Ryan Pressley Just Had The Worst Pitching Appearance...of All Time

I made a video over this offseason talking about the worst start in MLB history, which in my opinion was when Jeremy Guthrie allowed 10 earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, with 6 hits, 4 walks, and negative 0.4 war in just this single appearance, which would be the last of his career. But we just witnessed something that was arguably even worse than this, and from a guy who has been at least an above-average hurler every year since 2018, with Ryan Presley's outing vs the Giants last night being possibly the worst pitching appearance in the history of MLB. Period. You'll see what I mean. Entering the game in the top of the 11th inning with the Ghostrunner on 2nd, Presley would first give up a 108 mph line drive over the head of Ian Happen left field, which would only push the extra inning runner to 3rd base as a result of a poor read off the bat. This was undoubtedly a break for the Cubs, who in years past might have had a chance to see Presley pull out his 12k per 9 stuff to strike out the side or something, and keep the game tied. But this version of Ryan is certainly not that one, as the next guy up, catcher Patrick Bailey, he of the sub-200 batting average as of now, would line this ball into center field, pushing the go-ahead run across the plate and Ramos to 3rd base. 2 batters, 2 hits. But this certainly isn't the end of the world, right? If he could even manage to limit the damage after this, the deficit wouldn't be too crazy to overcome. But things would get a little worse when Brett Wisely would bunt a ball back to the mound that Presley would flip off target to home plate, allowing Ramos to score without managing to get an out. With runners again on 2nd and 3rd, Presley would tally his only walk of the night on a fastball just off the outside to Mike Kostremski. He would then make it back-to-back, arguably back-to-back-to-back self-inflicted wounds when this sinker, at just 91mph by the way, came in and clipped Willie Adamas, pushing another run across. It's at this point a lot of guys would be removed, but for some reason, Presley was allowed to keep pitching, and the next batter, Jung-Hoo Lee, would line a solid single to right field, scoring yet another run. It would be much the same versus the next batter, Matt Chapman, who would ground this ball into left field, this time with two runners being able to score. The final blow, at least versus Presley directly, would come off the bat of Wilmer Flores, who would line yet another fastball to left field. Relatively softly hit, but still enough to score yet another run, pushing the score to 12-5. After Ryan was finally taken out, lefty Caleb Thielbaar would be brought on to relieve him, and the former teammate of the righty would immediately get to work, striking out Christian Koss for the first out of the inning. But the now infamous Cubs bullpen wasn't done struggling yet, as the very next batter, Heliot Ramos, would line his second double up the frame, scoring Chapman and pushing Flores to 3rd base. Patrick Bailey would then follow this with a sack fly to center field, pushing the score to 14-5. Things would mercifully end after this when David Villar would strike out on a fastball right down the center of the plate. This still meant, however, that two more earned runs had come in on Presley's head, which, along with the runs he had allowed earlier, allowed the former Astro to set a new Major League record, per OptaStats, becoming the first reliever to allow 8-plus earned runs in a game without getting an out and taking a loss, in the history of Major League Baseball. And considering the high-leverage circumstances he came in under, being an extra-inning contest, not some kind of blowout or something, this certifies it to me as perhaps the worst pitching appearance ever, as even though there have been guys who have given up more runs than this in one frame, at least they've managed to get a single out in the process. Now, thank you so much for watching, and I hope you enjoyed. Also, if you ever see something you'd like to see detailed in the Made to Cut video, whether that be a specific play or a narrative surrounding a certain player or team, feel free to reach out to my email basebepoet at gmail.com. That's B-A-S-E, letter B, P-O-E-T at gmail.com. If I used your idea, I'll be sure to give you credit. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you in the next one.