FanPost

Cubs' winning percentages over 6-year spans

The Cubs' 81st loss of the year Thursday at Philadelphia brought to an end their streak of 6 consecutive winning seasons.

That matched their 6 in a row in 1967-72, which was in turn their longest since 1901, a team-record 14 straight in 1926-39.

They had a run of 11 seasons in 1903-13.

The only other times they went even back-to-back seasons with a winning records were 1922-24, 2003-04 and 2007-09.

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ONLY 1 BETTER

From 2015-20, under managers Joe Maddon and David Ross, the Cubs had a winning percentage of .580, compared to .534 in 1967-72, under Leo Durocher.

How do those percentages compare to other spans of 6 seasons?

The Modern Era had 120 seasons before this one, so it can be divided evenly in 20 sets of 6 seasons, beginning with 1901-06, then 1907-12, and so on.

Using that method, the just-completed span was the second most successful of all, trailing only 1907-12, when the Cubs won at a .649 clip, equivalent to a 105-57 record over a full, modern, 162-game season.

The recent .580 equates to 94-68.

In 1907-12, the Cubs actually won 597 games, lost 320 and tied 14, for an average record of 100-51-2.

They were 505-365-1 in 2015-20, an average of 84-61-0.

Had they played a full schedule in 2020 and won at the same rate as they did in their 60 games, they would have finished 92-70, instead of 34-26, raising their 6-year total to 563-409-1 and their average to 94-68.

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.002, .003

The Cubs' .580 percentage during the last 6 seasons was just .002 more than the next-highest number, .578 in 1931-36.

It was just .003 better than their .577 in 1901-06.

That was the first of 8 consecutive 6-year spans in which the Cubs won more games that they lost. They barely kept that streak alive in the last span, 1943-48, with a percentage of .501: 462 wins, 460 loses and 9 ties.

Their percentage for the entire span was exactly .500 after they lost for a 10th straight time in Game 1 of a doubleheader at New York on Sept. 21, 1948. They won Game 2, swept 2 games the next day. Then they alternated losses and wins through 6 games.

The Cubs closed out the season Oct. 1-3 with 3 games at St. Louis. They lost the first, 6-4, and the second, 9-0, leaving them at 1 game over .500 again since the start of 1943.

In the season finale, Rube Walker homered in the second inning and Carmen Mauro smacked an inside-the-park homer in the fourth. They added 2 runs in the eighth, gave up 3 in the bottom of the inning and hung on to win, 4-3.

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AWFUL 18

In their next 3 spans of 6 years, encompassing 1949-66, the Cubs' winning percentages were just .426, .434 and .428.

That .426 was their lowest in any span of the Modern Era. They went 393-530-4, equivalent to 66-88 in each 154-game season. Over 162 games, it would be 69-93.

Their 393 wins were the fewest in any span by 7, over the next span, 1944-60, when they were 400-523-9.

They were 412-552-4 in 1961-66, equal to 69-93. The 552 losses were their most in any of the 6-year spans. The second most was 542, in 2009-14, when they won 429 games.

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5 MORE UNDER WATER

Following the Durocher upswing to .534 in 1967-72, they fell below .500 again for 5 spans in a row, 1973-2002. They had nearly identical marks of .467 and .463 in the first 2 spans, then .486 and .484 in the next 2, before tumbling to .457 in 1997-02.

The Cubs finally won more games than they lost over 6 years again in 2003-08, with a percentage of .519, 1 point higher than in the span of 90 years earlier, 1913-18.

Their .442 in 2009-14 was their lowest in any 6-year span since 1961-66, and their fourth lowest among all 20 spans.

The run of success that just came to an end was their 11th span with a winning record.

...

Over all 120 seasons, 1901-20, the Cubs' winning percentage was .505.

They exceeded that in 8 of the 20 spans and missed matching it by .001 in 1919-24.

By the way, the Cubs' best winning percentage in any 6 consecutive years was .675, in 1905-10, while winning 4 pennants and 2 World Series. Their record in those years: 622-296-13.

In 1906-11, they were 622-297-14 -- 1 more loss and 1 more tie -- for mere .674!

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WINNING PERCENTAGES

IN ALL 6-YEAR SPANS

Here are the Cubs' winning percentages in each 6-year span of the Modern Era, in chronological order, in groups of 10:

1901-06: .577

1907-12: .649

1913-18: .518

1919-24: .504

1925-30: .558

1931-36: .578

1937-42: .591

1943-48: .501

1949-54: .426

1955-60: .434

...

1961-66: .428

1967-72: .534

1973-78: .467

1979-84: .463

1985-90: .486

1991-96: .484

1997-02: .457

2003-08: .519

2009-14: .442

2015-20: .580

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WINNING PERCENTAGES IN

ALL 6-YEAR SPANS, RANKED

And here they are again, ranked from highest to lowest percentage, separated by above and below .500:

.649: 1907-12

.580: 2015-20

.578: 1931-36

.577: 1901-06

.558: 1925-30

.591: 1937-42

.534: 1967-72

.519, 2003-08

.518: 1913-18

.504: 1919-24

.501: 1943-48

...

.486: 1985-90

.484: 1991-96

.467: 1973-78

.463: 1979-84

.457, 1997-02

.442: 2009-14

.434: 1955-60

.428: 1961-66

.426, 1949-54

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