With Mizzou baseball’s season officially in the books — for all the wrong reasons — I figured it was the perfect time to look back at the worst conference records in each SEC team’s history. Just a little something to lift everyone’s spirits.
Disclaimer: Due to rule changes over the years and teams shifting conferences, not all have played a full 30-game SEC schedule. These records reflect each team’s worst conference finish in a season with at least 24 games.
Vandy: 5-24 (2000)
In 2000, the Vanderbilt Commodores, led by head coach Roy Mewbourne, endured the worst season in program history. In the second of what became four straight years with fewer than 25 wins, Vanderbilt finished at the bottom of the SEC East and barely cracked the top 100 in RPI, placing 95th — the lowest mark in school history.
With a team batting average of .295 and an ERA approaching 6.00, it’s no surprise Vanderbilt lost more than 30 games that season. Only seven players from that roster went on to play any level of professional baseball, and none made it past Triple-A. The team’s top three starters all posted ERAs of 4.99 or higher, contributing to a -45 run differential. The bullpen was even worse — among pitchers who appeared in at least 10 games and made no more than five starts, the average ERA was over 7.00.
Offensively, the Commodores’ lineup was extremely top-heavy. Eight players appeared in more than 50 games, and five of them hit above .300. But beyond the top of the order, production fell off a cliff — the remaining regulars hit just .215 on average. Not only did Vanderbilt post the worst run differential in the SEC that year, but their -45 mark also stands as the third-worst in program history.