103-59 Final Regular season record

[DainBramaged]

[Condem]

1. The overwhelming favorite going into the play-offs. Good.

We got em' where we want em'. This is where the Spanks underachieve.

[trumad]

2. LOL---26 World Series championships...

Those underachievers....

[MrSlayer]

3. That is a nice accomplishment.

Everyone is 0-0 now.

[Ter]

4. Awesome day for A-Rod as well

Two HRs and seven RBI in one inning, finishing with 30 HR/100 RBI!

[flvegan]

5. I thought this was a thread about the Nationals

but then realized the numbers were backwards.

[trotsky]

6. The equivalent of a 10-6 final NFL record.

Decent, but nothing amazing.

But yet that's about the best baseball can offer. And the NFL even has parity, salary caps, and revenue sharing working against it! What's baseball's excuse?

[hughee99]

7. The equivalent of a 10-6 record?

I'm am as far from a Yankees fan as you can get, but while the winning percentage is the same, 100 wins in baseball is much harder than 10 wins in football. One thing football has going for it, that baseball doesn't, is that you can play your best players every game. In baseball, you best pitcher can only pitch, at most 22%, of the games. If first string QB's were only able to start 4 games a season, I'm sure there'd be fewer 10-6 teams in the NFL. The good teams would be ones that don't rely on a good QB, but in baseball, if you can't pitch well, there's really no strategy to get around it.

[trotsky]

10. But the Yankees can afford more good players.

Think 49ers-Cowboys in the pre-salary cap days. No one challenged them. The one thing baseball has going for it, at least for the rich teams, is being able to have more good players on your team. The competitive advantage owned by rich teams is astounding, yet the best they can do is the the equivalent of a 10-6 football record. That's not even good enough to win most divisions.

If first string QB's were only able to start 4 games a season, I'm sure there'd be fewer 10-6 teams in the NFL.

When the opposing team is also only starting THEIR best QB 4 games a season, I'm sure it'd even out.

in baseball, if you can't pitch well, there's really no strategy to get around it.

Sure there is, get better hitters and outscore 'em.

[hughee99]

13. Really, are you kidding?

Please name one baseball team that has achieved and sort of long term success (more than 2 years) by loading up on hitters while having bad pitching (bottom 1/3 of the league). That's been the Rangers strategy for most of the last 15 years (though this year they seem to be looking more promising) and it's gotten them nowhere. Last year Texas was 1st in runs scored and first in runs allowed. They finished the season at 79-83.

First string QB's even get to start all of the snaps at the position, a starting pitcher doesn't even pitch the entire game. And in football, the teams with the best starters don't always (or even usually) have the best backups, so I'm not sure that it would "even out". Apples and oranges, my friend. Salary cap versus no cap, 16 games versus 162 games, scheduling and travel differences. The only similarity is that both records can be broken down into winning percentages, but winning 10 games in football and winning 100 in baseball isn't even comparable.

[trotsky]

14. Hey, I didn't say the strategy is always gonna work.

But it *is* a strategy. Regardless, the Yankees can afford better pitchers too. Yet despite all those advantages, no salary cap, plucking the best players off the "farm teams" of the MLB, they end up with a 10-6 record in the NFL. I just think it's funny.

[hughee99]

15. They ended up with the best record in the league.

has 10-6 ever been the best record in the NFL? 2 teams have gone undefeated over the regular season in football. I don't believe any baseball team has ever gotten out of April undefeated in at least 100 years (if ever). The best all time winning percentage in baseball is the 1906 Cubs who won 116 games (out of 152) for a .763. That's over 100 years ago, and some nfl team goes 12-4 every year for a .750 winning percentage. "Any given day" comes into play a lot more over 162 games than it does over 16. More teams won 10 games last year in the NFL than won 100 in baseball over the last decade. Regardless of how much they spend, there's only so much talent available. The Yankees have just made a habit of overpaying for mediocrity (though this years FA signing did work out well).

Again, I'm as far as you can get from a Yankees fan, and no one would delight more than me in another Yankee postseason collapse, but I have to give them props, winning 100 is hard to do, especially given their abysmal start this season.

[Upton]

8. Whatever...The Giants finished 103-59 in '93

and didn't even make the playoffs.

[bluescribbler]

9. Yup, they had a good season.

They had a good season in 2004, as well. Remember what happened in 2004? They had the Red Sox down 3-0 in the ALCS. Remember?

[CatholicEdHead]

11. Doesn't matter in the playoffs

epically with a 3-0 sweep from the Twins coming. ;)

[Capt. America]

12. 2001 Seattle Mariners: 116-46. lost AL championship series 4-1

[DaveinMD]

16. that doesn't diminish

what Seattle did in the regular season that year. That was a very good team.

[Broken_Hero]

17. Don't remind me...nt