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MLB: It’s always good to keep an eye on the basement

By Sarabeth Pollock

Apr 15, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of a baseball on the field prior to a game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 15, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of a baseball on the field prior to a game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports /
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We’ve arrived at the end of May, and after two months of baseball, the teams at the bottom of the standings are surprising.

The wonderful thing about baseball is that the season goes on forever, meaning enough games to make or break a team toward the end. It’s hard to take early standings seriously unless a team is streaking in one direction or another, and it’s not until the All Star break that we really get a look at the strongest contenders.

With that in mind, we still talk about standings and the teams at the top, but in many cases it’s also a good idea to take a look at the bottom. This is where you might find trends, and unexpected things that might make a big difference later on.

As of this posting, the worst team in baseball is the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies are sitting on a 17-32 record for a .347 winning percentage. They’re 10-13 at home and 7-19 on the road. They’re also 13.5 games behind the Washington Nationals, who sit atop the National League East with a 31-19 mark.

It’s worth noting that the three teams with the worst records in baseball right now all reside in the National League: the Phillies (.347), San Diego Padres (.377, 20-33, NL West), and Miami Marlins (19-30, .388, NL East). Over in the American League, the Kansas City Royals hold the worst record so far with a 21-29 record for a .420. They’re followed closely by Oakland (22-28, .440, AL West) and a two-way tie between Detroit and Toronto, who share identical 24-27 records.

The teams at the bottom of the National League have a long way to go to catch their division leaders. The Phillies, as we’ve said, are 13.5 games back, followed by the Padres who are 13 games behind the Colorado Rockies. The race is tighter in the NL Central division, with only 3.5 games between the last place Pittsburgh Pirates and the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.

In the American League, Oakland and Seattle are both 13 games behind Houston in the AL West. The AL East and Central divisions both have 6.5 games between first and last place.

So, what does this tell us?

We have a lot of numbers, a lot of data, lots of conjecture. Such is the nature of baseball statistics. What this tells us, though, is that teams that were near or at the top of their divisions last season, like the Blue Jays, have some work to do in order to get back to the top. There is a lot of room for improvement over in the National League, where there is a lot of competition for the bottom spot.

Next: Best Starting Pitchers in MLB History

With so much baseball left to play, standings can be taken with a grain of salt. But instead of focusing upon the top of the list, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on the basement.

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