Lately, we’ve seen more than our fair share of Chicago teams that have underachieved, including the '06 Sox, '07 Bears, '07-'08 Bulls, and '08 Cubs. Here are ten that exceeded expectations. If you think I missed one, let me know in the comment section. Also, the cutoff for this list was 1990.
With a combined record over the previous four seasons of 8-38, five wins would have made people in
Back in April of this year, if you knew Nick Swisher would hit .219, Paul Konerko would be completely useless for the first five months, and that Javier Vazquez would lose 16 games, you had to figure this had all the makings of another 70 win season. Of course, you probably didn’t see Carlos Quentin turning into the
8. 2005 Bears
In the Sports Illustrated issue previewing the 2005 NFL season, Paul Zimmerman had the Bears ranked 32nd out of 32 teams. So when the Bears started 1-3, no one was too surprised. Maybe it was Mike Brown’s famous “we suck” line that turned things around. Maybe it was how weak the NFC North was then. More likely was that the defense just decided to dominate the last 12 games, holding opponents to under double digit points in seven of those contests. The defense needed to be almost perfect to offset what statistically was the worst offense in football. Kyle Orton had games of 67, 68, 93, and 117 passing yards, and the Bears won all four of those games. However, even after winning 11 games, no one was too surprised when
7. 2000 White Sox
Mike Sirotka, James Baldwin, Jim Parque, and Herbert Perry all became household names, for at least one season anyway. Other than Frank Thomas, who should have won the AL MVP, this was a very inexperienced Sox team that had no business winning a league best 95 games. The top four starters, which included Cal Eldred, combined for 52 wins that season. Those same four ended up winning a combined 21 games for the rest of their careers, with Sirotka never pitching again and Parque making only seven more starts.
Here’s a pretty intriguing stat: The 95 Northwestern team had exactly one player, receiver D’wayne Bates, who went on to have any kind of career in the NFL. By comparison, in the 1996 NFL draft,
5. 2004-2005 Bulls
After starting 0-9, it looked like yet another lost season for a franchise that had won 17, 15, 30, and 23 games respectively the previous four years. Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Andres Nocioni were all rookies, and the Bulls appeared at least two years away from being any kind of contender. Then, we saw a rarity in the NBA: a team without a go-to scorer relies on its defense, hustle, and effort to go from a laughingstock to the third best record in the East. Here’s how you know that team greatly overachieved. The very next year the same nucleus returned, yet they had to go on a late season surge just to win 41 games. Oh yeah, one more thing: in the playoffs against the Wizards in 05, the Bulls starting frontline consisted of Othella Harrington and Antonio Davis. Enough said.
4. 2005 White Sox
An everyday lineup that includes Scott Podsednik, Juan Uribe, Carl Everett, and Tadahito Iguchi should not win 99 games and go 11-1 in the playoffs en route to a World Series. Sorry, but this Sox team was not that good. Cliff Politte and Neal Cotts were one-year wonders out of the bullpen, Jose Contreras turned into the best pitcher in baseball for the last month, and Jon Garland pitched like an ace all season instead of the number three pitcher he has been the rest of his career. Baseball playoffs are all about momentum, good pitching and catching some breaks, which the Sox had all of.
3. 1998 Cubs
Do these names ring a bell? Scott Servais, Jose Hernandez, Manny Alexander, and Henry Rodriguez. All were regulars on a Cubs team that somehow won 90 games and captured a wild-card spot. Besides Sammy’s 66 homers, that season had so many other memorable moments, like Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout game, Brant Brown’s dropped fly ball, and Gary Gaetti’s go-ahead homer against the Giants in the one-game playoff. In all honesty though, this may have been one of the worst baseball teams in recent memory to make the playoffs. Mickey Morandini, Lance Johnson, Steve Trachsel, and Rod Beck all played way above their heads the entire season.
When Michael announced his retirement right before training camp, it was logical to assume the team would take a big step back. But if not for Hue Hollins’ ridiculous foul call on Scottie Pippen at the end of game five in the second round against the Knicks, the Bulls win that series and likely go back to the NBA Finals. Despite having a weak supporting cast, Pippen absolutely carried the Bulls to 55 wins, and in the process asserted himself as one of the game’s top five players. With B.J. Armstrong and rookie Toni Kukoc as the team’s second scoring options, the Bulls won with great defense, balance (nine guys averaged at least eight points), and the coaching of Phil Jackson.
Looking at the depth chart and statistics, there’s no way anyone can explain how that Bears team won 13 games. Okay, so the defense was really good, especially the linebackers and defensive tackles, but still, Jim Miller was the quarterback, Anthony Thomas the running back, David Terrell and Dez White were the number two and three receivers, and Walt Harris the top cornerback. I mean, the way they won some games was totally improbable: overcoming a 15 point deficit with five minutes left against the 49ers to win in overtime, recovering an onside kick and throwing a hail mary the very next week to force overtime and eventually beat the Browns, or having Martin Gramatica miss a 30- yard field goal that would have given Tampa Bay a win. With the same team back in 2002, the Bears went 4-12.
9 comments:
Nice list, glad you included the NW football, although they could have been a little higher. I totally agree though about the 2001Bears, they were very average. The only one I wasn't so sure about was this year's White Sox, but I liked the overall topic
The 2007 Cubs should be on here for sure and maybe even the 2006 Bears. I will say pretty good job for the most part.
Nice list but to say the '06 Sox were overrated was a bit harsh. The won 90 games. Since 1995, 87% of AL teams that have won 90 games have advanced to the postseason.
Thanks Phil, but I didn't say the 06 Sox were overrated, I said they underachieved. At the all-star break, they trailed Detroit by two games in the division, but they had a 7 game lead in the wild card race, so they should have at least made the playoffs. That team was better than the 05 one. Great point though.
Anonymous- As for the 07 Cubs, someone had to win that terrible division right?
And the Cubs didn't really win it in 07, the Brewers handed it to them on a silver platter. Plus, the 07 team had the same core as this year's team for the most part, with the exception of Harden (who was with the Cubs less than half the year), Fukudome (who sucked), and Jim Edmonds (whose numbers were way worse than Jacque Jones' with the exception of home runs) The big difference was Dempster turned into a dominant starter this year. That team should have more than 85 games i think.
well, I guess I forgot to include Soto in that last comment, who was a huge upgrade over any of the catchers the Cubs trotted out in 07.
Jim Edmonds (whose numbers were way worse than Jacque Jones' with the exception of home runs)
Why did you have to go there?
Jones .285/.335/.400/.735
Edmonds .256/.369/.568/.937
Besides the rather overrated AVG Edmonds destroyed Jones in every other statistical catagory (please don't even get into the K debate). Plus, he played a more valuable pos at a superior level, making him even more important to the Cubs.
you're absolutely right Zach, I didn't realize how much Edmonds owned Jones in all those other catagories.
What about the 03 Cubs? No one thought they'd do anything at the start of that year. I would have put them in instead of last year's Illinois football team.
There is no way you can take out the '07 U of I squad. They have spent the better half of this decade playing pathetic football.
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