Can't Win 4 Losing

The Washington Capitals were the worst team in NHL history in their inaugural year. By late March they'd played 37 road games without earning so much as a point, and they'd lost 17 straight overall. Then they got a win. "The reaction was totally frickin' crazy," says goalie Ron Low, who with teammates Ron Lalonde and Jack Lynch helps tell the story of the Stanley Can Caps. Plus: Steve Paulo's No Whine Timeline lets you know when it's OK to complain about your lousy team. Originally published Sept. 30, 2017.

It appeared on Page 4 of the San Francisco Examiner one day in 1888, and yet, somehow, "Casey at the Bat" survived to become one of the few 19th century American poems most Americans have even heard of. King Kaufman talks to official MLB historian John Thorn and others in search of the story behind the remarkable staying power of a poem about a baseball player who (spoiler alert) struck out, written by a writer who wanted nothing to do with it after it was published. Originally published Sept. 24, 2017.