Biggest worst-to-first turnarounds in sports history

[SabresRule]

With what the Rays are doing, and combined with their previously brutal history, I was thinking of other worst-to-first season turnarounds.

What are the biggest ones you recall?

I go with the Celtics. Their transformation from a 58-loss team to a 66-win champion isn't just the biggest NBA turnaround, but probably the greatest turnaround in sports history.

Unlike the much-revered and much-celebrated 1991 Braves, these Celtics sealed the deal in the championship round!

 

[BillD1984]

Sabres,
kudos on another great thread idea. :up


My nominees:

1. 2007-08 Celtics
2. 1991 Twins
3. 1999 Rams
4. 1991 Braves
5. 2001-02 Patriots
6. 1979-80 Celtics

 

[Mets82]

I'm a Giants fan but what about the Rams in 1999. I think they were 3-13 the year before and they won the Super Bowl the next year.
For baseball wouldn't the 2003 Marlins qualify? I think they were lousy in 02 and then fired there manager in May of 2003 and wound up winning the World Series. Those are the 2 off the top of my head.

 

[cjwct]

'68 Mets went 73-89 finishing 9th only to improve 27 games next season to 100-62 to became '69 World Series Champions . . . as a Mets fan, I had to!

 

[SabresRule]

For baseball wouldn't the 2003 Marlins qualify? I think they were lousy in 02 and then fired there manager in May of 2003 and wound up winning the World Series. Those are the 2 off the top of my head.

I wouldn't put them on there.

They only finished four games below .500 and didn't have a horrific record ala the 2006-07 Celtics or the Tampa Bay Rays prior to this year.

IIRC, they finished ahead of your Mets.

 

[BillD1984]

I'm a Giants fan but what about the Rams in 1999. I think they were 3-13 the year before and they won the Super Bowl the next year.
For baseball wouldn't the 2003 Marlins qualify? I think they were lousy in 02 and then fired there manager in May of 2003 and wound up winning the World Series. Those are the 2 off the top of my head.

Mets,
the Rams are a good one :up. In fact, I better revise my list.

 

[Mets82]

Sorry I didn't know about the Marlins. In all fairness about being finished ahead of the Mets, ANYONE could've finished ahead of them, they were that bad. That's tough when you got the Yankees winning and my team is floundering.

 

[BillD1984]

Two other huge NBA single season turnarounds:


2004-05 Phoenix Suns- went from 29 to 62 wins.

1996-97 San Antonio Spurs (sorry, Sabres)- went from 20 to 56 wins. BUT, this turnaround, IMO, should have an asterisk next to it. The Spurs were playing without David Robinson for most of 1995-96 and then fell into the draft lottery. In the lottery they scored Tim Duncan AND Robinson came back from injury.

 

[AntAltMike]

My nominees:
2. 1991 Twins
...

Which got me thinking of the dumbest radio interview I ever heard. After a Red Sox-Twins game back in the early 1990s, some Twins player being interviewed actually said , "I had the good fortune of breaking in on one of the greatest teams of all time. We had Ken Hrbek, Tom Brunanski, Gary Gaetti and Kirby Puckett"

Now, I know that a lot of baseball players aren't students of the game, but for Chrissakes, the 1970s had half a dozen teams with starting line-ups that would stomp on the Minnesota Twins teams: Oakland, Cincinnatti, Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox and Dodgers.


I vote for the '69 Mets. It is remarkable because they did it without free agency. Mostly, the same players just got better.

And for that matter, all the 1967 Red Sox added from 1966 was Reggie Smith (.246) and Mike Andrews (.262).

 

[BillD1984]

Which got me thinking of the dumbest radio interview I ever heard. After a Red Sox-Twins game back in the early 1990s, some Twins player being interviewed actually said , "I had the good fortune of breaking in on one of the greatest teams of all time. We had Ken Hrbek, Tom Brunanski, Gary Gaetti and Kirby Puckett"

Now, I know that a lot of baseball players aren't students of the game, but for Chrissakes, the 1970s had half a dozen teams with starting line-ups that would stomp on the Minnesota Twins teams: Oakland, Cincinnatti, Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox and Dodgers.


I vote for the '69 Mets. It is remarkable because they did it without free agency. Mostly, the same players just got better.

Good point, Mike. :up In fact, I'd add Philly, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City to teams that would have stomped those Twins.

 

[SabresRule]

1996-97 San Antonio Spurs (sorry, Sabres)- went from 20 to 56 wins. BUT, this turnaround, IMO, should have an asterisk next to it. The Spurs were playing without David Robinson for most of 1995-96 and then fell into the draft lottery. In the lottery they scored Tim Duncan AND Robinson came back from injury.

They didn't win it all in the turnaround year- they lost to Utah in round 2.

I put Boston ahead of them because they had a bigger turnaround in terms of games (42 games to 36) and their immediate championship (Spurs had to wait a year).

 

[BillD1984]

Which got me thinking of the dumbest radio interview I ever heard. After a Red Sox-Twins game back in the early 1990s, some Twins player being interviewed actually said , "I had the good fortune of breaking in on one of the greatest teams of all time. We had Ken Hrbek, Tom Brunanski, Gary Gaetti and Kirby Puckett."

This reminds me of the infamous Hawk Harrelson interview on WEEI (Boston sports radio) in July 2006. In the interview Harrelson called Ozzie Guillen the best manager he has ever seen, he compared Joe Crede to Brooks Robinson, and compared the White Sox pitching staff to the great Orioles staff (Palmer, Cuellar, McNally, Dobson) of the 70's.

 

[AntAltMike]

I'm a die hard Celtics fan who carried them through the Sidney Wicks era, buying my $3 obstructed view seats and then sitting anywhere I wanted to, but I just can't see what they did last year as a team turnaround, because they simply went out and bought a new team.

 

[Mets82]

Does Harrelson work for WEEI? That might sound like a dumb question but I don't get WEEI. If Harrelson doesn't work for the White Sox, then that's got to be the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Guillen is a total clown and I can't stand him. He's so obnoxious like the time he called into the Mike North Show on the radio and started swearing. I saw the clip on youtube and Ozzie was totally out of line. As far as the pitching staff, they were fantastic in the 05 ALCS but that's it. What have they done lately?

 

[BillD1984]

Does Harrelson work for WEEI? That might sound like a dumb question but I don't get WEEI. If Harrelson doesn't work for the White Sox, then that's got to be the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Guillen is a total clown and I can't stand him. He's so obnoxious like the time he called into the Mike North Show on the radio and started swearing. I saw the clip on youtube and Ozzie was totally out of line. As far as the pitching staff, they were fantastic in the 05 ALCS but that's it. What have they done lately?

Harrelson is the play-by-play guy on White Sox broadcasts. He's also the biggest homer known to man (and yes that includes the late, great Johnny Most)!

 

[BillD1984]

I'm a die hard Celtics fan who carried them through the Sidney Wicks era, buying my $3 obstructed view seats and then sitting anywhere I wanted to, but I just can't see what they did last year as a team turnaround, because they simply went out and bought a new team.

God bless you sitting through the Wicks/Rowe/Barnes era. I felt so bad when Tommy Heinsohn lost his job because of those clowns!

 

[anders5189]

For baseball wouldn't the 2003 Marlins qualify? I think they were lousy in 02 and then fired there manager in May of 2003 and wound up winning the World Series.

If this were a thread about biggest first to worst collapses then the '98 Marlins would take the cake. They won the WS in 97 and then only win like 54 games the next year after the fire sale. :haha

 

[lancemccaffrey]

The biggest worst to finish turnaround in NFL history (in the regular season, that is) was the Indianapolis Colts going from a 3-13 record in 1998 to a 13-3 record in 1999. Now, they didn't even get to the conference championship because they lost their first playoff game in the divisional round - but that is the greatest regular season turnaround in NFL history that I am aware of.