Watching three of this year's four League Division Series end in sweeps got me thinking that three-and-out is a tough way to leave the playoffs. It also got me checking. Turns out only one team in Major League Baseball history meets the following criteria:
• Has been to at least three postseasons
• Has never won fewer than three games in any postseason it's been in
And that team is your own personal favorite autumnal juggernaut, the New York Mets.
We don't get swept. We don't exit early. We don't go down without a fight. And we've made it enough to not be considered a Marlinesque fluke.
We are No. 1 at this sort of thing as long as this sort of thing is defined narrowly enough to make us feel as good as possible.
But it's true. We've won the following number of games in our seven respective postseason appearances:
1969: 7
1973: 6
1986: 8
1988: 3
1999: 5
2000: 8
2006: 6
No other team that made more than token postseason appearances has managed that much staying power every single time they show up for October baseball.
We've played 14 postseason series and won nine of them. We took three of those we lost to a seventh game. We took one of those we lost to the eleventh inning of a sixth game. We were eliminated from a best-of-seven in five games once, but none of our four losses in that series was by more than two runs.
The Mets give us our passion's worth in October. And they've given us seven Octobers. Not as many as we'd like, but this is no fly-by-night operation when the going gets tough (and the clichés start flying). When we get to this stage, we don't always win, but we never lie down. Roger Angell was right when he wrote, “The Mets go melodramatic in October, it's in their genes.” Those genes seem to fit our disposition quite nicely.
It's quiet for us this October, but at least somewhere in the back of our collective mind, the upper deck is rumbling and we can't sit still.
I think this every time I see a team like the Cubs or Twins roll over in the postseason sans a single victory. Big whoop for them — the Red Sox won the same number of playoff games as the Mets this year, didn't they?
It's always 9:47pm on Sunday, October 17th, 1999 in the corner of every Met fan's mind, isn't it?
My exact thoughts in re: the Phillies in 2007.
Sometimes it is, but most of the time it's 4:31pm on Sunday, September 30th, 2007.
Nobody said it was easy…
Greg,
That streak might have been broken if we made it to the post season with those ex-Mets who did make it to October:
– Carlos Gomez's running mistake costs Minnesota a run and game two.
– Billy Wagner opens the door for the Angels in the eighth inning in game three.
– Scott Kazmir (honorable mention even though he never got to wear a Met uniform) is shelled by the BoSox in game 3.
Well, of course, that's obviously why Kazmir needed to be traded for anything they could get, right?
Er… right?
No, doesn't work for me either. But I felt I had to give it a shot. Sigh.
Didn't do much for me, either, but Kazmir did need to get an honorable mention.
The Met mystic is working overtime this post-season. Most closers are starting to resemble Armando Benetiz.
Or worse, 5:05pm on Sunday, September 28th, 2008…
And leave us not forget possible future Met Matt Holiday, who has already begun auditioning for a post in CitiLeftField…
I was thinking of that too….!
And let's not forget the post-season umpires.
Not to mention arguably one of the most memorable World Series moments that actually transcends sports (even made it into those stupid KGB commercials)
Matt Holliday was traded for Huston Street last winter, wasn't he? Ponder that one for a moment.
I'd wager TWO of the most memorable moments in Post Season history.
1 – Buckner
2 – Endy
What other team can say it had a “greatest play of all time” in a game it eventually loses!
Ever wonder why they traded Octavio Dotel after that season for a nothing RF and a one-and-done sub-Ace pitcer?
3IP, 4H, 2BB(1IBB), 1ER, 5SO
as a rookie …. who only had 19 games major league experience … In one the the most tense games against a heated rival.
That kid had ice-water in his veins ….