Thursday November 14, 2013

I was thinking about this during the postseason, which didn't include the New York Yankees, and which included a World Series between two teams with two titles so far this century: the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. I thought whoever won this year would be our team of the century. So far.

Then I thought I'd crunch the numbers first.

This is what you get in terms of post-season appearances, LCSes, pennants, and World Series titles. It's organized by post-season appearances. Caveat: I didn't include the loser of the new one-game wild card playoffs, which, technically, is the post-season, but doesn't fit readily into this format. I also included the year 2000. Arguments on that issue can take place elsewhere, please:

Team Post-Seasons LCSs Pennants Titles New York Yankees 12 7 4 2 St. Louis Cardinals 10 8 4 2 Atlanta Braves 8 1 Boston Red Sox 7 5 3 3 Oakland A's 7 1 Los Angeles Angels 6 3 1 1 Minnesota Twins 6 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 5 3 Philadelphia Phillies 5 3 2 1 San Francisco Giants 5 3 3 2 Arizona Diamondbacks 4 2 1 1 Detroit Tigers 4 4 2 Tampa Bay Rays 4 1 1 Chicago Cubs 3 1 Chicago White Sox 3 1 1 1 Houston Astros 3 2 1 Cincinnati Reds 2 Cleveland Indians 2 1 Colorado Rockies 2 1 1 Milwaukee Brewers 2 1 New York Mets 2 2 1 San Diego Padres 2 Seattle Mariners 2 2 Texas Rangers 2 2 2 Baltimore Orioles 1 Miami Marlins 1 1 1 1 Pittsburgh Pirates 1 Washington Nationals 1 Kansas City Royals Toronto Blue Jays

The Yankees have appeared in the most post-seasons, 12 of the 14, and are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the most pennants: four.

The Cardinals, though, have been in the most LCSes: 8. That was a surprise for me. I forgot how many times they kept showing up.

But if it's all about ringsand what Yankees fan worth his salt wouldn't say it's all about rings?then the century thus far belongs to the Boston Red Sox, who began the century as famous, operatic losers until their glorious comeback in the 2004 ALCS jumpstarted a new tradition.

A follow-up: So who is the biggest loser of the 21st century? Both Toronto and KC haven't even been to the postseasonToronto tough division, KC idiot managementwhile a few others have made it only once. One of those, the then-Florida Marlins, actually went all the way in 2003, but they're an outlier.

The team with the most post-season appearances and no LCS? Tied between the Reds and the Padres with two each.

How about the team with the most LCS appearances but no pennant? That would be the Dodgers with 3. The Mariners are second with 2.

But look at the Braves up there: Eight postseasons, just one LCS and no pennant. They have the most post-season appearances without a pennant. Yet this organization is now planning on moving its home ballpark from downtown Atlanta (55% white) to Cobb County (66% white) for the start of the 2017 season. Weve played in our current facility for quite some time," said John Schuerholz, the Braves president. By which he means since 1997. So 20 years is apparently the shelf-life of baseball stadiums today. I'm sure the Mariners organization is taking note.

So are the Braves the biggest losers of the 21st century? Certainly in the post-season. Plus now they're being dicks. But at least it's a smart organization. If I added regular-season futitlity to this chart, I'm sure the prize of worst team of the century would go to Kansas City. But watch out, Royals! The Mariners are right on your back.

For Yankees fans, the 21st century has been about the Curse of Big Papi.