Does Cardinals’ Slow Start Portend Losing Year?
From SABR member Matt Philip at Fungoes.net on April 7:
The Cardinals, who have begun the season 2-4, have tallied a total of 15 runs in their first six games and haven’t scored more than three in any single game. And it’s not like they’ve been getting unlucky: They have a similarly feckless total of 17.5 weighted Runs Created.
Longtime friend and reader DaveBug asked last night about the record number of games starting a season of with fewer than four runs a game. We side with Tony La Russa on the issue of whether it’s reasonable to draw many conclusions with a mere six games in the books, but the question is interesting, all the same. Dating back to 1919, the earliest point for which the invaluable Baseball-Reference.com has data, the following teams have begun the season with at least seven games in which they have scored three or fewer runs.
See the chart and read the full article here: http://www.fungoes.net/2011/04/07/does-cardinals-slow-start-portend-losing-year/
Originally published: April 11, 2011. Last Updated: April 11, 2011.