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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The Perfect Schedule - Games 1-10

Opening Day is in theory Thursday but of course that has been postponed and it is highly unlikely that we will see anything close to a full season of Major League Baseball this year. I thought I would fill the gap of game reports by highlighting some games for us to look back at over the last 40 years. Today I start with the first 10 games of the season.

Game 1 - 1995 - Twins 0 at Sox 9 - A season much like 2020 with a delayed an uncertain start (for VERY different reasons), a wunderkind GM in charge of an organization in flux…and a Sox team not considered contenders jump out quick to start a memorable year.
Game 2 - 2003 - Sox 9 at Devil Rays 8 (16) - After a crushing Opening Day loss the Sox rally for a dramatic win. Left Fielder Kevin Millar throws out the would be winning run at the plate and wins it with a 16th inning dinger.
Game 3 - 2007 - Sox 4 at Royals 1 - GYROBALL!!! Daisuke Matsuzaka sparkles in his first stateside start with a 7-6-1-1-1-10 performance.
Game 4 - 1986 - Sox 7 at Other Sox 2 - Young starter Roger Clemens earns his first victory of the season despite allowing a homer to left fielder (!) Carlton Fisk with 8 2/3 strong innings of work.
Game 5 - 1980 - Tigers 9 at Sox 10 - Tony Perez has 4 hits and 4 RBI to earn victory for Steve Renko who twirls five scoreless innings of relief for starter Bruce Hurst.
Game 6 - 2013 - Sox 13 at Blue Jays 0 - Will Middlebrooks pounds three homers and the Sox win again. A dream start for a revamped club.
Game 7 - 2005 - Yankees 1 at Sox 8 - Wakefield deals for the Sox as the banner we all dreamed of our whole lives gets raised.
Game 8 - 1994 - Sox 22 at Royals 11 - Danny Darwin and Kevin Appier were good pitchers who presided over this massacre while Scott Cooper hit for the cycle on a five hit day.
Game 9 - 1998 - Mariners 7 at Sox 9 - Down 7-2 headed to the ninth the Sox don’t make an out and Mo Vaughn’s grand slam hooks around the Pesky Pole to win it. The ninth features Heathcliff Slocumb, Tony Fossas and Mike Timlin, all with Sox connections, pitching for the Mariners.
Game 10 - 1991 - Royals 0 at Sox 1 - A matchup of superstars in the daylight at Fenway as Clemens outduels Saberhagen. I’m still pissed I had to take a college exam that day while my friends attended the game.

Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: March 24, 2020 at 03:20 PM | 24 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. villageidiom Posted: March 24, 2020 at 08:18 PM (#5933228)

As soon as I saw the premise I was hoping the 1998 game against the Mariners would make the list.

2. Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: March 24, 2020 at 10:43 PM (#5933267)

It was kinda nifty going through the games and seeing some of the fun names. It’d be great if games were available to watch while this is going on.

3. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: March 24, 2020 at 11:24 PM (#5933271)

this is pretty cool, and it looks like a huge project. but what else are you doing right now?

I assume the Sox go 162-0? Will you do a game 163?

4. SoSH U at work Posted: March 24, 2020 at 11:44 PM (#5933277)

Will you do a game 163?

Not if he wants to keep an unblemished record.

5. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: March 24, 2020 at 11:50 PM (#5933280)

yeah, that was kind of rhetorical.

6. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: March 24, 2020 at 11:51 PM (#5933281)

It would be cool to find out that a team lost every 91st (or whatever) game their schedule in every year of the retrosheet era.

7. Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: March 25, 2020 at 12:26 AM (#5933291)

Yeah I’ll keep it going as long as people are interested and I have some time. It was fun to put it together and ten game chunks doesn’t take too long.

8. bbmck Posted: March 25, 2020 at 12:46 AM (#5933293)

ARI or TBR losing the same game 22 times is very unlikely, any team being on a 12 game losing streak for a specific game is very likely, even 15 game wouldn't be too surprising.

Since expansion the Red Sox 0-4, Mariners 0-3, A's 0-2, D'Backs 0-0 and Marlins 0-0 are the franchises that haven't won a Game 163. Yankees 7-0, Brewers 2-0, Rays 1-0 and Jays 1-0 are the franchises that have won a Game 163 but haven't lost one.

9. Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: March 25, 2020 at 08:07 AM (#5933314)

0-4? 1948, 1978, what other game 163s have the Sox played?

10. SoSH U at work Posted: March 25, 2020 at 08:35 AM (#5933328)

0-4? 1948, 1978, what other game 163s have the Sox played?

Seasons with ties.

11. Nasty Nate Posted: March 25, 2020 at 08:35 AM (#5933329)

0-4? 1948, 1978, what other game 163s have the Sox played?

They played 163 in 1961 and 1985 apparently

12. villageidiom Posted: March 25, 2020 at 08:45 AM (#5933331)

0-4? 1948, 1978, what other game 163s have the Sox played?

They didn't have a 162-game schedule until 1961, so 1948 is out.

They played 163 games in 1961, 1978, and 1985. We all know 1978.

1961: They finished 76-86-1. The tie was the second half of a doubleheader against the Angels on June 8 that went 11 innings before it was called. The game was restarted (not resumed) the next day, as part of a makeshift doubleheader. The stats from the tie game do count in season totals, and though nobody won it counts as an official game. Consequently Boston's scheduled game 162 (a 1-0 loss at Yankee Stadium, the only run coming from Maris' 61st HR) was actually their 163rd game.

1985: Same deal, but this time it was a tie against the White Sox on July 31, restarted as part of a doubleheader on 8/1. Their 162nd scheduled game (a 9-6 loss to the Brewers) became their 163rd.

13. Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: March 25, 2020 at 09:09 AM (#5933341)

Ah thanks all.

14. Misirlou cut his hair and moved to Rome Posted: March 25, 2020 at 10:53 AM (#5933362)

The 1965 Cubs played 164 games. Santo and Williams played every inning of every game, thus setting a record for innings in a season, 1472, that will likely never be broken, unless the schedule expands.

15. SoSH U at work Posted: March 25, 2020 at 11:03 AM (#5933365)

The 1965 Cubs played 164 games. Santo and Williams played every inning of every game, thus setting a record for innings in a season, 1472, that will likely never be broken, unless the schedule expands.

Williams averaged slightly more than 162 games per season from 1963 to 1970 (two seasons with 161, two with 163 and one with 164).

16. bbmck Posted: March 25, 2020 at 12:24 PM (#5933398)

1970 is the other one, the Yankees tie on May 11th so it shows up in the Game 163 search but is the 162nd game for the Red Sox.

17. karlmagnus Posted: March 25, 2020 at 02:06 PM (#5933443)

Game 34 is the one I want from 1995; was the first Sox game I saw that year, Wakefield pitched 10 innings at Fenway for no earned runs, Sox won 2-1. That made Wake 3-0; 27 or 30 (both on the West Coast) could also be included.

18. SoSH U at work Posted: March 25, 2020 at 02:28 PM (#5933449)

1970 is the other one, the Yankees tie on May 11th so it shows up in the Game 163 search but is the 162nd game for the Red Sox.

Which makes it a Game 162 for the Red Sox. They're 0-3 in Game 163.

19. Karl from NY Posted: March 25, 2020 at 02:43 PM (#5933454)

The game was restarted (not resumed) the next day

The rule changed since then, right? Games of official length that are suspended when tied are resumed now, not restarted.

20. SoSH U at work Posted: March 25, 2020 at 02:59 PM (#5933456)

The rule changed since then, right?

Yes. We won't see many more ties (we could see the occasional one, if the suspended game is never finished).

21. bbmck Posted: March 25, 2020 at 03:10 PM (#5933460)

Looks like 2005 or 2006 is the last year of counting ties as games, 2005 Astros and Reds tie and have 163 results on Play Index and 162 games in their record after that: 2007 SDP-COL, 2008 MIN-CHW, 2009 MIN-DET, 2013 TEX-TBR, 2018 MIL-CHC and COL-LAD have 163 Play Index results and 163 games in their record.

22. SoSH U at work Posted: March 25, 2020 at 03:29 PM (#5933465)

Looks like 2005 or 2006 is the last year of counting ties as games, 2005 Astros and Reds tie and have 163 results on Play Index and 162 games in their record after that: 2007 SDP-COL, 2008 MIN-CHW, 2009 MIN-DET, 2013 TEX-TBR, 2018 MIL-CHC and COL-LAD have 163 Play Index results and 163 games in their record.

Tie games would still count as games, they're just not as likely given a 2007 change in the rule that mandated all suspended games would be picked up from the point the game was stopped. Previously, games that were tied at the point the game was suspended would end in a tie and a new game would be replayed (perhaps the most noteworthy of these games was in the 1982 season, when the Brewers and O's played in a season-ending Game 163 to decide the AL East, but it wasn't a one-game playoff. They had tied earlier in the season).

It's still possible to have a tie, and it would count as a game if it happened, but it can only happen if it's the last meeting of the season between two clubs, and the game doesn't figure in the playoff hunt and thus doesn't need to be replayed (essentially, the same rule covering rainouts).

23. pikepredator Posted: April 07, 2020 at 01:06 PM (#5937299)

What a fun premise!! Hats off to you, Jose.

24. Jose Needs an Absurd Ukulele Concert Posted: April 07, 2020 at 01:59 PM (#5937318)

Thanks. I was trying to think of a way NESN could entertain us as the non-season goes on and this came into my head. I was going to do it as part of a list of ideas but then I thought maybe the games were on YouTube or something (nope) then Ifigured, hey, why not just write it up. And 11-20 is now up.

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Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The Perfect Schedule - Games 1-10

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