Misery Index
Those of you who have been around awhile may remember the Franchise Rankings that I published for awhile...the Misery Index is a variation of that but designed to be easier to update. For similar reasons I have also chosen to just focus the Misery Index on the "Position Adjustment Era", which is the time period since I have been tracking position-adjusted Wins Above Replacement totals. That started in Season 56, so the following covers just two full seasons worth of data.
As far as the scoring is concerned, it is similar to the Franchise Rankings that I've done previously. However, unlike the Franchise Rankings, the Misery Index is going to give some press time to the teams that might not otherwise be getting any, because they've been struggling for a bit. In other words, I used The Athletic's scoring system for their MLB Franchise Rankings (more or less, details below) and took a look using a 32-1 lens rather than the traditional 1-32 perspective. Now, let's get to the nitty-gritty:
For those of you who don't subscribe to The Athletic,here's the scoring system they came up with: 11 points for a World Series Win, 5 for winning the pennant, 3 for losing the LCS and 1 for making the playoffs. I adopted that and then added a couple of tweaks: first of all, I implemented a penalty for manager turnover since having different owners in the world is basically the equivalent of having a real life team "sold"...so the more that happens the "higher" you climb in the Misery Index. The penalty is -1 point per owner after the original one, so a team that has had 2 owners gets a -1 penalty, a team that has been managed by 3 people gets a -2 penalty etc.
I also brainstormed a series of tiebreak criteria. When doing so, I tried my best to keep the following observation made by author Stephen Nesbitt in mind: "in the long run, that’s the best way to measure franchise success: not in single-season results or in farm system rankings, but in postseason experience and in rings. So, let’s see how all 30 clubs stack up." He certainly has a point, so I went with Division Titles as the first tiebreaker and then Winning Seasons as a second tiebreaker since I figured we'd need at least two given that we only have at 2 seasons of data to work with. In the end, this is how things broke down:
The Bottom Ten: Curses In The Making
32. Rochester: -2 points (3 owners, no postseason appearances)
31. San Jose: -1 points (2 owners, no postseason appearances)
30. Baltimore: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 127 Reg. Season Wins)
29. Seattle: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 131 Reg. Season Wins)
28. Arizona: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 133 Reg. Season Wins)
27. Louisville: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 137 Reg. Season Wins)
26. San Antonio: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 139 Reg. Season Wins)
25. Philadelphia: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 142 Reg. Season Wins)
24. Kansas City: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 143 Reg. Season Wins)
23. Houston: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 147 Reg. Season Wins)
The Middle Portion: Those Stuck In Neutral
22. Cincinnati: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 151 Reg. Season Wins)
21. Tacoma: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 158 Reg. Season Wins)
20. Albuquerque: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 0 Winning Seasons, 170 Reg. Season Wins)
19. Montreal: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 1 Winning Season, 161 Reg. Season Wins)
18. Santa Fe: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 1 Winning Season, 165 Reg. Season Wins)
17. Milwaukee: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 1 Winning Season, 167 Reg. Season Wins)
16. Vancouver: 0 points (1 owner, no postseason appearances; 0 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons)
15. Cleveland: 1 point (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance; 1 Div Title, 1 Winning Season, 159 Reg. Season Wins)
14. Hartford: 1 point (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance; 1 Div Title, 1 Winning Season, 162 Reg. Season Wins)
13. Anaheim: 1 point (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance; 1 Div Title, 2 Winning Seasons)
12. New York: 2 points (1 owner, 2 playoff appearances; 0 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 183 Reg. Season Wins)
11. Little Rock: 2 points (1 owner, 2 playoff appearances; 0 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 190 Reg. Season Wins)
The Top Ten: Dynasties In The Making
10. Fargo: 2 points (1 owner, 2 playoff appearances; 1 Div. Title)
9. Las Vegas: 2 points (1 owner, 2 playoff appearances; 2 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 180 Reg. Season Wins)
8. Tampa Bay: 2 points (1 owner, 2 playoff appearances; 2 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 230 Reg. Season Wins)
7. Augusta: 3 points (1 owner, 1 LCS loss)
6. Richmond: 4 points (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance, 1 LCS loss)
5. Toledo: 5 points (1 owner, 1 pennant)
4. Pawtucket: 6 points (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance, 1 pennant; 2 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 181 Reg. Season Wins)
3. Ottawa: 6 points (1 owner, 2 LCS losses; 2 Div Titles, 2 Winning Seasons, 196 Reg. Season Wins)
2. Salt Lake City: 11 points (1 owner, 1 Championship)
Jackson: 12 points (1 owner, 1 playoff appearance, 1 Championship)