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Chasing history: At 46-12, surging Mariners hope to join baseball's elite teams
Friday, June 8, 2001

By DAN RALEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

You thought they were just stretching.

A few hours before the first pitch, the Mariners congregate in right field. Like little boys, they flop down in the grass. They twist and turn. They tell stories, trade insults.

They dream.

"They show the division standings on the scoreboard and ours comes up last," pitcher Paul Abbott said. "I pay attention. I want to see it. It doesn't come around like this every 100 years. It's like Halley's comet. It doesn't look right."

Today, as the Mariners loosen up for a three-game, interleague series with the San Diego Padres, the following will flicker across Safeco Field's rectangular, electronic wall:

Seattle, 46-12, .793, 17 1/2 games ahead.

Yesterday, the Mariners put their bats and balls away for 24 hours. In unison, the rest of the American League West shouted thank you. Lately, an off day is the only way to keep the home club from the win column.

Just one big-league team has started faster than the Mariners -- the 1912 New York Giants had one more victory, one less loss. The Giants won nine in a row to reach the 58-game mark with a 47-11 record; their winning streak would grow to 16 games before they lost their 12th game.

Only two other teams have maintained the Mariners' pace -- the 1907 Chicago Cubs and 1939 New York Yankees.

Before, you could argue this was merely a statistical aberration. But now, we're in June. What if it's not?

"There's still four months to go," pitcher Aaron Sele cautions. "Anything could happen."

If it's the ultimate, here's where the Mariners are headed:


In the 130-year history of the game, 81 teams have won 100 games or more in a season. To reach that level, the Mariners could merely finish 54-50.


Of the 81 teams with triple-digit wins, just eight have played .700 ball or better, with four of them doing it before World War I. Only one modern-day team, the 1998 New York Yankees, has crossed that threshold (.704). At this point, the Mariners are two victories shy of the .800 mark.


The most successful team in regular-season history is the 1906 Cubs, piling up 116 victories and a .763 percentage. The Mariners would need to go 71-33 to surpass their win total. The 1998 Yankees made a serious run, finishing with 114 wins. Yet they ran into a problem that might hamper the 2001 Mariners as well.

"The toughest part, if we do continue this into September, is not having enough incentive to keep up winning streaks," said Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson, a member of the 1998 Yankees. "In '98, we thought we could get the record, but there was nobody behind us to push us to win. We clinched with three weeks of the season left. To set records or get records, it's tough."

For other teams, the late-season letdown has proved far more disastrous. Two of the eight that have played .700 ball during the regular season lost the World Series. The 1954 Cleveland Indians finished 111-43, then were swept by the New York Giants, a 103-game winner.

The '98 Yankees found themselves trailing 2-1 to Cleveland in the ALCS, before righting themselves with three consecutive victories and then sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Counting all games, New York posted 125 victories that year.

Nelson has noticed similarities between his current Mariners club, riding a 14-game winning streak, and the trail-blazing Yankees of three years ago.

"It's a fun team, like '98 was a fun team," Nelson said. "There are no superstars. A different guy comes up big every night. Just like in '98. But there's a lot different atmosphere here-- you don't have the stresses of the city like you do in New York."

He expects everyone to stay relaxed. With things going so well, the Mariners likely won't be concerned with the trade deadline, a luxury only a few big-league teams experience each year.

Ultimate glory? Why not?

"Hopefully we'll be able to say that, that this 2001 Mariner team won a World Series and was a great team," Nelson said. "It's fun putting together all these streaks. That can make this a special team."

Here's a brief look at the eight big-league clubs who maintained the highest standards throughout the regular season and where each stood at 58 games (the 1912 New York Giants are purposely omitted; after their super start, they clocked in at a mere .682):


1902 Pittsburgh Pirates

This NL entry finished 103-36 (.741), 27 1/2 games ahead of Brooklyn. Unfortunately for the Honus Wagner-led Bucs, they couldn't showcase their abilities in the postseason -- no World Series was played in 1901 or '02, as the two leagues were at odds. On the same day that President Teddy Roosevelt gave a speech in Pittsburgh and took a train home to Long Island, the Pirates lost 2-0 to Brooklyn, bringing their 58-game record to 45-13.


1906 Chicago Cubs

Also known as the Nationals and the Spuds, Chicago's north-end team turned in baseball's best record, 116-36 (.763). At 58 games, the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance Cubs were the slowest starters of the elite teams, posting a 40-18 record. Nor did they finish all that strong, losing the only all-Chicago World Series in six games to the crosstown White Sox, the final setback coming on their home field.


1907 Chicago Cubs

They couldn't match their record win total from the previous season, finishing 107-45 (.704), but the Cubs won the World Series this time, taking out Detroit and Ty Cobb in five games. As practices of oil company executives were being questioned nationwide (what else is new?) the Cubs engineered a 46-12 mark to start, sweeping a doubleheader.


1909 Pittsburgh Pirates

The Bucs lost a stadium, but not much else that year. They finished at 110-42 (.724) and beat the Tigers and Cobb in a seven-game World Series. For game 58, Pittsburgh defeated the Cubs 8-1, good for a 44-14 record. That same day, taps were blown and 6,000 fans showed up to watch the last game at Exposition Park, which was replaced the next day by Forbes Field, which has since been replaced by two more parks. Bigger news was a brief but successful 600-yard flight by Orville Wright outside of Washington.


1927 New York Yankees

A team many consider the best in baseball history finished 110-44 (.714), capping off the year with a World Series sweep of the Pirates. Babe Ruth had his greatest home run season with 60, smacking two more in the postseason. The Yankees swept a doubleheader to post a 41-17 mark through 58 games. Yet the big excitement that day in the Big Apple was a trans-Atlantic flight to Paris by aviator Richard Byrd and a three-man crew.


1939 New York Yankees

In a season of mixed emotions, the Yankees finished 106-45 (.702) and swept Cincinnati in the World Series. They split a doubleheader with St. Louis to start 46-12, but they had to do it without first baseman Lou Gehrig. Six days earlier, Gehrig retired from baseball, suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that now commonly bears his name.


1954 Cleveland Indians

They ruled the regular season with a 111-43 record (.721), but the Indians fell flat in the World Series, getting swept by Willie Mays and the New York Giants. Reaching Game 58, Cleveland topped Washington 6-4 for an eight-game winning streak and 41-17 record, the same day the McCarthy hearings wrapped up in Washington.


1998 New York Yankees

Rolling to a 114-48 (.704) record and sweeping the World Series from San Diego, the Yankees played like no other team in modern-day baseball. They were 45-13 at the outset. Still, they had to share headlines with President Bill Clinton, mired in the Monica Lewinsky scandal and an impeachment inquiry.


THE NEXT EIGHT AFTER 58

46-12
1907 Chicago Cubs

Finished season 107-45
Won the World Series this time, defeating Detroit in five games.
1939 New York Yankees

Finished season 106-45
Swept Cincinnati in the World Series.
45-13

1902 Pittsburgh Pirates

Finished season 103-36
No World Series was played that year.
1998 New York Yankees

Finished season 114-48
Swept World Series against San Diego.
44-14

1909 Pittsburgh Pirates

Finished season 110-42
Won the World Series by beating the Tigers in seven games.
41-17

1927 New York Yankees

Finished season 110-44
Swept Pirates in World Series. Babe Ruth had his greatest home run season, 60, smacking two more in the postseason.
1954 Cleveland Indians

Finished season 111-43 record
Lost the World Series against the New York Giants.
40-18

1906 Cubs

Finished season 116-36
Lost the only all-Chicago World Series in six games to the White Sox.



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imho, Jerome