In what is sadly becoming an annual tradition, OV has unveiled this years' version of our reverse standings. A few people have been asking for it sooner, but I had wanted to wait until the Cubs had fallen at least 10 games back in the standings to officially unveil our recognition that no miracle will occur this year.
The reverse standings started over at Aisle 424 as my way of trying to look at the bright side of sucking. For those who may be new to the feature, they feature a Loss/Win record rather than the traditional Win/Loss record because it just seems nicer to say that the Cubs are 29-15. We also calculate the Loss Percentage instead of a Winning Percentage. Again, .659 looks better than .341.
So we'll update these periodically and find a place on the site for them, but as of now, the Cubs recent nine-game surge has vaulted them to the top of the standings. Who says the Cubs Way isn't working?
Go Cubs Go by Steve Goodman on Grooveshark
| Pick | Team | L | W | Loss Pct. | GB | Streak | Last 10 L-W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cubs | 29 | 15 | 0.659 | — | Lost 9 | 9-1 |
| 2 | Minnesota | 28 | 15 | 0.651 | 0.5 | Lost 1 | 4-6 |
| 3 | San Diego | 29 | 16 | 0.644 | 0.5 | Lost 3 | 6-4 |
| 4 | Colorado | 27 | 16 | 0.628 | 1.5 | Won 1 | 7-3 |
| 5 | Kansas City | 26 | 17 | 0.605 | 2.5 | Lost 2 | 6-4 |
| 6 | Milwaukee | 26 | 18 | 0.591 | 3.0 | Won 1 | 7-3 |
| 7 | Los Angeles (A) | 25 | 20 | 0.556 | 4.5 | Won 2 | 5-5 |
| 8 | Arizona | 25 | 20 | 0.556 | 4.5 | Won 1 | 5-5 |
| 9 | Pittsburgh | 24 | 20 | 0.545 | 5.0 | Lost 2 | 6-4 |
| 10 | Seattle | 25 | 21 | 0.543 | 5.0 | Won 1 | 5-5 |
| As of conclusion of 5-23-12 games | |||||||
Comments
’tis a thing of beauty.
BrettQuote Reply
Cubs need to stay a game ahead of the Twins as the Twins have the tie-breaker. Sure would be nice if the Twins beat the White Sox tonight.
/sigh
Rice CubeQuote Reply
mb21Quote Reply
mb21Quote Reply
mb21Quote Reply
mb21Quote Reply
Going to the Stone Brewery today. Very excited.
MishQuote Reply
This one was just there on my we’re number 1 search so I’m posting it.
mb21Quote Reply
an abbreviated update is saved for when you need it.
dylanjQuote Reply
@ mb21:
That girl on the right is smoking hot!! She looks like Madison Ivy.
MuckerQuote Reply
Quickie Google for next year shows this as one of the top links:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/3/15/2874945/previewing-the-2013-draft
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Mish:
stone brewery is super awesome. you are very lucky. have fun.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Mish:
Lucky bastard! Drink some Ruination for me while you’re there!
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
Nerd entry…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Also, “He’s my Number One dad!”
BerseliusQuote Reply
Totally lost.
Collective “Meh” on Ubaldo?
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
For the right price, I wouldn’t mind taking a shot on him, if he could transform to his previous self. My guess is that someone will be willing to pay more for him that the Cubs though.
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
@ mikeakaleroy:
The price tag would be the sticking point, probably there are a lot of teams who would take the risk to see if they could get Old Ubaldo.
joshQuote Reply
So the Indians swept the Tigers by beating Verlander.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
That list needs to go at least another 200 players if we’re going to start looking at potential Cub picks.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
I listened to the game. He was AWEFUL! He gave up TWO WHOLE RUNS. Terrible. Done.
He was having an off-day, but his off-days are better than most.
joshQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
That was the old Cubs. The new Cubs only need to sift through 150.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
A bento box I recently enjoyed:
Rice CubeQuote Reply
We make fun of Koyie Hill a lot around here, but I bet he’d be a wicked awesome softball player.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Verlander is today’s top performer, according to ESPN (only 1 game so far today, but still…).
ACTQuote Reply
Justin is probably the best pitcher in baseball right now.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Well, the Indians announcers thought he didn’t look as sharp, and he surrendered a nonzero number of hits, including a homer to Choo that still hasn’t landed.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Could be, but I’d take a 7:1 K/BB ratio any day of the week.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
No doubt about it. His BABIP is sitting at .219. HE’s making Roy Halladay look human.
joshQuote Reply
@ ACT:
I know, if you beat that guy with 2 runs, you get the hell out of town and count yourself lucky.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
The whole NL is making Roy look human this year (albeit an extremely talented human).
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
I blame blisters.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Might have something to do with being 35. Or small sample sizes. Or maybe he really is human!
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Or…he’s really left-handed.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Maddux was still pitching well at 35, though he started to decline after that. I think Roy will end up with a good year, still.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
He’s having a good year (especially when you look at FIP), just not as great as the last 4.
ACTQuote Reply
Right now I see Verlander leading the AL Cy Young race (with Peavy close behind) and Gio leading in the NL (followed by Hamels).
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
Hell, Verlander won MVP last year, didn’t he? Cy Young is like a step back.
Actually a pitcher winning MVP is kind of dumb.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
I honestly didn’t mind. There’s nothing in the rules that says a pitcher can’t win, and he was as valuable as anyone. And hey, at least they didn’t give it to a closer: http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1992.shtml#ALmvp
ACTQuote Reply
I honestly hate the vagueness of the MVP award. I’d be fine with giving out a position player award analogous to the CYA instead.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
They should rename it the Barry Bonds award. He won 7. He probably should have won about 12.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
That’s actually pretty close. b-ref says he was the best position player in the league 11 times.
ACTQuote Reply
I’d rather they name the award after an old great as the CYA did. Ruth, Wagner, Cobb, Hornsby… one of those guys.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
I could see it being the Babe Ruth award. Although that doesn’t exactly clear up the pitcher/position player ambiguity.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
I like using Hornsby, since he lead the league in rWAR as many times as Bonds did, and fewer people know his name than Ruth’s (he dominated the NL almost as much as Ruth dominated the AL). His b-ref page looks as though someone accidentally spilled dark ink all over it, especially the BA/OBP/SLG/OPS/OPS+ section. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hornsro01.shtml
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
The Ryan Theriot Award
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
What’s the point? No one would ever be worthy of it.
ACTQuote Reply
@ ACT:
True, but no one is worthy of the CYA when most of the writers base their vote on pitcher wins.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
In all honesty, I think the CYA voters have done a fine job the last several years. They haven’t messed up since picking Colon in 2005. Greinke and Hernandez were chosen despite their unimpressive win totals (especially the latter).
ACTQuote Reply
I agree. It’s much better now than when it was.
mb21Quote Reply
Not much to DJ’s minor league thread, but it’s up: http://obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/the-children-are-the-future-cubs-minor-league-update-sponsored-by-fiji-water.html
I’m going to have another one before long anyway.
mb21Quote Reply