like the Phillies they play in a division that is in a tight race right now. Tampa Bay is only five and a half games back but with division powers Boston and New York as well as the resurgent Orioles, the Devil Rays don’t stand a chance to finish any higher than third which would still be enough to disqualify them as MLB’s worst.

The Colorado Rockies play in a wide open division. Hitters love the altitude of Coors Field, but the problem is the Rockies have no hitters. The team leaders for home runs are Clint Barmes and Preston Wilson with four each, as opposed to Arizona and LA whose team leaders have 6 homers each. The Rockies are 5-5 over their last ten games which is a better record than division contenders Arizona and San Francisco, but the Rockies are a legitimate cellar dweller. The bottom line here is the Dodgers will win this division and the Rockies don’t have the fire power to keep up with Arizona or San Francisco. The question for the Rockies is can they get out of last place? We don’t think so. The Colorado Rockies are a legitimate contender for MLB’s worst.

The Kansas City Royals are perennial AL East cellar dwellers. The Royals are 1-9 over the last ten games, they are ten and a half games back, and they boast an MLB worst record at 5-15. They play in the same division as MLB’s hottest team, the Chicago White Sox, and don’t really stand a chance to climb out of last place. Like the Rockies the Royals have no hitting but they also have serious questions when it comes to their pitching. The Royals cry out, “Potential” but look for them to begin dealing out the guys who have any of it before the trade deadline. Bottom line, Kansas City will play a weekend series with Colorado at Coors field, June 24-26, but you don’t have to wait until then to settle the issue. The Kansas City Royals are the worst team in Major League Baseball.