MLB: Five Most Disappointing Teams To Start The Season
162 games is a long season, but a disappointing start can crush an MLB team’s confidence for weeks.
It’s hard to judge an MLB team based off their start. There’s always a team that starts terrible that makes a playoff run. We’ve even had one start 19-31 and win the World Series. The flip to that is the team that starts red hot, sometimes even in the thick of the conversation into the All Star break, and then they fade and barely even finish at .500.
We, unfortunately, lost the Nationals/Mets series this weekend, which by itself is probably the most disappointing series of the week. As for what happened on the field, these teams had a very rough start to their 2021.
The five most disappointing MLB teams thus far
5. Atlanta Braves
The Braves are a popular pick to win a crowded NL East. In a division where even the worst team (on paper, the Marlins) made the playoffs in a shortened 2020, every game is crucial. So how did the run for the division start? They were swept by the Phillies.
Let’s cut the Braves some slack: the Phillies are no pushover. They could just as easily win the NL East as the Braves.
Atlanta is led by it’s offense, which is loaded with young talent. But that great lineup floundered, scoring just three runs over three games, low lighted by Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies going 0-for-the weekend and Ronald Acuna going 2 for 12.
On Saturday, the Braves were one-hit and struck out 14 times by Zach Wheeler, Archie Bradley and Hector Neris. Neris stuck out the side to end the game, two looking. It was a fitting end to a forgettable series.
The Braves are scheduled to play the Nationals next, but Covid has already impacted that schedule as Monday’s opener was postponed. An extra day might be what the Braves need, taking a few extra swings to brush off the bad opening weekend.
4. St. Louis Cardinals
In complete contradiction to the NL East, the NL Central may be the worst division in MLB. The Cardinals’ offense struggled greatly last year en route to a second place division finish. After landing Nolan Arenado to assist in fixing that, the Cardinals are looked at as the favorite in the Central.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals’ pitching killed them this weekend. They lost two of three to the Cincinnati Reds, who are one of the most underrated teams in the league but aren’t world beaters by any stretch.
After winning the season opener 11-6, the Cards dropped the next two 9-6 and 12-1. The weekend will be most remembered for Nick Castellanos’ altercation with Yadier Molina that resulted in benches emptying.
What makes that Saturday incident worse for St. Louis is what happened on Sunday: a 12-1 rout by the Reds that included a 2-4, 3 RBI performance from the new top villain of the Cardinals.
The pitching is very worrisome going forward. St. Louis didn’t have the best rotation going into the season, and giving up 27 runs over three games will only magnify those questions. The starting pitching was responsible for 16 of those runs, with ace Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright bot giving up six earned runs over 4.1 and 2.2 innings respectively and Carlos Martinez giving up four runs over five innings.
Up next for the Cardinals is a Marlins team that exploded for 12 runs in their last game on Saturday. The streak of six runs given up might continue heading into the second week of the season.
3. New York Yankees
The sky is the limit for the Yankees in teams of potential. They’re legitimate World Series contenders that on paper have one of, if not the, best teams in MLB. The problem is they’re so boom or bust and this weekend we saw the bust side.
The Yankees high powered offense was silenced as the Blue Jays took two of three in The Bronx, holding the Yankees to just eight runs over three games.
It took exactly eight innings for the boos to start for Giancarlo Stanton, who is one of the most exciting players in the league when he actually makes contact. Unfortunately, he didn’t do much of that, starting off the season 0-8. Aaron Hicks struck out in seven of his 12 at bats.
This is a routine problem for the Yankees, who go stretches where they struggle to make contact. When the bats go quiet, it almost doesn’t matter how well the pitching does.
At least Gary Sanchez remembered how to hit, showing off some of what made him one of the best hitting catchers in the league. He’s responsible for the Yankees’ only two home runs of the season so far.
The pitching doesn’t at all qualify as disappointing, except for a three inning start from Domingo Germán on Sunday in which he gave up three runs. The positive to that is reliever Michael King stepped up out of the bullpen to toss six innings of one hit baseball.
Yankee haters should enjoy this series, because once the big bats come alive, the entire Major League is in big trouble.
2. Oakland A’s
Oakland will be the biggest threat to the Astros, but you wouldn’t know it from opening weekend.
The A’s suffered a four game sweep to the Astros. As bad as that is, it’s not so much that it happened as it is how it happened. Oakland looked lost just about everywhere on the diamond. Over the four game series, Oakland was outscored 37-9 and yet somehow that doesn’t do justice about how bad this series truly was.
Houston didn’t miss a beat without George Springer and the trio of Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman combined to go 19-44 with three home runs and nine RBI’s.
Oakland never once led during the series.
The Athletics’ bullpen was torched all weekend giving up 16 runs, with Reymin Gaudun doing the most damage giving up seven runs across two games. He pitched in the 9th both games, and game up three and four runs in his appearances.
Things aren’t good when you look at the hitting. Elvis Andrus went 1-14. Matt Chapman was 1-11. The team combined to strike out 37 times.
It’s hard to imagine the A’s will catch fire immediately. They’re going to need a lot of help, especially in the bullpen. Oakland better hope guys like Andrus and Chapman turn it around quickly, because they’re going to be needed to win some slugfests early in the year while the pitching is figured out.
Can you imagine how bad the series would have been if the Astros brought their garbage cans?
1. Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were swept by the second worst team in MLB at Fenway Park. If that’s not disappointing, nothing is.
Baltimore didn’t just sweep Boston, they did it convincingly. The Orioles shut out the Red Sox on two hits in the season opener that happened a day later than scheduled due to rain. Game two saw Matt Harvey look as good as he’s looked in years, striking out four while giving up two across 4.2 innings.
The final game of the series saw Baltimore put an exclamation point on the weekend, lighting up Boston starter Garrett Richards for six runs across two innings en route to a 11-3 victory.
Bobby Dalbec, Alex Verdugo, Xander Borgarts and Enrique Hernandez combined to go 2-43. That is not a typo. Two hits in 43 at bats. JD Martinez was the lone bright spot, going 6-12 with two home runs.
Three new homes for the 2021 All Star Game. dark. Next
There has been nothing for Red Sox fans to be excited about so far. From rain causing the season opener to get postponed, to being dominated most of the weekend, the only appropriate word to use to describe the Boston Red Sox is disappointing.