How bad are those numbers? Only five teams in the 20th century weren't able to win at least 20 percent of their road games. Those five: the 1935 Boston Braves (13-65, .167 winning percentage), 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (13-64, .169), 1945 Athletics (13-63, .171), 1909 Washington Senators (15-62, .195), and 1904 Senators (15-61, .197).

As you might guess, most absurdly unsuccessful teams were pretty awful wherever they played. Some of them weren't, though. Some of them were, like our three road non-warriors this year, actually quite respectable when playing at home. Those aforementioned '45 Athletics? They were winners in Philadelphia, and in fact, they've got the largest disparity between home and road winning percentages in the last century. Those A's notwithstanding, though, most of the teams with the biggest differences were good teams who played brilliantly at home. Here are the teams who played decently (but no better) at home, but were awful on the road (all data courtesy of Retrosheet):

          ---Home---  ---Road---


Year Team    W   L   Pct   W   L   Pct


1945 PHI A  39  35  .527  13  63  .171


1949 STL A  36  41  .468  17  60  .221


1930 PHI N  35  42  .455  17  60  .221


1901 MIL A  32  37  .464  16  52  .235


1902 BAL A  32  31  .508  18  57  .240

Two of the teams existed for just a moment: The Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns in 1902, their second season; the Baltimore Orioles became the New York Highlanders in 1903, their third. And their moments were so short, at least in part, because they struggled so terribly on the road.

More to the point, it's been more than half a century since any team did, over a whole season, what the Devil Rays, Rockies and Astros have done through roughly one-third of this season. And that's why I don't expect any of them to continue the way they've been going.

If one of them does, though, it'll probably be the Rockies.

In 1996, the Rockies went 57-26 (yowza!) at home, but 28-53 (.346) in the various ballparks close to sea level. In 2002, the Rockies went 47-34 at home, but 26-55 (.321) on the road. In 2003, the Rockies went 49-32 at home, but 25-56 (.309) elsewhere. Since their inception in 1993, the Rockies have won 55 percent of their home games, but lost 62 percent of their road games.

It stands to reason that when the Rockies are generally lousy they'll be particularly lousy on the road. Which is probably the case this season.

You might be interested in the teams, regardless of quality, with the largest difference between their home and road records. Again courtesy of Retrosheet, here are the 10 greatest differentials since 1901:

            --- Home ---  --- Away ---


Year Team    W   L   Pct   W   L   Pct    H-A


1945 PHI A  39  35  .527  13  63  .171   .356


1902 PHI A  56  17  .767  27  36  .429   .339


1949 BOS A  61  16  .792  35  42  .455   .338


1987 MIN A  56  25  .691  29  52  .358   .333


1996 COL N  55  26  .679  28  53  .346   .333


1978 HOU N  50  31  .617  24  57  .296   .321


1908 PHI A  46  30  .605  22  55  .286   .320


1903 CHI A  41  28  .594  19  49  .279   .315


1902 CHI A  48  20  .706  26  40  .394   .312


1952 BOS A  50  27  .649  26  51  .338   .312

Anybody notice a common thread that weaves through that list? Extreme environments. The Red Sox and Rockies both played in extreme hitter's parks, and the Astros and White Sox both played in extreme pitcher's parks. You've also got the '87 Twins, who benefited from the Metrodome; remember, that's the team that squeaked into the playoffs, then won the World Series after losing all their postseason road games but winning all their postseason home games.

So you don't have to play well on the road to wind up with a successful season. If I were the Devil Rays, though, I wouldn't start printing World Series tickets just yet.

Senior writer Rob Neyer writes for Insider two or three times per week during the season. To offer criticism, praise or anything in between, send an e-mail to rob.neyer@dig.com.