2003 Detroit Tigers season
| 2003 Detroit Tigers | |
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| Major League affiliations | |
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| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | Mike Ilitch |
| General manager(s) | Dave Dombrowski |
| Manager(s) | Alan Trammell |
| Local television |
WKBD (Frank Beckmann, Jack Morris) FSN Detroit (Mario Impemba, Rod Allen) |
| Local radio |
WXYT (AM) (Jim Price, Dan Dickerson) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 2003 Detroit Tigers lost more games than any other team in American League history and came within one loss of tying the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in modern major league history.
The team's 43-119 record and .265 winning percentage, and broke the Philadelphia Athletics' 1916 American League record of 117 losses. They were outscored by 337 runs over the course of the season (928 to 591) and finished 47 games behind the Minnesota Twins. Blame for the dismal season was shared by both the pitching staff, which had an ERA of 5.30, and the batters, who finished with a team batting average of .240—19 points below the American League's .259 batting average. The season was the Tigers’ 103rd since they entered the AL in 1901.
The 2003 Tigers seemed like a sure bet to break the 1962 Mets' record for most losses when they stood at 38-118 after 156 games, but they won five of their last six to avoid ignominy. On September 27, in their next-to-last game, the Tigers came back from an 8-0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8. Then the Tigers won the season finale to avoid tying the record and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Mike Maroth went 9-21 for the 2003 Tigers and became the first pitcher to lose 20 games in more than 20 years. Tigers' pitchers Maroth, Jeremy Bonderman (6-19), and Nate Cornejo (6-17) were #1, #2, and #3 in the major leagues in losses for 2003—the only time in major league history that one team has had the top three losers.
While the 2003 Tigers rank as the third worst team in major league history based on loss total (behind the 1899 Cleveland Spiders and 1962 Mets), they fare slightly better based on winning percentage. As shown in the chart below, the 2003 Tigers rank only as the 9th worst team in history based on winning percentage.
Unlike the 2003 Tigers, most of the other teams usually described as the worst of all time were plagued by significant off-field troubles. The 1899 Spiders and 1916 A's had essentially been reduced to minor-league status after unloading their best players. The 1890 Alleghenys had also been reduced to minor-league status after practically their entire roster bolted to the Players' League. The 1935 Braves were plagued by underfinanced ownership that didn't even finish out the season. The 1962 Mets were a first-year expansion team. For this reason, the 2003 Tigers have been described as possibly "the worst team of all time without a good excuse."
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Wikipedia