By Woodrow Carroll
Surprises, streaks, and situations, have peppered Major League Baseball (MLB) historically.
It was four weeks ago that life took a dark turn for the Chicago White Sox. No sooner had the White Sox captured a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays June 16 to give the team the best record in the MLB. The Sox took to the road and suffered a four-game sweep in Houston. A loss in Pittsburgh followed to make it five straight defeats. Ouch!
Major League Baseball, similar to most sports, has its ups and downs. The White Sox, last week were on an up period that took much of the sting out of the team’s five-game losing streak in late June.
By taking the final two games of a three-game series in Minnesota last week and following it with a three-game sweep of the Orioles in Baltimore, the White Sox hit the all-star break with a 54-35 (.607) record, best in the American League.
When the teams come off the all-star break, the Sox will start a three-game series with Houston. One suspects the White Sox will be out to make amends for the rough manner in which the Astros treated the Sox in Texas in June..
The Chicago Cubs entered the all-star break with a 44-46 record and eight games in back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.
The Cubs have strung together six consecutive winning seasons, 2015-2020 with the 2016 World Series run with a regular-season record of 103-58 the apex. A long run of winning seasons makes for fond memories. The White Sox finished above .500 every year 1951 through 1967. Yet, even that 17-year run pales by comparison with the New York Yankees who were above.500 1926 through 1964.
The 1925 Yankees were a bit of a mystery. With Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, in what was Gehrig’s first full year with the team, the Yankees finished with a record of 69-85-2 and in seventh place in the eight-team American League.
It was a quick recovery for Ruth, Gehrig, and team in 1926. The team ended up 91-63-1 and in first place in the American League. In spite of a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the World Series, the Yankees were on their way.
Maybe it was a bad omen when the Yamkees lost in seven games to the Cardinals in the 1964 World Series. The 39-year season winning streak for the Yankees started with a seven-game World Series defeat by the Cardinals in 1926.
It concluded with a seven-game Series setback by St. Louis in 1964.
The 1965 New York Yankees, managed by Johnny Keane finished 77-85 and well in back of the American League champion Minnesota Twins. The streak was over!
One of the great mystery teams in Major League Baseball history has to be the 1990 Cincinnati Reds. The team came out of nowhere to win the World Series in 1990 and faded just as quickly.
The 1989 Reds were 75-87 and ended up in fifth place in the National League West managed first by Pete Rose with Tommy Helms..
The 1990 Reds were under manager Lou Piniella. Little was expected from the team. Most notable player at the time might have been 40-year old Ken Griffey who came to bat only 63 times.
There was no 20-game winner on the 1990 Reds. Tom Browning, 15-9),was the team’s pitcher with the most victories.
In a shocker to most observers, the 1990 Reds were 91-71 and captured the National League West championship. Then Piniella’s charges defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, four games to two, to capture National League championship. The real surprise was the World Series when the Reds beat the defending World Series champion Oakland Athletics in four straight games.
The 1991 Reds were not in the playoff hunt. A 74-88 record was eerily reminiscent of the team two years earlier and not the 1990 club.