Loveable Losers In Baseball History

The Philadelphia Phillies have been a staple in Major League baseball for over 120 years. The Phillies are one of the League’s oldest teams dating back all the way to the year 1883. Over the years the Phillies have acquired many accolades and accomplishments; although the Phillies are a decorated team for many positive reasons they have also become the league’s most losing team, with over 10,000 losses. Although the Philadelphia franchise may have the most losses in any professional sport, whether it is football, basketball, or soccer, they have had many playoff runs and even a few World Series appearances. Throughout the winning and the losing seasons the Phillies have had some very good players, which went on to be a Hall-of-Famers, while many of the players were mediocre at best. Although not all of the players that played in Philadelphia were good, they had heart and drive to not let the rambunctious fans in Philadelphia not get the best of them. Whenever a family goes to one of these baseball games, the game may not be the center of attention for the kids or even the adults with the most entertaining mascot of all the Phillie Phanatic dancing around and being goofy in front of 20,000 people in the stands.

I believe that you Chicago Cubs are doing very well. I hope after your loss in the National League Playoffs, you guys rebound, and make it to the World Series next year.

The Cubs have just that, with the help of their elite starting pitching rotation that makes up of Jake “The Snake” Arietta, Kyle Hendrix, John Lackey, and Jon Lester they seem like a force to be reckon with. Three out of the five starting pitchers for the cubs were nominated to win the C.Y young award last year for best pitcher of the year. Only five starting pitchers out of the whole league get selected and three of them came from the Cubs. Even with this compelling arsenal of weapons on their team there is always room for one more gun, and that gun is no one other than the “Cuban Missile” Aroldis Chapman. Chapman good be called “the greatest relief pitcher” too ever play and he has the resume too prove it. He holds the record for the fastest thrown fastball ever in the MLB clocking in at 105.1 mph. To have a pitcher come in for you during the bottom of the 8th or 9th inning a very crucial point in the game of baseball, and for him too throw that fast and hard is incredible. Not only can he pack a punch with his throw but he also throws lefty. Having a closing pitcher too be lefty and throw the fastest fastball in the MLB is ultimately unheard

After that second Philly loss, the Cubs were 84-60 and the Mets had pulled ahead at 85-57. The Mets would not look back. The Cubs' eight-game losing streak finally ended the next day in St. Louis, but the Mets were in the midst of a ten-game winning streak, and the Cubs, wilting from team fatigue, generally deteriorated in all phases of the game. The Mets would go on to win the World Series. The Cubs, despite a respectable 92-70 record, would be remembered for having lost a remarkable 17½ games in the standings to the Mets in the last quarter of the season.

In Major League Baseball’s 1919 World Series two teams that were the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds went up against each other. They played only a eight game series because the Cincinnati Reds already had won five games after the eighth game was over which didn’t require them to go to the ninth game. Many people found it hard to believe that the Reds actually one the World Series because the White Sox were favored to win. The bookies made the odds seven to five favored on the Chicago White Sox to win. Believe it or not the Chicago White Sox actually let the Cincinnati Reds win the series because they were payed a significant amount of money to throw the game. This famous Scandal was known as The Black Sox Scandal. The media reacted very suddenly to this scandal, the people were very shocked when they got word of it, and the aftermath of this Scandal cause many problems in baseball and society.

The fans of the game of baseball don’t ease up for anyone. Watch Anthony Rizzo, Cubs all-star first baseman, go on an 0-20 slump, and the crowd boos him. Watch the Yankees future Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter make two errors in a game, and the fans heckle him. Fans of the game tend to view pro athletes as machines, or athletic robots. What they fail to realize is that they are human beings with the same thoughts, love, and family that every other human has.

The year was 1919, and baseball was in the air. The Chicago White Sox had the World Series locked up when scandal struck. It would come to be known as the “Black Sox Scandal” when a group of players were paid by gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series, including the great Joe Jackson. It was one of baseball’s darkest hours, and still lives in infamy inside the hearts of baseball fans all across the world, especially in the south-side of Chicago, the home of the White Sox.

One hundred and eight years of love, support, and faith in their ball club came down to a fundamental, opposite field single by Ben Zobrist in game seven last night at Progressive Field. The Curse of the Billy Goat has been erased from the history books, and much of the credit must go to the Cub’s President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein. Epstein was the President of the Red Sox over a decade ago, helping shape the team that broke the Curse of the Bambino. In 2011 he signed with the Cubs, again aiding his new team to break what seemed to be a hopeless World Series drought. Thrifty Indian’s Ace Corey Kluber took the mound for the home team while the 26-year-old Kyle Hendricks was on the hill for the Cubs. Kluber experienced a pitcher’s

In game one it was 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning. Giant Casey Stengel hit a line drive to the center field. He got home and he won by putting the score up to 5-4 Giants. The Yankees went against the Pittsburgh Pirates In the 1960 World Series. When Mazerok hit the first strike he missed. On the second hit he hit the ball so hard it soared over the field and into the bleachers. That led to a win for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1927 the Yankees swept the World Series again. The lineup was so deadly people started calling it Murderers row. In 1919, the Chicago White Sox and the Cincinnati Red Stockings met face to face. Everyone thought they would win because they had Eddie who was an excellent pitcher and Joe Jackson, their star slugger. They did pretty good from the beginning but they started doing terrible. A few years later they found out that the team messed up on purpose to get payed. In 1934 a new team came in place. They were the St.Louis Cardinals. Most of the people grew up pour and didn't have any money. They liked to pretend to fight in hotel lobbies. They went to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. The Detroit Tigers thought the Cardinals would be easy to beat. But the Cardinals destroyed the Tigers with 4-3 Cardinals in the number of game. The Red Sox were an extraordinary team. They had Babe Ruth on their side. They won the World Series in 1912, 1915, 1916, and

The Royals went with their ace in the series in Bret Saberhagen. On her way into the stadium my mom talks about the atmosphere in the crowds. “The best way I could describe would be electric. The Royals fans were especially rowdy because they had the momentum going into the game and it was in Kansas City. The much anticipated game, however, turned out to be a blowout. St. Louis' rotation did not fare as well as Motley hammered a two run homer off Tudor in the second, Balboni delivered a two run single in the three run, third and Lonnie Smith launched a two run double in the six run, fifth. George Brett went four-for-five and Motley finished with three hits in the 11-0 massacre that crowned the "Comeback Kings" as World Series Champions (Baseball

Balls were hit, strikes were swung, and outs were cast. One and two and three, and as fast as the inning began, it ended. Those who spectated cheered, and others who watched booed. The home team who was defending now attacked, but just as swift as those before them, they were struck down, only ever hitting their mark once. When the Dodgers reached the plate again, fortune was struck, along with the ball, and away it was sent, beyond the green field of contest, and the enemy team cheered loud and full, for they were ahead in the struggle. The outs continued to add up, and innings continued to be completed. Through a sacrifice of a hit, a run was finally scored for the Giants. Furious exclamation came from the stadium, filling the air with the cheers of the onlookers, but short lived was this joy, for in just the next inning the Dodgers stole back their domination of the field. Before the game was almost finished, only two outs before the Giants were crushed, they swept back with a glorious score which made the onlookers even more feverous than before. With this score, the game was extended further, so a victor could be

For those who are unaware, the Chicago is a MLB(Major League Baseball) team from Chicago, Illinois. At first the were known as the White Stockings, but later changed in 1903 to the Cubs. They were successful at the start. They would win 6 of the 11 championship they played in. However, in 1907 Chicago won their first World Series. This would be their only World Series victory until 2016.The cubs would later become very unsuccessful until he early 2000’s.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, founded in 1869, were the first professional baseball team. In 2016, they are known as the Cincinnati Reds. Through the way, they have done many things. In 1919, they won the World Series. This World Series was controversial due to the fact that some of the players the White Sox, the other team, bet on losing it. During the 1938 season, Johnny Vander Meer threw back to back no hitters, the only time in baseball history. In 1940 the Reds win the World Series again, but this time it was not controversial. It would be another 35 years until they win the World Series again, but comes much better. The 1970’s Reds teams were great, and were known as the Big Red Machine. The peak was when they won back to

The Pirates broke a long playoff curse a few years ago, and were one of the best teams for a couple of years, but have since regressed and are now mediocre. They have an incredibly young rotation, anchored by Gerrit Cole, and followed up by, Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, and Tyler Glasnow. All of them are all under 30, as is Drew Hutchison, their sixth option. Ivan Nova is their veteran, and he pitched very well after coming over at the Trade Deadline last year. After dealing away star closer Mark Melancon at the deadline, Tony Watson took over and has been extremely reliable. Their lineup is solid, led by Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Gregory Polanco, but McCutchen is on the downside of his career and both

Coming off of a terrific 2016 season, the 91-70 American League Champions Cleveland Indians had high expectations going into 2017. The Indians made themselves into a seemingly unstoppable force. Cleveland had dominated in the regular season, especially in their division as they were also crowned American League Central regular season champions. They had helped themselves by winning a franchise high 14 straight games. This gave the Tribe tons of momentum heading into the postseason. On their trip to the World Series, the Indians managed to only lose one game. Everything was going Cleveland’s way until injuries arose in the pitching staff. The Indians had ended up only being able to pitch Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin in the last three