SUFFERING INDEX – Updated for 2019

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It is a new season and a new edition of quantifying suffering… it is the 2019 Suffering Index.

I have created a formula for determining which fan base is suffering the most and which is suffering the least. And I have factors that include length of waiting for a World Series title, pennants, trips to the post season, having multiple recent titles, winning winner take all games and losing winner take all games.

The formula works like this:

The formula is this.

(Number of Years Since a Team’s Last World Series Title)
+ (Number of Years Since a Team’s Last Pennant ÷ 4)
+ (Number of Years Since the World Series Title BEFORE the Last one ÷ 8)
+ (Number of Years Since a Team’s Last Post Season Appearance ÷ 16)
+ (Number of Deciding or One Game Playoffs LOST since last World Series title x 10)
– (Number of Deciding or One Game Playoffs WON since last World Series title)
= THE SUFFERING INDEX TOTAL

I broke it down in this video:

This year, I made a slight change. I calculated the total for Washington to include the history of the two Senators franchises and the Nationals franchise.

I also combined the Milwaukee Braves and Brewers total for the Milwaukee fan base suffering index.

So here are the results, from most suffering to least.

1.      171.13 WASHINGTON (Senators and Nationals)
2.     143.19 CLEVELAND
3.     122.81 OAKLAND
4.     117.56 MILWAUKEE (Braves and Brewers)
5.     105.25 PITTSBURGH
6.     94.06 TEXAS
7.     74.69 ATLANTA
8.     72.31 SAN DIEGO
9.     72.00 CINCINNATI
10.   70.31 BALTIMORE
11.   63.44 DETROIT
12.   59.44 NEW YORK METS
13.   58.13 MINNESOTA
14.   56.88 SEATTLE
15.   54.06 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
16.   40.94 NEW YORK YANKEES
17.   40.31 COLORADO
18.   34.75 TAMPA BAY
19.   34.25 ARIZONA
20.   34.06 TORONTO
21.   29.94 CHICAGO WHITE SOX
22.   28.88 PHILADELPHIA
23.   27.81 ANAHEIM
24.   26.69 CHICAGO CUBS
25.   23.75 MIAMI
26.   19.38 ST. LOUIS
27.   18.50 KANSAS CITY
28.   8.69 HOUSTON
29.   6.31 SAN FRANCISCO
30.   2.06 BOSTON

Only 3 fan bases in single digits: Houston, San Francisco and Boston. As a Red Sox fan whose favorite National League team is the Giants, I have NOTHING to complain about.

Meanwhile, one of my best listeners, Cubs Fan With an 8, posed a good question.

Where is Montreal? 😬🙈

— cubsfan (@cu8sfan) March 21, 2019

 

Truth is, Montreal’s suffering can not be quantified until they get a new franchise.

That is cruel and it is true.