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cjericho said:Football_Bat said:I fell down an Internet rabbit hole trying to look it up, but I'm pretty sure the Royals had the best start of any MLB expansion team in 1969. The Rockies might've topped it.
Seemed that the expansion of the 90s the other owners didn't want the expansion teams to suck as much. Not sure what the rules for the expansion draft were at both times, but the Rockies/Marlins seemed to start out with better teams than the 62 Mets. Same in the NFL, the Panthers and Jaguars got good quickly.
Baron Scicluna said:cjericho said:Football_Bat said:I fell down an Internet rabbit hole trying to look it up, but I'm pretty sure the Royals had the best start of any MLB expansion team in 1969. The Rockies might've topped it.
Seemed that the expansion of the 90s the other owners didn't want the expansion teams to suck as much. Not sure what the rules for the expansion draft were at both times, but the Rockies/Marlins seemed to start out with better teams than the 62 Mets. Same in the NFL, the Panthers and Jaguars got good quickly.
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.
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.Football_Bat said:I'll answer my own question. The Royals perhaps had the best inaugural season, but the D'backs winning the World Series three years after their founding in 2001 trumps everything else in North American sports.
old_tony said: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.Football_Bat said:I'll answer my own question. The Royals perhaps had the best inaugural season, but the D'backs winning the World Series three years after their founding in 2001 trumps everything else in North American sports.
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 shirt!" 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.
old_tony said:The Royals were the first of those teams to win a division title. In fact, they won three in a row from 1976-78, losing to the Yankees in the ALCS each time. They first made the World Series in 1980.
old_tony said: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.Football_Bat said:I'll answer my own question. The Royals perhaps had the best inaugural season, but the D'backs winning the World Series three years after their founding in 2001 trumps everything else in North American sports.
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 shirt!" 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.