Atlanta Braves are finally escaping a bad trend in baseball
Even as the 22-15 Braves are enjoying a really nice Spring thaw after 3 years of chilling play, one look at the standings shows that there’s a new paradigm at work – and it isn’t fan friendly.
No doubt – I like what I’m seeing now from the Atlanta Braves. I’m just not at all sure I like the process that brought us here. What Atlanta has done since 2014 is not new, but the practice is gaining momentum, and that’s disturbing.
Depending on your viewpoint of history, you could point to several teams that have ‘tanked’.
The 1998 Marlins could be one of those, but their purpose at that time was overtly to dump payroll after their successful 1997 World Series run. Still, Wayne Huizenga’s club went from 54-108 that year to another World Series title in 2003. Not a”conventional” tanking job, but still instructive… particularly given the fan reaction, which one could argue still lingers today.
A lot of credit for the first “modern” such tanking goes to the 2011-13 Houston Astros. After floundering in the vicinity of the .500 mark for 5 years (2006-2010), the team embarked on a new strategy: they didn’t really try:
- 2006-2010 wins: 82, 73, 86, 74, 76
- 2011-2014 wins: 56, 55, 51, 70
Likewise, the Cubs – after 100+ years of futility despite a couple of near misses – followed the Houston lead, though their time in the tank was shorter:
- 2007-2010 wins: 85, 97, 83, 75
- 2011-2014 wins: 71, 61, 66, 73
Fan reactions in Houston were not good. Lots of empty seats. Lots of not watching even on television. Cub fans? They seemed to take it better – probably because they knew they had just hired Theo Epstein and knew what he had just accomplished in Boston.
Since then, both clubs have enjoyed the fruits of their non-efforts.
- Houston 2015-17: 86, 84, 101 (World Series 2017)
- Chicago 2015-17: 97, 103, 92 (World Series 2016)