Slow-Starting Playoff Teams

Now that the Brewers have won two games in a row and sit at 22-24 with a decent opportunity to be above .500 by their next home game, there doesn't seem to be as much tension among fans. The sense of anger/panic/frustration following two consecutive sweeps at the beginning of the month has changed into a "well, we're not out of this yet" attitude. At the end of Tuesday night's game thread, oconnobe asked about the record of the 2007 Cubs and 2007 Rockies through 45 games. Interestingly, the 2008 Brewers and 2007 Cubs had the same record after that period and they both left the 2007 Rockies in the dust (18-27).

I was curious about how many teams started that slowly and still made the playoffs. I think the wild card has made it more likely a team can play under .500 for over a quarter of the year and still qualify for the playoffs, so I've looked only at the years 1996-2007. Yes, the wild card was around in 1995, but that was an abbreviated season, as was 1994.

In the twelve-season period, 96 teams made the playoffs. Final records of those teams ranged from the 2001 Mariners' 116-46 to the 2005 Padres' 82-80. Since I'm interested in seeing who the Brewers might be able to look at for hope, I tracked down twelve teams that were under .500 in their first 46 games. Remember, the Brewers are 22-24 in that stretch.

2000 Athletics, 22-24 through 46, 91-70 overall
2000 Giants, 22-24, 97-65
2001 Braves, 22-24, 88-74
2006 Athletics, 22-24, 93-69

2007 Cubs, 21-25, 85-77
2007 Yankees, 21-25, 94-68

1996 Cardinals, 20-26, 88-74
2002 Athletics, 20-26, 103-59
2006 Twins, 20-26, 96-66

2003 Marlins, 19-27, 91-71
2007 Rockies, 19-27, 90-73

2005 Astros, 16-30, 89-73