The Arizona Diamondbacks, alone among major league teams, have not been shut out this season. Every other team was shut out in April, and most of them by the first or second week. The Mets made it all the way to April 26th before their first shutout.
Geese don’t lay eggs in Phoenix
USA TODAY Sports
As far as I can tell, only two teams since 1900 have made it through an entire season without being shut out. The first team was the 1932 Yankees, who scored over a thousand runs, won 107 games, and whose lineup featured the Babe and the Iron Horse. They swept the Cubs in the World Series. I'm told my great-grandfather attended Game 3 at Wrigley Field and swore he saw Ruth call his shot. I hope that's true. Like membership in the French Resistance, the number of people who claim to have been at that game swells with each passing year.
Anyway, the '32 Yankees are exactly the sort of team you might guess would avoid a shutout. The other team was the 2000 Cincinnati Reds, who won 85 games and were fifth in the National League in runs and OPS. I'm no mathlete, but the odds against a team like that lasting 162 games without a shutout must be infinitesimal.
Now that I’ve called attention to the Diamondbacks’ streak, I’m sure I’ve jinxed them and their whole season, because don’t fool yourself, jinxes are real. As real as the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatches and French courage.
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