The talk is that it might take only 85 victories to win the National League Western Division in 2004 (and that it might take even less to win the American League Central). Certainly, there are many of fans out there who think this is their best hope.

Ultimately, this might just be talk. Given the unbalanced schedule in which teams play more games inside their division than outside, chances are still good that a 90-win team will emerge, even if that team isn't a truly great team.

Since baseball went to a three-division format, however, several teams have won divisions with fewer than 90 victories. Houston took the NL Central in 1997 with as few as 84 wins.

Furthermore, a sub-.500 champion is possible. In fact, it was only 10 years ago that we had one.

It has been largely forgotten because the 1994 major league baseball season ended with a strike in August. But here are the final AL West standings of that year, featuring the Texas Moes, the Oakland Larrys, the Seattle Curlys and the California Shemps:

American League West (1994 Final)

To put that in further perspective, here are the standings of the entire American League.

American League (1994 Final)

Somehow, one division ended up with the four worst teams in the league.

On April 22 that year, the Angels were 8-8 on the season when they allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth and fell to Boston, 6-5. That was the last time an AL West team saw .500 for more than a month.

Which is not to say there was no pennant race. While Oakland struggled to play .250 ball for the first two months of the season, Seattle, California (as the Angels were still known) and Texas alternated atop the division. On May 23 the three teams were tied (virtually) for first place.

American League West (May 23, 1994)

As May became June, the Rangers emerged as division leaders by winning 8 out of 12, and on June 6, had a chance to move back to .500. Symbolizing the kind of season it was, Texas sent Roger Pavlik (1-2) to face the Yankees and Jimmy Key (7-1). Pavlik lasted an inning-plus, allowing seven runs, and the Yankees led 10-0 after four innings en route to a 17-7 victory.

However, the Rangers edged the Yankees in consecutive one-run games, 10-9 and 6-5, to move to .500 at 28-28. Two more victories over the AL Central-contending Royals put Texas at 30-28. Although the rest of the division had fallen firmly under .500 (and was in fact struggling to stay above .400), Texas, with consecutive wins over the league's best team and 12 wins in 17 games overall, appeared to give the AL West a legitimate team.

American League West (June 10, 1994)

The Rangers lost two games to fall back to .500, won again to reach 31-30, and then lost two more games. Their loss to Seattle on June 15, 5-2, dropped them to 31-32 – putting the AL West under .500 for good.

Texas caught the Mariners in a mini-run of their own. Seattle won a muy impressive five out of eight to pull within two games of the Rangers. The Angels kept pace and were only 2.5 games out.

For its part, thought-to-be-truly hopeless Oakland had won six out of eight – and 12 out of 23 – to pull back within 7.5 games of the lead.

While neither California nor Seattle could continue their push, the A's did. On July 1, Oakland de-cellar-ated with a 6-3 victory over Boston. With a record of 21-15 since May 22, the A's were within four games of the division lead.

American League West (July 1, 1994)

Five days later , Oakland reached second place, still four games out, and was three games out at the All-Star break, July 11-13.

The A's didn't get any closer to Texas until July 24, when they moved within two games of the Rangers. As late as August 4, the Rangers were 52-56, having gone 15-15 since July 1 and 19-18 since May 22, and held a 4.5-game lead in the division.

However, Texas did not win another game in 1994.

On August 5, the A's and Texas began a three-game series in Oakland.