‘Like pulling a tractor trailer’: what it’s like to play on an awful MLB team

A 162-game season guarantees failure as much as success. Inside a losing clubhouse, staying together and believing can become the hardest part of the job If you ask professional athletes, they’ll tell you. Losing is no fun. But in Major League Baseball, losing big can be especially tedious. An MLB seasons boasts a whopping 162 games (twice as many as the NBA and NHL) and even the best hitters fail two-thirds of the time at the plate. If a pitcher wins half his starts, he’s an All-Star. Because of that, says decorated starter Jamie Moyer, a losing campaign takes on a particular consequence. Continue reading...

Jacob Uitti · Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 2:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

‘Like pulling a tractor trailer’: what it’s like to play on an awful MLB team

A 162-game season guarantees failure as much as success. Inside a losing clubhouse, staying together and believing can become the hardest part of the job

If you ask professional athletes, they’ll tell you. Losing is no fun. But in Major League Baseball, losing big can be especially tedious.

An MLB seasons boasts a whopping 162 games (twice as many as the NBA and NHL) and even the best hitters fail two-thirds of the time at the plate. If a pitcher wins half his starts, he’s an All-Star. Because of that, says decorated starter Jamie Moyer, a losing campaign takes on a particular consequence.

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