The .500 Mark

As Hector Luna puts this game out of reach with his 1st career Grand Slam in his first AB in a Phillies uniform, I'm reminded that a victory brings the Phillies back to even baseball. 38 games into the season, 4 consecutive wins, and now the entire NL East is .500.

But what does the number .500 mean? Well it had been almost 3 years since the Phillies had a full month of baseball that was below .500 when they finished April at the 11-12 mark.

More importantly, I steer you towards an article on The Hardball Times that shows it's been 90 years (and 2 days) since the Phillies were last at the .500 mark as a franchise! The "Losing-est team in professional sports" as they've been called currently sits at 1055 games below the .500 mark with a 9256-10311 record. That's good for a .473 mark. Not the worst Win % in pro sports, but when you've been at it since 1883, the numbers tend to pile up.

I'm no Isaac Newton here, but I believe my math is correct...
If the Phils were to average the same record as they have for the last 5 seasons in which they've won the NL East, you end up with a 94-68 record good for a .584 Win %. It would STILL take 40+ years of .584 baseball (and likely 40 more playoff appearances which would make me completely broke) before the Phillies would be back at .500 as a franchise. So what if they just managed to win 85 games a year as they have managed to eek out for each year of the past decade... It would take almost 132 full seasons before they hit the .500 mark. I'll be sure to tell my great grand kids to throw a parade for that event! A more attainable goal? Catch the Orioles who at 895 games below .500 are the next closest team in terms of futility.