Based on the early returns, we’re projecting the White Sox and Cubs to both win the World Series this year (somehow). They’re on pace to finish the regular season 162-0.
In between pitches, I was checking Baseball Almanac‘s historical website on my phone. I knew that the Sox and Cubs had often struggled out of the gate, so I thought it might have been ten years, maybe even 20, since both clubs had gone 2-0 in the same year. But, as I was learning from the almanac’s annual game-by-game results, the Cubs themselves hadn’t been 2-0 since 1995—and the Sox opened that season 0-2.
The Sox were up 4-2 in the sixth, and Hawk was waxing nostalgic with Steve Stone, his broadcast partner. “We actually didn’t mind it when someone threw a spitter, because you could hang a spitter just like you could hang a slider or curveball,” Hawk said. Stone nudged him back to the present, observing that the A’s manager was likely to call in a reliever soon. “Yeah, you can book that, Danno,” Hawk agreed.
In 1951, the south-siders’ 2-0 beginning launched them to a fine season when they went 81-73, although that left them in fourth place, 17 games behind the New York Yankees. The north-siders’ auspicious beginning that year culminated in an inauspicious end: they wound up 62-92, in the NL basement, 34.5 games behind the New York Giants. The immortal Paul Minner led the league in losses with 17.
