Durham Bulls' Headed to an Historical Year

The Durham Bulls finished the first half of the 2026 with a 28-47 won-loss record (a .373 percentage) and on a path to becoming the worst team in Durham Bulls AAA history. How bad are they? At 19 games below .500 they are tied with Norfolk for last place in the Eastern Division of the International League. They are 19 games behind the first place the Washingon National’s Rochester Redwings. Statistics? For the 20 team International League: OPS - .686 (20th), ERA - 5.63 (18th). Recent trends: They’ve lost 8 of their last 12 games, and 14 of their last 18.

This time last year the Bulls were doing fairly well at 15 games over .500 and they finished the year a respectable 11 over .500 and 4th place in the East.

The Bulls have only been around for 28 years and of those years they were typically in the running for a championship. In only five of those years have they finished below .500. This year they are cruising towards a less than .400 year.

Why?

I wish I could find some good reasons. And I also wish that I’d been interested enough to listen to more broadcast coverage this year. But with home stands like last week, where they only won the first game and lost the next five, that’s been hard to do.

They are slightly younger than last year, which might be a factor. 

I’d like to blame the cost-saving schedule, but they’ve been doing that for a couple of years. 

Most of all, I’d like to blame the Tampa Bay Rays, since it is, after all, their team. Or the manager, but he did OK last year. But the facts are that this team does not hit well and, unusual for a Rays franchise, doesn’t pitch well. 

Here’s my guess: The Rays are simply not paying attention to the team. Individual players, yes, but not the team. 

Year	Wins	Losses	Percentage
1998	80	64	0.556
1999	83	60	0.580
2000	81	62	0.566
2001	74	70	0.514
2002	80	64	0.556
2003	73	67	0.521
2004	77	67	0.535
2005	65	79	0.451
2006	64	78	0.451
2007	80	63	0.559
2008	74	70	0.514
2009	83	61	0.576
2010	88	55	0.615
2011	80	62	0.563
2012	66	78	0.458
2013	87	57	0.604
2014	75	69	0.521
2015	74	70	0.514
2016	64	80	0.444
2017	86	56	0.606
2018	79	60	0.568
2019	75	64	0.540
2021	77	43	0.642
2022	86	64	0.573
2023	88	62	0.587
2024	72	78	0.480
2025	85	64	0.570
2026	28	47	0.373