Field Notes
Our scorebook margins, organized like a ballclub: the grind, the pitching, the lineup, and the records. Every guide is written from the same place — a love of the long season and the loss column that never quite hits zero.
The 162-Game Grind
Why a clean loss column is the hardest record to keep in sports — the concept, the arithmetic, and the daily discipline of a season that never lets up.
history Has Any MLB Team Ever Gone 162-0? No MLB team has ever gone 162-0, or anything close. Here's the real history of the winningest seasons and why a perfect season has never happened. explainer Why Going 162-0 Is Effectively Impossible A perfect 162-0 season has never happened and almost certainly never will. Here's the probability math behind why baseball resists a perfect record. explainer The 162-0 Daily Challenge and Leaderboard Everyone gets the same draft each day. Here's how the 162-0 Daily Challenge and public leaderboard work, and how seeds keep it fair.
Rotations & Bullpens
Pitching depth is the ceiling on every perfect-season dream — no staff can hand the ball to its ace 162 times. The deepest rotations ever, how relief pitching took over, the greatest single seasons, and why the back of the rotation caps every year.
history The Best Starting Rotations in MLB History From the 1971 Orioles' four 20-game winners to the 1990s Braves and the 2011 Phillies' Four Aces, these are the deepest rotations ever. explainer Why Pitching Depth Caps Every Season No team can hand the ball to its ace 162 times. The five-man rotation and the fourth-starter problem are the real ceiling on a perfect year. explainer How Bullpen Usage Changed Baseball Complete games vanished, the one-inning closer arrived, and the Rays invented the opener. How relief pitching reshaped the modern game. history The Greatest Single-Season Pitching Performances Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA, Pedro Martinez in 2000, and Sandy Koufax's peak — the most dominant pitching seasons baseball has ever seen. strategy The Best Era to Draft In 162-0 Each decade in 162-0 changes run-scoring and schedule length. Here's how the eras play differently and how to build a roster that fits one.
Lineup Construction
Building the nine: draft order, era chemistry, batting-order theory, the stats that measure it all, and the box-score reference you will want open while you play.
how-to How to Play 162-0: A Complete Guide Spin for an era, draft nine players by position, and simulate a full season. Here's exactly how 162-0 works, from draft modes to grades. strategy Batting Order and Lineup Construction Leadoff OBP, the cleanup myth, and why the No. 2 hole matters more than tradition says. What sabermetrics found about the optimal lineup. history The Greatest Lineups in Baseball History From Murderers' Row to the Big Red Machine, a tour of the most feared lineups ever — and what made a batting order dominant in each era. explainer What WAR Means in Baseball WAR (Wins Above Replacement) explained for the casual fan — what it measures, the rough scale, and why 162-0 would demand historic WAR. explainer What Are Park Factors in Baseball? Why Coors Field inflates offense and Fenway's Green Monster warps doubles. Park factors, explained — and why they distort raw stats. glossary 162-0 Glossary: Terms and Records Explained A plain-English glossary of the baseball terms, records, and game mechanics behind 162-0 — from winning percentage to era chemistry.
Records & Near-Misses
The outer edge of what a real team has managed over six months — the 116-win ceiling, why even superteams plateau, and the streaks that still fell dozens of games short of perfect.
history The Best Single-Season Records in MLB History The 2001 Mariners, 1906 Cubs, and 1998 Yankees hold baseball's greatest single-season records. Here's how the winningest teams ever stack up. explainer Why No MLB Team Wins More Than 116 116 wins is the ceiling — the 2001 Mariners and 1906 Cubs. Why even superteams plateau in the 100s, and the near-misses since. history The Longest Winning Streaks in MLB History The closest baseball gets to unbeatable is a winning streak. Here are the longest in MLB history — and why even 26 straight is a fraction of a season.
More field notes
history Are the 2024 White Sox the Worst Team Ever? The 2024 White Sox lost 121 games, more than any team in MLB history. By winning percentage they are not even the worst of the modern era. The honest answer depends entirely on the metric. history Has Any MLB Team Ever Gone 0-162? No MLB team has ever gone winless in a season, and nobody has come close. The worst full season on record is 20-134, and the longest winless start is 21 games. Here is why the floor is so much higher than it looks. history The Longest Losing Streaks in MLB History The 1889 Louisville Colonels lost 26 straight, the longest losing streak in MLB history. The modern record is 23, by the 1961 Phillies. Here is the full list and how it compares to the winning side. history Most Losses in an MLB Season: The Record and How It Moved The MLB record for most losses in a season is 121, set by the 2024 Chicago White Sox. The all-time mark is 134 by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Here is the record's full history and the worst 162-game season on the books. history Every MLB Team That Lost 120 Games in a Season Only three teams in major league history have lost 120 games: the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, the 1962 Mets and the 2024 White Sox. Here is the complete list, plus every club that came close. history The Worst Record in MLB History The 1899 Cleveland Spiders went 20-134, the worst record any major league team has ever posted. Here is the all-time list, the modern-era list, and why the two are not the same.