If the Braves’ futility continues, the team could reach historic misery.
At 0-7, the Braves are threatening the franchise record for consecutive losses at the start of a season, which is 10 in 1988. Also, the Braves haven’t lost 100 or more games in a season since losing 106 (with only 54 victories) in 1988. Losing 100 or more is something that some observers predicted for the Braves in the past offseason.
One thing to remember about the Braves’ 0-10 mark in 1988 is that it actually paled beside the Orioles’ 21 losses to begin that season. The Orioles lost those on their way to a 54-107 final record. The Braves were 5-16 after 21 games that season and lost more games than the Orioles after the 21-game mark.
The 1988 season was the low point for the Braves of the 1970s and ’80s (and the losses for the franchise since losing 115 in 1935), but it began to set the stage for the successful run of the ’90s, which commenced three years later with the magical, worst-to-first season. The Braves’ current rebuilding plan hopes to follow the same trajectory.
In 1988, 21-year-old John Smoltz made his major league debut July 23. He finished the season with a 2-7 record and a 5.48 ERA. He walked 33 batters in only 64 innings pitched.
Tom Glavine, 22, recorded a 7-17 record in 1988, with a 4.56 ERA. He made his debut in 1987 and through the ’88 season, Glavine’s career mark was 9-21 with a 4.76 ERA.
Glavine rebounded in 1989 to finish with a 14-8 record, while Smoltz finished that season at 12-11 with a 2.94 ERA.
Ron Gant played his first full season in 1988, hitting 19 homers and driving in 60 runs, while hitting .259. He made his majors debut the previous September.
Mark Lemke made his major league debut in September 1988 and played in 16 games, hitting .224 in 58 at-bats.
David Justice (age 23) and Kent Mercker (21) made their debuts the following season.
That 1988 season wasn’t all about youth, though. Also on the team were three players who once ranked among the best in the game, but were long past their prime: 39-year-old catcher Ted Simmons, who hit .196 in the final season of his career; 35-year-old Bruce Sutter, also playing in the final season of his career; and 38-year-old Ken Griffey Sr., who hit .263 with eight homers and would play 201 games after that season before he retired in 1991.
