Road records World Series Champs and Losers in the Wild Card Era:

2007: Boston 45-36 Loser: Colorado 39-42
2006: StLouis 34-47 Loser: Detroit 49-32
2005: Chicago 52-29 Loser: Houston 36-45
2004: Boston 43-38 Loser: St Louis 52-29
2003: Florida 38-43 Loser: Yankees 51-29
2002: Angels 45-36 Loser: SF Giants 45-35
2001: Arizona 44-37 Loser: Yankees 44-37
2000: Yankees 43-38 Loser: NY Mets 39-42
1999: Yankees 50-31 Loser: Atlanta 47-34
1998: Yankees 52-29 Loser: San Diego 44-37
1997: Florida 40-41 Loser: Cleveland 42-38
1996: Yankees 43-39 Loser: Atlanta 40-41
1995: Atlanta 46-26 Loser: Cleveland 46-26

Only 3 out of 13 teams won the World Series with a losing road record and they all were from the NL. Twice the Marlins did it and the other time was the flukey season from the Cardinals. 4 other times the NL team that lost the World Series had a losing road record. So 7 out 13 NL teams had losing records.

However, no AL team has made the World Series with a losing road record during this time. All 13 had winning road records, regardless if they won the Series or not. So I would suspect that since the AL is a tougher league, then it is harder for a team with a losing road record to make it out of the AL and get to the World Series.

It seems like the hottest team in the NL at that time makes the World Series but the best teams in the AL make the World Series more often than not….

So right now that would suggest that the Angels are the best team in the AL and most likely to win the World Series because they have far and away the best road record in the AL at 28-17…

The Yankees are the only other team above .500 at 22-20…The Red Sox are way under at 21-29 so unless they turn that around, I don’t see them making the World Series this year…there is still plenty of time for them to do that though.

The Yankees would be in great shape if they didn’t have a pedestrian 5 games over .500 home record.

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Agreed. I don’t know what their deal is at home, but it needs to improve fast if they have any expectations.

Well, still with the best record in the league. I’d say they are close to dominant right now.

You’re right in one respect – I believe they play something like 26 of their last 39 away from Tampa. If they don’t figure out how to win on the road more consistently, that opens up an opportunity for other teams to gain ground. Combined with youth and the pressure of a pennant race, and young arms throwing more “critical” innings than ever before, that could lead to a bad stretch run.

But I’m not counting on it.

Hey, I’m just saying that it’s still a tad early to say the 2006 Rays are the next coming of the 1975 Reds.

Yes, they’re very good. And, yes, I might even be willing to trade the Yankees 25-man roster, right now, for their 25-man roster, if I was a GM…

But…they’re still not a dominant team…YET.

Number one, if you end up with 95+ wins there are excellent chances you get home field advantage anyway, making road wins not as important.

And number two, if you win 95+, chances are also very good that you stood up to some good teams on the road.

I mean, the Red Sox are eight games under .500 on the road – do you regard this as a fatal flaw that if they don’t fix, they’ll be cooked should they somehow manage to make the playoffs? Or do we get a pass because of “experience” that the Rays don’t yet have?

~~Uh, unless you somehow get extra wins for beating “good” teams on the road, no, I don’t think the Rays have to prove they can win more than they lose against good teams on the road.~~

If you want to win in the post-season, you better be able to stand-up to other good teams on the road, no?

OK, make that..Rays still have to prove that they can win more than they lose against good teams outside of the Trop, no?

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Uh, unless you somehow get extra wins for beating “good” teams on the road, no, I don’t think the Rays have to prove they can win more than they lose against good teams on the road.

If they go 30 games over .500 at home and stay at .500 on the road, they’ll go 96-66, and at minimum, that will get them the wild card. In all likelihood, it will win the Division.

Well, it’s only been 3 months…and I wanted to wait just a tad longer before doing a post on it. But, yes, the bullpen, this season, to date, has been a huge surprise. Many, myself included, thought it was terrible heading into this season. But, it’s been the best part of the team, to date.

Kudos to Cashman on that. Veras, Ramirez, and Farnsworth have done a solid job – along with Mo.

What’s lost in this is the great job Veras and, gasp, Farnsworth have been doing sharing the setup role. Remember all the gnashing of teeth you were doing last year about Cashman’s inability to build a bullpen? Could it be that, all along, bullpens are the least consistent thing in baseball? Also, Girardi has a lot to do with it too – maybe you can say Cashman gave him crap – everyone but Rivera was either an unproven, not that highly-touted rookie, or a mediocre or bad veteran, but somehow they have turned into gold. And that’s without some guys who were projected to be key members – Albaladejo, Bruney, and Joba for half of the season so far. Can you even remember the last blown lead? I’m pretty sure it might have been Joba’s blown save against the Indians way back when. Amazing. Barring a collapse, I think you can probably strike the ‘inability to build a bullpen’ bit off Cashman’s ‘negatives’ list.

OK, make that..Rays still have to prove that they can win more than they lose against good teams outside of the Trop, no?