The 60 Game Best and Rest of the Year Worst

 

This is the Cubs team card from the 1977 Topps set.  I saw an article recently that talked about this 81-81 team.

This year's season is just 60 games long.  The article looked at team that had really good 60 game stretches and then tanked the rest of the season.  The 1977 Cubs topped the chart.

For a 60 game stretch, from late April though late June, they were on a tear, posting a record of 43-17.  New manager Herman Franks had the team rolling.  Closer Bruce Sutter was unhittable. They had an 8½ game lead over the second-place Cardinals and Phillies.  Four Cubs made the All-Star team.The Daily News dubbed them The Little Blue Machine.

Then Bruce Sutter got hurt and the Little Blue Machine broke down.  You see from the chart that they won just 37% of their other 142 games.  That's a 34.2% difference between their best and worst.  They finished 81-81, in fourth place, 20 games behind the Phillies.