Yesterday's Red Sox loss to the Orioles in 12 innings (can you believe they have still not won a game in extra innings this season?) now means that the Sox have lost 85 games in 2012.
I have been a Red Sox fan since 1977, and this year will be at least the second-worst Red Sox season in all the years of my fandom.
I took a look back at the numbers and the worst is 1992, when the Sox dropped 89, with a winning percentage of .451. Right now they are 68-85, with a percentage of .444. It will be the all-time worst if it holds up at the end of the season. (And I have no reason to believe it will get any better.)
The second-worst is the "strike" season of 1994, when the Red Sox finished 54-61, with a .470 WP. That would have been a 76-86 season had the players not taken an early vacation that year. Barring the Red Sox running the table right now, 2012 will undoubtedly be worse than that awful year.
The Sox have finished 78-84 three times during my years with the team: 1983, 1987 and 1997.
This will only be the 7th time in 36 seasons that the Red Sox have finished under .500 in the years I have rooted for them. They have had 28 winning seasons, with one year (1985) at .500 exactly. So despite what has happened most recently, the Sox have put some very good teams on the field, especially in the last decade. (They have finished with a .600 WP three times: 1977, 1978 and the magical season of 2004.)
So, if the Red Sox drop 5 of the remaining 9 games, they will be the worst Red Sox team I have ever rooted for. The first I have ever witnessed as a fan that has dropped 90 games.
So long, Bobby V.
