MLB 2014 season thread

Derp, getting my expansion classes mixed up.

I remember the Diamondbacks especially because they made a big deal about spending a lot of money in the draft and on Travis Lee.

 

By the time the Panthers and Jags started, the NFL had real free agency, so they could sign any star they wanted that wasn't under contract. The Bucs and Seahawks, and the expansion teams before them, could only use the regular draft, the expansion draft, and anybody that no other team wanted. The stars were all under contract or reserved.

 

It also didn't hurt that they gave the Panthers and Jaguars two first-round picks in their first year. If I remember right, the conditions have been a bit more draconian for teams that have followed, since both teams made conference title games in their second seasons.

In fact, the Panthers lost their first seven (?) games of their first season but finished 7-9. Had a five-game winning streak, IIRC.

 

The teams that followed the Panthers and Jaguars were the new Browns and the Texans. I guess the records speak for themselves.

 

The differences is that the Panthers and Jaguars found serviceable quarterbacks in Kerry Collins and Mark Brunell very quickly, while the Browns have never done so and the Texans took awhile to get Schaub, who was serviceable until 2013, anyway.

 

D'Backs won it all in their fourth year. The Milwaukee Bucks won it all in their third year when it was much more difficult for expansion franchises.

Back then there was no free agency, which makes it much easier nowadays. Of course, the Bucks got lucky with the coin flip and getting Kareem in their second season, but they put together some other pretty good talent and had enough to offer to land Robertson in a trade.

That 1971 team was historically good, and it takes a lot more than one player to be that good.

Still, upon looking it up, The Diamondbacks won 100 games in their second season. That's "Holy Shit!" territory.

But, as I said, free agency has completely changed things. And I am betting the potential of free agency completely affects who a team might make available in an expansion draft.

 

I cede that crown if you can fit it amongst those antlers.

 

IIRC, the Diamondbacks (and the '97 Marlins before them) also spent a ton of money they didn't really have to put together a winning team right away.

 

Always found it funny that the D'backs and Marlins both beat the Yankees.

 

Always found it interesting how the Royals and Phillies played each other in the 1980 World Series, given the similar paths both teams went through in the 1970s.

Both teams built around a core of phenomenal young talent, anchored by a HOF third baseman entering his prime.
Both teams won their divisions in 1976, '77 and '78, only to lose in the LCS.
Neither made the playoffs in 1979.
Then, finally, both teams broke through in 1980.
Of course, each team also won only one World Series before their run ended. When you consider how good they both were for the better part of a decade, that's pretty amazing in itself. They were the 1970s and early '80s version of the Atlanta Braves.

 

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/5/29/5762666/chart-proves-50-cent-or-maybe-carly-rae-jepsen-had-worst-first-pitch

 

There's the biggest difference between the expansion teams of the 60s and those in the 2000s. D'backs, with Jerry Colangelo's NBA background, weren't content to suck early, picking up the likes of the Big Unit, Schilling and Matt Williams. In the long run, it cost Colangelo the team, but he's got the ring.