Astros Won’t Set Two-Year Loss Record...Right?

Even with a 107-game head start and a move to a rougher, tougher division, things would have to get historically bad for the Astros to break the two-year mark for most losses in 2013. This is a list of the worst two-year records of teams that lost at least 100 games in both seasons:

There is every possibility the 2012-13 Astros tandem will bump their 2011-2012 entry out of the top 10 on this leader board. The over/under for Houston on most betting lines is 59 ½. We know they’re not going to lose 125 and top the early Mets on this list, but, at the same time, only losing 102 or 103 games seems impossible from this vantage point, doesn’t it?

We do know they’ll have nothing to do with this list; an accounting of the teams with the worst two-year winning percentages (provided those teams lost at least 100 games in both seasons):

Or will they? If Houston matches the 2003 Tigers’ 119-loss debacle, their two-year winning percentage sill come in at .302, good for seventh-worst on this list.

You have to hand it to the 1897-98 St. Louis Browns (who are now a team called “the Cardinals”). They notched their back-to-back triple-figure loss seasons at a time when losing 100 games wasn’t all that common, mostly owing to the shorter seasons. In fact, only seven teams lost 100 games between 1876 and 1903: