Diamondbacks on Pace to Set Record TurnaroundLast year, the Detroit Tigers made a sudden and sharp improvement. After winning only 43 games in 2003, they improved to 71 wins, a turnaround of 28 games. When they started out strong, I thought I'd go back and check to see what the single greatest turnaround in the history of major league baseball had been. The answer was the 1998-1999 Arizona Diamondbacks, who had improved from 65-97 in their inaugural 1998 campaign, and put the hammer down to 100-62 their second season.
The interesting thing is that they have a decent chance to break their own record this year. In 2004, the D-Backs went 51-111. To break their own mark, they would need to go 87-75 this season. Their current mark is 23-16, so for the rest of the season they need to go 64-59, which does not seem at all implausible.
