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?
| 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 | |||||||
’tis a thing of beauty.
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
Going to the Stone Brewery today. Very excited.
This one was just there on my we’re number 1 search so I’m posting it.
an abbreviated update is saved for when you need it.
@ mb21:
That girl on the right is smoking hot!! She looks like Madison Ivy.
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
@ Mish:
stone brewery is super awesome. you are very lucky. have fun.
@ Mish:
Lucky bastard! Drink some Ruination for me while you’re there!
Nerd entry…
@ Rice Cube:
Also, “He’s my Number One dad!”
Totally lost.
Collective “Meh” on Ubaldo?
@ 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.
@ 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.
So the Indians swept the Tigers by beating Verlander.
@ Rice Cube:
That list needs to go at least another 200 players if we’re going to start looking at potential Cub picks.
@ 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.
@ GBTS:
That was the old Cubs. The new Cubs only need to sift through 150.
A bento box I recently enjoyed:
We make fun of Koyie Hill a lot around here, but I bet he’d be a wicked awesome softball player.
@ josh:
Verlander is today’s top performer, according to ESPN (only 1 game so far today, but still…).
Justin is probably the best pitcher in baseball right now.
@ 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.
@ josh:
Could be, but I’d take a 7:1 K/BB ratio any day of the week.
@ ACT:
No doubt about it. His BABIP is sitting at .219. HE’s making Roy Halladay look human.
@ ACT:
I know, if you beat that guy with 2 runs, you get the hell out of town and count yourself lucky.
@ josh:
The whole NL is making Roy look human this year (albeit an extremely talented human).
@ ACT:
I blame blisters.
@ josh:
Might have something to do with being 35. Or small sample sizes. Or maybe he really is human!
@ ACT:
Or…he’s really left-handed.
@ 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.
@ josh:
He’s having a good year (especially when you look at FIP), just not as great as the last 4.
Right now I see Verlander leading the AL Cy Young race (with Peavy close behind) and Gio leading in the NL (followed by Hamels).
@ 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.
@ 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
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.
@ ACT:
They should rename it the Barry Bonds award. He won 7. He probably should have won about 12.
@ josh:
That’s actually pretty close. b-ref says he was the best position player in the league 11 times.
I’d rather they name the award after an old great as the CYA did. Ruth, Wagner, Cobb, Hornsby… one of those guys.
@ ACT:
I could see it being the Babe Ruth award. Although that doesn’t exactly clear up the pitcher/position player ambiguity.
@ 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
@ ACT:
The Ryan Theriot Award
@ mb21:
What’s the point? No one would ever be worthy of it.
@ ACT:
True, but no one is worthy of the CYA when most of the writers base their vote on pitcher wins.
@ 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).
I agree. It’s much better now than when it was.
Not much to DJ’s minor league thread, but it’s up: http://www.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.