Phillies: Five worst teams over the last 50 seasons

1 –   1972  (59 – 97, 37 1/2 games behind)

The only thing good about this worst Phillies season over the past 50 years was the pitching of Steve Carlton. He dominated nearly every time out and his numbers were among the best among starting pitchers in modern history. He started 41 games, completed 30, threw 346 1/3 innings, struck out 310 and compiled a 27-10 record. The team went 29-12 in his starts and 30-85 when anyone else started.

Philadelphia Phillies

Looking at the overall season, the Phillies actually got off to a great start, going 9-5 during April and 14-8 as of May 11.  However, the collapse began, as the Phillies lost 21 of their next 23 games.  The Phillies went 8-19 in June and were entrenched in the basement from June 4 through the rest of the season.

Two managers were at the helm during this disastrous season. Frank Lucchesi went 26-50 and general manager Paul Owens managed the team to a 33-47 mark. The team reached 40 games below .500 on October 2 and were shutout 13 times.

Offensively, 21-year old Greg Luzinski led the team in hits (158), home runs (18), RBI (68) and batting average (.281).  As a team, the Phillies were second to last in the NL in runs scored and near the bottom in nearly every statistical category.

The team was eighth in ERA at 3.66, but 4.22 with anyone other than Carlton on the mound.  It must be noted that this was during an era where pitching was much more dominating. The league ERA was 3.23 for 1972.  Even with Carlton, the Phils were below the league mark and nearly 33 percent higher when he wasn’t pitching.

With a team that couldn’t crack the 60 win mark and was generally only effective when Carlton pitched, the 1972 team clearly goes down as the franchise’s worst overall team over the last 50 years.