FanPost

4 Game Losing Streaks

It's probably not a good sign when your entire fan community is frantically researching reasons not to panic, but such is life when you start the season at 0-4 and with a few really crushing losses in there. While the previously cited statistics about Brewer teams starting the season 0 for 3+ are pretty bleak (and I would imagine the same would be true for most teams' histories), there might be a little bit of hope looking at last year's playoff teams.

No, none of last year's 8 playoff teams started out 0-4. In fact, the worst doughnut hole to start the season was the Cincinnati Reds going 0-2.

However, if we look at the season as a whole instead of just the beginning, things might look a little better for the Crew this year, even at 0-4. Every single one of the 8 playoff teams from a year ago had at least one losing streak of at least 4 games. The team with the shortest longest losing streak was the Yankees with a 4 game skid. On the other end, the Atlanta Braves had an ugly 9 game losing streak at one point. The two World Series teams had 7 (SFG) and 6 (TEX) game skids. So, it's not like dropping 4 straight is unheard of for a playoff team.

I also took a look at how far back in the division and below .500 each of the teams was at their worst. Every team spent at least one day 3.5 games back in the division at some point, where the Brewers find themselves today. The Rangers at exactly 3.5 GB were the low end - the World Champion Giants were 7.5 GB at one point! Fewer teams spent time at at least 4 games below .500 (only the Reds at 4, Rangers at 4, and Braves at 6), but it was not unheard of either.

Finally, unless the Crew get really hot, it's likely that they will not be posting a great record for April. Again, though, last year's teams show that is not a necessity for making the playoffs - the Rangers went 11-12 in April last year, the Phillies 12-10, the Reds 12-11, and the Braves went a woeful 9-14 and still made the playoffs as the wildcard.

So there's hope. As long as the Brewers do actually start winning games sometime (tonight? C'mon Yovani!).

For reference, here are all of the data for the 4 categories I touched on for each of the 8 playoff teams from last year:

Team

Longest Losing Streak

Most Games Back

Most Games Below .500

April W-L Record

Giants

7

7.5

0

13-9

Rangers

6

3.5

4

11-12

Yankees

4

6

1

15-7

Phillies

5

7

0

12-10

Reds

5

5

4

12-11

Braves

9

7

6

9-14

Twins

5

4.5

1

15-8

Rays

5

4

0

17-6