Wednesday, June 01, 2005

The June Swoon: Fact or Fiction?

Like it or not the June Swoon is just as much a part of Cub lore as ivy and the Billy Goat Curse. ESPN can debate the reality Curses (that'd be a good Outside the Lines for Bob Ley). But the June Swoon. We have numbers we can look at. Is the June Swoon part of Cub baseball? You be the judge. Here are the Cubs records in June in what I'll call the Cubs Dark Era (1946-Present):

Year W-L
1946 17-10
1947 12-17
1948 13-15
1949 11-20

1950 13-14
1951 9-16
1952 15-14
1953 11-19
1954 4-21
1955 13-17
1956 15-12
1957 10-18
1958 12-13
1959 13-13

1960 13-18
1961 13-16
1962 14-18
1963 15-13
1964 16-12
1965 14-16
1966 10-20
1967 21-10
1968 10-18
1969 18-11

1970 10-18
1971 18-9
1972 17-11
1973 17-13
1974 13-16
1975 11-21
1976 10-19
1977 19-8
1978 14-15
1979 16-8

1980 11-18
1981 5-4* (Strike Season)
1982 8-20
1983 18-11
1984 15-14
1985 12-16
1986 10-17
1987 12-17
1988 16-11
1989 13-15

1990 12-18
1991 10-18
1992 18-10
1993 13-15
1994 10-16
1995 9-20
1996 16-11
1997 11-17
1998 12-15
1999 10-17

2000 12-13
2001 15-13
2002 12-14
2003 12-15
2004 15-12

TOTAL 764-876 (.466 Winning %)

In '54 the Cubs won 4 games in the entire month of June. I'll even bet that this team can top that number.

I was surprised that even in the division winning seasons of '89 and '03 the Cubs had losing records. In my opinion the June Swoon is FACT and part of the Cub lore. Why would this year be any different?

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