A couple of months ago, I wrote about the magic of the .600 threshold in American sports, above which only generally great teams reside. I noted this occurrence because my Beloved Royals were, amazingly, remarkably, one of only five teams in Major League Baseball above that level.

I asked you not to pinch me, but obviously you didn’t listen, because today I get to note that where playing at a .600 level connotes great teams, playing at a .400 generally denotes dismal ones: 100-game losers in baseball, 6-10 teams in the NFL, a 50-loss season in the NBA. Why do I get to note this? Because the Beloved Royals have lost eight in a row to drop to 37-56, a .398 winning rate. There are only three other teams at or below .400.

At their current rate of play, the Beloved Royals can expect to finish the season with a 64-98 record. I was hoping to be able to root for something better this year than “Yay! Fewer than 100 losses!”, but it appears that such is not to be the case.

Of course, it could be worse: my favorite National League team, the Ex-Montreal Expos, are flirting with an absolutely astonishing and historic rate of futility, currently playing even below the .300 level.

So, uh . . . yay, Royals! Less futile than the Nationals!