If you have followed baseball the past couple seasons, you should know that no lead in the standings is safe. One team may seam nearly assured of upcoming post season action, and have it slip away in just a few short weeks, or days, even. Let's take a look at some of the recent collapses around the end of the season.
Exhibit A: The 2007 New York Mets
This is one of the most LOL-worthy collapses in baseball history. The Mets held a seven-game lead in the NL east on September 12th, and proceeded to lose 12 of their last 17 games and miss the playoffs altogether. They lost five out of six against the horrible Nationals, and then, just when they had a chance to stave off this unreal collapse, all they had to do was beat the last place Florida Marlins on the last day of the season...and got smoked 6-1. The Phillies won the division, and the Mets went home.
Exhibit B: The 2009 Detroit Tigers
Oof. Painful, this one was. The Tigers were atop the Central for the better part of the season, and when it came down to the final weekend of the season, they held a three-game lead on September 30th. By October 6th, just six days later, their season was Chinese food. They were cooked cat. They were delicious, I heard. But at least out of the disaster that the collapse, we got Game 163, one of the best baseball games of all time. Ups and downs, drama, extra innings, heroes left and right. Good times. And then the Twins got squashed by the Yankees, the eventual champs, but you know, that's not important here. What's important is that even on the last weekend of the season, anything can and will happen.
Exhibit C: The 2011 Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox
And this one stings the worst of them all. I can poke fun these other teams failures, but when it happens to my own team, my beloved Braves, it's no goddamn laughing matter, goddamn it.
Yup. 10 1/2 game lead on August 26th. Still at 8 1/2 on September 6th, yet only went 9-18 in September. The final blow came on a blown save against the Phillies on that historic last day of the regular season. I remember now why I hate the Phillies. I tried as hard as I could to block this whole thing from my memory, but now that I'm writing about it, the wounds are still open, even if I've covered them with bandages for the time being. I barely watched the rest of the post season because I was so jaded. The Cardinals beat the Astros that day, and won the National League wild card. The Braves went home. UUUUGGGHHHH...however the spotlight on the Braves failure was dimmed a bit because it was being shared by another historic collapse. Red. Sox. Nation.
As far as the Red Sox go, that might have been even worse than the Braves, actually. They blew a nine-game lead over the Rays with 25 left to play. That's huge. Huge huge huge. Also, on that last day of the season, the one I called historic in the above paragraph, the Red Sox were playing the nearly 100-loss team in the Baltimore Orioles, and all they had to do was win, and lost on a walk-off single. Meanwhile, in Tampa, the Rays were playing the Yankees. The Yankees took a 7-0 lead into the 8th inning, for cryin' out loud. The Rays mounted a miraculous comeback of the ages, culminating in Dan Johnson's game-tying one-strike away from season over, home run. Then Evan Longoria hit a solo shot in the 12th, just minutes after that Baltimore dagger to the heart of Red Sox Nation. The Rays were in and the Sox were out. Unbelievable. Hell, I'm mostly writing this as a way for me to remember what happened on that day. All this stuff in the AL east, coupled with the Braves v.s. Phillies, and the Cardinals needing a win to keep their hopes of the post season alive, it's just incredible that this all happened at once. And out of all of that, the least dramatic of the dramatic stuff was the Cardinals, and they ended up winning the whole thing...and they barely made the playoffs. Insanity.
So if this season finishes anything close to what we got last season, we're in for quite a ride. I can only hope it goes the right way this year, and these Braves don't screw it up this time. But even if they do, the wounds will eventually heal, and I'll have a great blog post to write, won't I?
Exhibit A: The 2007 New York Mets
Exhibit B: The 2009 Detroit Tigers
Oof. Painful, this one was. The Tigers were atop the Central for the better part of the season, and when it came down to the final weekend of the season, they held a three-game lead on September 30th. By October 6th, just six days later, their season was Chinese food. They were cooked cat. They were delicious, I heard. But at least out of the disaster that the collapse, we got Game 163, one of the best baseball games of all time. Ups and downs, drama, extra innings, heroes left and right. Good times. And then the Twins got squashed by the Yankees, the eventual champs, but you know, that's not important here. What's important is that even on the last weekend of the season, anything can and will happen.
Exhibit C: The 2011 Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox
And this one stings the worst of them all. I can poke fun these other teams failures, but when it happens to my own team, my beloved Braves, it's no goddamn laughing matter, goddamn it.
Yup. 10 1/2 game lead on August 26th. Still at 8 1/2 on September 6th, yet only went 9-18 in September. The final blow came on a blown save against the Phillies on that historic last day of the regular season. I remember now why I hate the Phillies. I tried as hard as I could to block this whole thing from my memory, but now that I'm writing about it, the wounds are still open, even if I've covered them with bandages for the time being. I barely watched the rest of the post season because I was so jaded. The Cardinals beat the Astros that day, and won the National League wild card. The Braves went home. UUUUGGGHHHH...however the spotlight on the Braves failure was dimmed a bit because it was being shared by another historic collapse. Red. Sox. Nation.
As far as the Red Sox go, that might have been even worse than the Braves, actually. They blew a nine-game lead over the Rays with 25 left to play. That's huge. Huge huge huge. Also, on that last day of the season, the one I called historic in the above paragraph, the Red Sox were playing the nearly 100-loss team in the Baltimore Orioles, and all they had to do was win, and lost on a walk-off single. Meanwhile, in Tampa, the Rays were playing the Yankees. The Yankees took a 7-0 lead into the 8th inning, for cryin' out loud. The Rays mounted a miraculous comeback of the ages, culminating in Dan Johnson's game-tying one-strike away from season over, home run. Then Evan Longoria hit a solo shot in the 12th, just minutes after that Baltimore dagger to the heart of Red Sox Nation. The Rays were in and the Sox were out. Unbelievable. Hell, I'm mostly writing this as a way for me to remember what happened on that day. All this stuff in the AL east, coupled with the Braves v.s. Phillies, and the Cardinals needing a win to keep their hopes of the post season alive, it's just incredible that this all happened at once. And out of all of that, the least dramatic of the dramatic stuff was the Cardinals, and they ended up winning the whole thing...and they barely made the playoffs. Insanity.
So if this season finishes anything close to what we got last season, we're in for quite a ride. I can only hope it goes the right way this year, and these Braves don't screw it up this time. But even if they do, the wounds will eventually heal, and I'll have a great blog post to write, won't I?
