Breaking down 60-game splits throughout the 2019 MLB season

Major League Baseball is set to kick off a sprint season in late July. The players and owners were able to sort out their differences for the short term and we will get a 60-game season starting either July 23rd or 24th.

The baseball season is normally an seven month marathon from the start of spring training to the end of the regular season. This year, spring training will start on July 1st, and a September 27th regular season conclusion means we will have a chaotic spring over three months.

Baseball is the ultimate large sample size sport, with 162 games providing a good idea of how good or bad certain teams are. Things can get wild in October with the smaller sample size, but by the end of the regular season, we can point to the good and bad teams.

With just 60 games this year, this will be a bit more guesswork. We’ll have a good idea about some teams, but there is a strong chance a bad team makes the playoff and a good team ends up left home.

Earlier today, we took a look at each team’s record through the first 60 games last season. Notable teams to improve considerably after 60 games included the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, and St. Louis Cardinals. Teams that stumbled after a solid start included the Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, and Texas Rangers.

We decided to take a deeper dive into 60-game performances last season, courtesy of Stathead.com. Below, we’ve got numbers on how each team performed in their best 60-game stretch, their worst 60-game stretch, the first 60 games of the season, the last 60 games of the season, and their overall record at the end of the season. You can sort by each, or by division if you want to compare division-mates.

The Nationals are worth noting. They started off sluggishly, going 27-33 in their first 60, but caught fire and at two different points had 41-19 runs. They caught fire in June and road it to a wild card berth and then a World Series title. If the season had cut off after 60 games, the Nationals would have been watching the playoffs at home.

Additionally, the Rockies were a team that was all over the place last season. They were decent out of the gate, and after 60 had a 31-29 record. They played solid baseball in April and May, peaking with a 60-game stretch of 37-23. Things went south in June, however, with a low of 16-44 at one point. They finished the season 71-91 and in fourth place in the NL West. They had the worst split between their best (37-23) and worst (16-44) 60-game splits.