McInnis said:

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Drunken Overseas Bettor said:

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McInnis said:

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Drunken Overseas Bettor said:

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McInnis said:

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Drunken Overseas Bettor said:

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'79 was was the first year the Angels made the playoffs after 19 years of sucking, so that was probably the real tipping point in the MVP race. '79 ...

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There were four expansion teams in the early 60s. Baseball was rough on expansion teams then. There was no free agency then so teams couldn't buy a roster like they can now. So they struggled. It took Houston and New York 8 years before breaking .500 for the first time, and Washington (now Texas) 9 years. But improbably the Angels did it in their second year finishing in 3rd place with a record of 86-76.

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I think I posted earlier this year about how the Mets have never reached .500 as a franchise because of how bad they were from 62-68. It's also ironic that the year that the Angels finally made the playoffs was the year that Nolan was a free agent. He walked to the Astros and was then on the Astros' first-ever playoff team the next year (80). That has probably happened again, but was I'm sure a rarity back in that era.

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And Nolan was on the Met's first playoff team as well.

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Wow that is nuts and he was on that Ranger team that .... oh, nevermind.

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You went there! Had the same thought, but thought better of it.

Edited to be fair. If Nolan had pitched just three more years he would have been part of the first playoff team of all four expansion franchises of the early 60s.

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Well, to get technical but ugly, TEX was in first place in '94, 10 games under .500, when the strike happened. So Nolan was only one season away from being on a first place team.

Ron Wright

Saw this and I had to look it up myself.

One career game. Three plate appearances. Accounted for six outs! Strikeout, double play, triple play. Never to be seen again!

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighro02.shtml

Until Saturday, no team in MLB history had carried a no hitter for 8 2/3 innings and then gone on to lose the game.

The Dodgers managed it Saturday night against the Orioles. (And as I Giant's fan, I am chortling gleefully.)

I saw that.....and I'm pretty surprised that hasn't happened before

I do find it kind of odd that the Dodger manager lifter the starter after the HR that broke up the no hitter. They were still up by 2, and Yamamoto had been dominant. So it was really the bullpen (the two pitchers after the starter failed to record the lone remaining out) that blew the game.

Cue the pitch count debate: Yamamoto was over his high count for his MLB career (112, previous MLB high 110), although not for his overall career (138 in Japan.)

AgRyan04 said:

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I saw that.....and I'm pretty surprised that hasn't happened before

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I thought the same thing, especially in days of yore when there were a ton of 1-0 games. Just having a guy on with a walk in a 1-0 could turn into a no-hitter / walkoff with someone hitting a homer.