Can we just chalk it up to a small sample size or are the Red Sox really already out of the playoffs?

So the Baseball season is only a week old and many Beantown residents have become Chicken Little.  With today's loss, the Red Sox have shockingly fallen to 0-6 on the year, but what does this really mean?  For starters, it means that the Red Sox aren't going to go 162-0, 161-1, ..., or even 157-5.  Of course nobody thought 157+ wins was possible, but is there really any significance to the fact that the Saux have lost their first six games of the year?

In the preseason the Red Sox were the most picked team by the so called experts to win the AL East and the World Series (this "expert" included).  I'm not jumping ship yet, but it will be interesting to see how the Red Sox rebound from their inauspicious start.  While I can understand that they ran into a buzz saw in Texas to start the season, I'm struggling with their being swept by the Indians in front of 29,142 patrons…TOTAL during the three game series in Cleveland.  The Red Sox will have more people at their home opener tomorrow in Boston when the Yankees come to town.

Of all the sports out there, baseball is by far the biggest numbers driven one, and here's where it gets interesting.  In the history of baseball only two teams who started the season 0-6 have gone on to make the playoffs, and neither of those teams won the World Series.  You'd think that with all the years baseball has been played, at least one team who lost their first six games would have rebounded enough to win the World Series, but it's never happened.  To me this is a statistical anomaly.

A good question that all the Chicken Little’s need to ask themselves is "how would you feel if the Red Sox had won even one of their first six games?"  Understandably, they'd almost all say "better", but the difference of one win with 156 more games to go shouldn't matter...except that the record books say that it does.  We'll have to wait and see.
 

Throughout the season I'll provide updates on my preseason Division winner picks...just so that I'm not accused of switching my picks later on.  As of this writing:

Boston (0-6)
Chicago (4-2)
Oakland (2-4)
New York - wildcard (4-2)

Philadelphia (5-1)
Milwaukee (3-4)
Colorado (4-1)
Atlanta - wildcard (3-3)

AL Total (10-14)
NL Total (15-9)
MLB Total (25-23)

Barely a winning record...thanks mainly to my out on a limb pick of the Phillies and my Rocky Mountain Bias.  Of note, I picked the Pirates (4-3) and Kansas City (4-2) to struggle.

Let's just chalk the beginning of the season up to a poorly timed small sample size...especially the Red Sox.  Watch them sweep the 4-2 Yankees this weekend.