RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE

"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, and pseudoscience (and anything else that interests him).

Sports

Greatest baseball turnaround ever?

Post author By Orac
Post date October 19, 2006
8 Comments on Greatest baseball turnaround ever?

Tom Verducci makes the case that the greated reversal in baseball history has just occurred with the Tigers making the World Series. Although they didn’t have the worst record of any World Series team in the season before they reached the World Series (that “honor” belongs to the the 1991 Atlanta Braves), they had the largest number of consecutive losing seasons before their day in the sun, twelve seasons of futility:

Does all this make the Tigers the most shocking World Series team of all time? Yes. At the very least, they are on the short list with the 1914 Braves, ’69 Mets and ’91 Braves. But the Tigers get slightly more shock value because they were worse in their pre-World Series season (.438) than the ’14 Braves (.457) or the ’69 Mets (.451). And while the ’91 Braves made a bigger turnaround (.401), they weren’t as bad for nearly as long (seven losing years) as the Tigers (12 losing years). Simply put, no World Series team has ever been worse for longer than the 2006 Tigers.

How can you not root for this team to take it all? They’re the ultimate underdogs!

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By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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