As bad as the players on the Toronto Blue Jays must feel about losing to the Oakland Athletics by a score of 16-0 Wednesday night, they can at least take comfort in knowing that other teams have suffered worse losses in the past.
-- Philadelphia's Phillies were pounded by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1929. Final score: 28-6.
-- The New York Giants' thumping of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, winning 26-8. Correction at 2:45 p.m. ET: Our thanks to reader "Tom Delfs" who spotted that we had mistakenly reversed things and credited the Dodgers with that win. He adds that: "In the game, Phil Weintraub of the Giants went 5-for-5, driving in 11 runs, and hitting for the cycle (a single, two doubles, a triple, and a homerun). The Dodgers' final pitcher for the day was Tommy Warren, who was a rookie at age 26. He pitched five innings and gave up 15 runs."
-- The Chicago White Sox destroyed the then-Kansas City Athletics 29-6 in 1955.
-- And in 2007, the Baltimore Orioles watched as the Texas Rangers scored 30 runs. The Orioles reached home just three times.
The Rangers' 30 runs is a "modern era" record for most in one game, by the way.
So take heart, Blue Jays. It could have been — and has been — worse.
Then again, at least in those previous debacles the losing teams scored.
Update at 2:55 p.m. ET. Readers Remember Some Other Lopsided Losses.
From the comments thread:
-- "evan dreyer" reminds us that the New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians 22-0 on August 31, 2004. He adds that "The Bronx Bombers went on to win the division. We wont talk about what happened after that."
-- "(Another_Great_Idea)" says at least the loss didn't happen on Opening Day, citing the April 18, 1991, loss of the White Sox to the Detroit Tigers on the occasion of the new Comiskey Park's opening. The final score was 16-0. (We used his "nickname" because he's got an often-used handle that's one step to the risque side of monikers such as "Ben Dover.")
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
