The
Cuervos de Patillas took a 20-18 record into the 1871 playoffs, made it past the Serie Preliminar, and got promptly owned 3-1 by Dorado, who was the #16 seed in Liga Betances that year
(It's okay. 1871 was weird like that.)
As it turned out, that would be the Grajos' only ticket to the postseason in the pre-market era, and one of only three seasons where they finished .500, let alone above; they managed a .408 in 1872, and again in 1874, and since then they have become one of those teams that ironic fans love, because they have a cool name and post 23-103 records.
So now that you know what the Cuervos are like as a team, we can talk about José Saenz, whose 35-year-old self, in the modern era, would have a season something like this:
218 IP
214 BB / 46 K
.366 oAVG
7.56 ERA
7.61 FIP
-4.9 WAR
(You know how starters are supposed to get a little bit of a leg up if they're converted into relievers? He's somehow rated
worse.)
Saenz was actually around for that magical 1871 season—but not in Patillas. He was the ninth-round pick for the Leones de Ponce, who released him at the end of the season. He signed for a little more with the Macabeos de Trujillo Alto . . . and got dropped a month later. In January, he signed with the Cuervos, and was named the #98 prospect in the league in April 1872.
One year later, he was #86. Two years later, he was #98 (again). Three years later, he was #61. This is early baseball, too, so there's no minor/developmental leagues to work with: even as the Cuervos rotation sucked, Saenz was riding pine year after miserable year because they were too afraid to try him out.
By the time he made his pitching debut, in 1878, he was 29, no longer a top prospect, and he'd lost most of his velocity. The Cuervos were expecting a miracle from a man who'd been paid to sit on the bench and throw, at most, live BP for years.
On July 8th, they sort of got one.