July 4, 1914, the Boston Braves were 26-40, in last place, 15 games behind the New York Giants (who held first by 4 1/2), and 5 games behind the Phillies for 7th. Not only did the Braves turn it around in the second half to win the pennant, they won it by 10 1/2 games! This wouldn't necessarily fit on your list because it wasn't just one team collapsing, it was an entire league!
@Videogamelover58 They ended up sweeping the Athletics. That was the last season of that particular stretch of powerful Athletics teams under Connie Mack. The 1914 Braves were really, really unexpected.
@@DaDitkaBecause Connie Mack dismantled his team following the 1914 World Series. What following was the A's went from World Series runners up to finishing the 1916 season with the worst record in baseball (36-117). The A's would finish in the second division, with numerous last place finishes in between. The A's would not return to contention until 1929 when they won the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
Ah yes, as a baseball fan, September 28, 2011 will go down as one of the best days in MLB history. I was in High School at that time and I remember talking to my baseball friends about that thriller. ESPN's coverage of that game was insane and we were all blown away at how quickly the tides can turn with one mistake. Atlanta and Boston choking while the Cardinals and Rays got in. But I agree, nothing can top the 1964 Phillies. The team was a great team and were about to get into the WS. And then Chico Ruiz happened and they just PLUMMENTED.
1995 was the first year I really began following baseball. I was in the 1st grade and still remember reading the LA Times with my dad over breakfast to keep up with my Angels. That was a brutal year to become an Angel fan. My dad and I watched that infamous game where Johnson shut down the Halos offense. After the game my dad turned to me, saw the tears in my eyes, and said “this one time you can say as many swear words as you want without getting in trouble. Go ahead, let it out.”
As an Indians fan in 1995, I was very happy to see the Angels collapse. With their lineup, they were really the only AL team that worried me in terms of a possible playoff matchup. The Mariners were tough, but I never thought their lineup presented as many problems for the Tribe's pitchers, top to bottom, as California's did.
So many parallels in my life as an elementary schooler who became and Angels fan in '95 (expect my dad was a Twins fan). The '95 season hardened me immediately, and I bet you too.
@@harryhighland591the pitching is really where the angels had the upper hand over the mariners. The mariners of the 90s were one of the greatest hitting line ups of all time, and they had Randy Johnson on the mound. However, almost every other mariners pitcher was abysmal. The 1996 mariners had the 2nd best hitting rotation in terms of ops post 1936, and yet they still missed the playoffs. That's how bad the pitching was.
Pennants can't be won in April, but they sure as heck can be lost. For so many teams that had bad Septembers, it's sometimes a game or two in May that can come back to bite a team.
I agree with that the #1 collapse of all time was the 1964 Phillies, it was epic. Their collapse is somewhat similar to the Cubs collapse in 1969. In 1964 the Phillies used their top two starters at the end of the season over and over. With the 1969 Cubs, they used the same lineup over and over in September and the players got tired at the end of the season. If both managers had used their lineups better, they may may not collapsed. No guarantee, but the endings could have been different.
Great list! As a Giants fan, I'll never forget Jose Cruz Jr.'s error in RF, to cost the Giants a post-season birth, on the last day of the season. Also: the 103 win 1993 Giants club that missed the playoffs, in the last year before the Wild Card team. That was a pretty bad collapse by SF, but I blame the Padres, for giving away Fred McGriff to Atlanta. The Crime Dog absolutely caught fire down the stretch and carried the Braves past the Giants on the last freaking day of the season. I still don't know why Dusty started Salomon Torres.
Jose Cruz Jr dropped a routine fly ball during the divisional series against Marlins in ‘03. The Wild Card was going to be implemented in 1994 if that season did resume from the strike & have playoffs.
I listened on my portable radio to a Mets' sweep of the Cubs in September 1969. It was horrible. Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Tug McGraw. The Cubs were tired and couldn't hit the great Met pitching. I think it scarred my childhood...but I hope to get over it soon. :)
The 2011 Red Sox and 1978 Red Sox immediately came to mind on this topic. To this day, Red Sox fans refer to Bucky Dent as Bucky bleeping Dent. You can probably guess what the bleeping stands for. Regarding the 2011 Red Sox, that collapse cost then manager Terry Francona his job.
David Juicing Ortiz? And did the Red Sox comeback or did the Yankees choke or was it both? If the Red Sox came back, then it can’t be the biggest choke job by the Yankees because then that would diminish the Red Sox comeback. It was both; the Yankees couldn’t close it out in games 4 and 5 and then the comeback was on: the Sox took control of games 6 and 7. The 1978 and 2004 are unique seasons that happened generations apart nothing washed away anything. The Sox loss in 78 continued the curse until it finally ended after 86 years in 04.
Another collapse: 1980 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were coming off of a World Championship in 1979, and looked ready to do it again. They were 71-62 on September 1. They were tied for 1st place with Montreal and Philadelphia. They lost 17 out of their last 29 games to finish the season 83-79. A distant 3rd place. And a far cry from their 98-64 1st place finish in 1979.
That was the year Bert Blyleven quit the team because he was pulled from a game after giving up 4 runs in 5.2 innings. That disrupted the chemistry from the "We Are Family" atmosphere of the previous season
I remember that year, watched the standings all year,Phillies in 1st by 6 games all year....til the last 10 games .....I couldn't believe the collapse.
The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates should be mentioned. They were 67-54 on August 19, and had a chance to clinch a Wild Card spot. They went 12-29 to finish the season 79-83 for their 20th losing season in a row.
I’m a huge baseball history nut based in a large western Canadian city. This was an absolutely incredible video! I’d like to forget that epic Bluejays collapse in 1987. Frank Tanana of the Tigers totally mesmerized the Jays batters with his off speed pitches. I know all of these collapses have their own unique 19:22 background stories. One that resonates with me concerns the 1969 Chicago Cubs. I found it hard to believe that their Manager Leo Durocher went MIA from the team during a weekend series….to visit his son at summer camp! Thanks again for another great segment!
As Cardinals fan 2011 will long be remembered. 10.5 games out of the Wild Card on Aug 25th. Remember telling my oldest son it ain't over so many times late in that season. Also, remember the 2006 NLCS talking to my oldest on the as Waino struck Beltran. What baseball is all about, memories w/family.
I know it doesn't quite make the cut for this video, one of my favorite collapse of all time took place over several seasons. The Phillies from 2008-2012 did something quite impressive. In 2008 they won the World Series. In 2009 they lost the World Series. In 2010 they lost the NLCS. In 2011 they lost the NLDS. In 2012 they didn't make the playoffs.
Not only did the Phils collapse in 1964, but they almost collapsed in 1978. On August 12th, the Pirates were ten games under .500 and 11.5 games behind the Phillies. By September 5th, they reduced the lead to 1/2 a game. The rest of the month, the Pirates were up and down, but stayed in it. On Wednesday, September 27th, they were 3.5 games back with a four game series with the Phils upcoming. Friday, September 29th was to be a twilight doubleheader because of a rainout in August. The Pirates won both games. All they had to do was win the next two games, and then beat the Reds in a makeup game on Monday to win the division. On the 30th, they started out with a 4-1 lead (due to a first inning grand slam by Stargell), but they fell down 10-4 going into the 9th inning. They cut the lead to 10-8 and had Bill Robinson on base with one out, but Stargell struck out, and Phil Garner grounded out. That was all she wrote. The comeback that time forgot came up short, but it gave the Buccos momentum for 1979 and the "We Are Family" championship win.
The '07 Mets collapse was unbelievable, and then they did it again in '08. They also had a mini collapse in '98. Last year they needed only one win in Atlanta to secure the division and got swept. The team absolutely hates to win.
the Mets are the first team I think of when someone mentions sports teams collapses. I don't know what it is about that team, but they just seem to choke at every single opportunity. Maybe they should consider moving to a different city? I mean it's uncanny how they always find a way to blow it. Kinda reminds me of the 90's Buffalo Bills teams that just couldn't win a Super Bowl to save their lives. I guess some sports teams are just permanently cursed.
A good list. As to the 1962 Dodgers, a big reason their lead dissipated was an injury to Sandy Koufax's index finger. After the July 17th game, he didn't pitch until the September 21 start in St. Louis. He was ineffective in September and October, losing all 4 games and not pitching more than 5 innings in any of them. There is a difference between a collapse and being caught by a hot team. These can work together, but in the case of the 1951 Dodgers, they were up 13 games on August 11. After August 11, while they weren't as hot, they still played over .500 ball going 26-22 while the Giants went 37-7 necessitating the 3 game playoff. It came out later that the Giants were aided by someone with binoculars signaling to Giants hitters what the pitch would be. On August 9 1938, the Pirates had a 6.5 game lead over the Giants while the Cubs were 8.0 games back in third. After the 9th, the Bucs went 24-29 while the Cubs caught fire going 34-19 to take the NL pennant. This was the year of Gabby Hartnett's Homer in the Gloamin' on September 28 1938 which won a game at Wrigley against the Pirates and put the Cubs up for good in the NL race. There were a lot of storms that year that led to a number of games being rescheduled. I suspect that may have tired the Pirates pitching staff though I haven't read anything conclusive on this. In the second year of the National League, there was the 1877 Louisville Grays collapse/scandal. Teams played about a 60 game schedule back then. On August 13 1877, the Grays were up 4 games over the St. Louis Brown Stockings and 4.5 games over the Boston Red Stockings (now the Braves). The Grays had 20 games left in the season. The Grays then preceded to lose 8 of 9 with 1 tie and were 8-12 for the rest of the year. The Red Stockings went 20-1 and won the 1877 NL pennant by 7.0 games over the Grays. Gambling and game fixing were a problem in early baseball and were a factor in the demise of the National Association and the creation of the National League. It was proven that 3 of their players, Jim Devlin, George Hall, and Al Nichols threw games while a 4th, Bill Craver, was suspected but never proven. All 4 were suspended and never played again. Devlin and Hall were stars, Craver was the regular shortstop, and Nichols was a utility player.
You forgot one the key issues effecting the Angels and that was the fluke injury to Gary DiSarcina. He was heart of the young Angels at the time. He got hurt in a freak batting cage accident. When one of coach's was swinging a bat in the cage and accidentally hit Gary's arm, putting him the dl. That is when the team fell apart.
Carl Crawford, the guy missing the catch at 17:20, is the guy responsible for asking the Rays to lower the wall down in the left field corner, as he wanted an opportunity to make more home run-robbing catches with the lower wall (true story). Had they not done that, Longoria's homer most likely wouldn't have gotten out. Baseball is crazy like that!
What a way to lose with a 320’ and 4’ high walk off that would literally only be out at that one spot in all of MLB. Good thing Vic Wertz of “The Catch” infamy wasn’t alive to see it. Also crazy that Crawford who could’ve gone down as the greatest Ray of all time made the play that got his old team in the playoffs, signaled the beginning of the end of his career and one of the worst FA signings of all time.
I'm a St.Louis Cardinal fan so i thoroughly enjoyed watching the Giants die to the Gas House Gang in' '34, and of course watching the Braved spit it out in'11; But your correct the 64 Phillies choke was EPIC. Ken Boyer, Bob Gibson, and an old time knuckleball pitcher named Barney Schultz who was lights out the last 2 months of the season. As a six year living in St.Louis I became a fan for likfe Good Video
As a Phillies fan, I remember the 2007 Mets fondly. I was actually at one of the games they lost to us in September. Pedro Martinez was his usual self, but we stayed close long enough that once he departed, we had a chance versus the New York bullpen... and we took it. I also remember that last game of the season. I was at PNC Park that day, with one eye on the gane in front of me and the other on the out-of-town scoreboard. Lots of "Holy Cow!"s that day, let me tell you...
Another great video. As an addendum I'd like to add: The 1978 Red Sox didn't just blow a six and half game lead in September--they blew a 14 game lead from July. A plethora of injuries to the defending champion New York Yankees coupled with Billy Martin's sad, steady descent into alcoholism allowed the Red Sox to their large lead over their division rivals. However, as the Yankees got healthier, and after Yankee GM Al Rosen replaced Martin with his former teammate, the sober, emotionally stable, Bob Lemon, the Yankees didn't simply defeat the Red Sox at Fenway Park, they utterly annihilated them: The Bronx Bombers outscored the Sox 42-7 over four games. It was so lopsided that Mickey Rivers went 3-3 in one game, and Thurman Munson 3-3 in another, all before Boston's number nine hitter recorded a single plate appearance. As a Yankee fan growing up when the team was objectively awful (1988-through 1992 to be precise) I coped by watching the 1978 season video ad infinitum. As an adult, I enjoy watching clips of the 1978 Yankees because it's fun watching hitters actually choke up on the bat in order to get more hits and in turn, score more runs, rather than swing for the fences constantly only to strike out like hapless fools. It's a nice respite from the horrors of "analytic" baseball.
@cleanandsober2009 You are absolutely correct. Thank you for pointing that out, because I was about to dive into baseball reference. I just can't see how you can call that a choke/collapse. Well, BR here I come! At the end of July 19th, that is, through the first 90 games of the season BOS (62-28) enjoyed a 14-game lead over NYY (48-42). Over the next 52 games NYY went 38-14 and BOS went 24-28 wiping out that 14 game advantage. At the end of September 10th, BOS and NYY were tied for 1st at 86-56. Over the last 20 games, they both went 13-7, so at the end of October 1st, they were tied at 99-63. Leading to the playoff game at Fenway and Bucky F-ing Dent Thus, in the last 72 regular season games from July 20 to October 1st *BOS (37-35) allowed NYY (51-21)* to wipe out that 14 game deficit So, the truth is that NYY choked in the first part by falling behind by 14 games BOS choked in the 2nd part by allowing NYY to make up that 14 game deficit
@@Jose_Hunters_EWF_Remixes the Yankees had a number of injuries in the first half of the season. The players gradually healed and they became the real Yankees. Boston had its injuries in the 2nd half of the season and faltered. But they also mysteriously began to play terrible baseball, butchering the most routine plays and losing because of it. They did win their last 7 games to end up in a tie, then losing the pennant in the 163rd game of the year. I still think they should have saved Tiant for that game, but used him to beat the last place Blue Jays in the final game.
The 2021 San Diego Padres had an epic collapse going 2-13 the last 15 games to miss the playoffs as a wildcard. The last 8 series were against teams that made the playoffs.
How about the 2006 Tigers speaking of Detroit? 40 games over .500 in early August, 19-31 afterward, losing the division to the Twins on last day of season after dropping final 5 games, including being swept by the lowly Royals at home after beating them all year long handily up to then. They did make the wild card and went all the way to the World Series despite this, beating the Yankees on the way there in Division Series in a fairly big upset, but....was quite a collapse all the same.
While not the regular season, the biggest blunder to me is the 2004 championship series between the Yankees and the red sox. I still chuckle over that 😂
I remember entering September in 2009. My Dad and I were already making plans to see the Tigers in the ALDS. It was a sure thing. I remember game 163. There was so much profanity in the house when they completed the choke job
The Braves collapse actually began after the three day Hurricane Irene break. We had just won 3 out of 4 in Wrigley. Then we lost 1-0 in New York to the Mets on August 26 and then had three days off…the last two games of the series were postponed because of the hurricane and Monday was a scheduled off day and after that we were never the same. We lost the next series to Colorado at home and the collapse was on. I thought we were good after we won the rescheduled doubleheader in New York September 8 but then Kimbrel blew the first game in St. Louis, leading to a Cardinals sweep and later Chipper lost the winning ground ball in the lights in Miami, leading to Omar Infante’s walkoff on September 19. That’s when I figured we were doomed. If it hadn’t been Fredi’s first year I think he would’ve been canned.
High school sophomore during the 78 season. The heartbreak of 75 still fresh. Sox had a big lead but were fading. That 4 game sweep by the Yankees at Fenway was called the Boston Massacre. I don't think any were even close. Ran home from soccer practice to catch Bucky "Effen" Dent hit one in the screen. Yaz popping out off Goose Gossage to end it. Good times.
Great list. Not surprised with the 2011 Braves. Goes to show you can never ever count out the STL Cardinals. They made the playoffs on the last day of the season in both 2011 & 1964, won the World Series both times beating the Rangers & Yankees respectively.
I'm honestly shocked the 2012 Texas Rangers didn't even make it as a Honorable Mention. They all but had the division sealed up and gift-wrapped for them to take all the way through early September, and they completely imploded. They lost 7 of their last 9 and blew a 5-1 lead in the final game and pissed away the division lead, leading them to their wild card game, in which they got embarrassed by the Orioles. I mean, sure, the WC game is still technically the playoffs, but it should never have come to that in the first place.
To me as a Braves fan, the 2011 collapse was a bummer but not especially painful. This was a team that had overachieved for much of the season, and what looked like a "collapse" to the uneducated eye was more a long-overdue regression to the mean.
Every MLB Team’s Most Painful Playoff Series Loss: Boston Red Sox: 1986 World Series Chicago Cubs: 2003 NLCS Cleveland Indians: 2016 World Series Houston Astros: 2019 World Series New York Yankees: 2004 ALCS Texas Rangers: 2011 World Series San Diego Padres: 1984 World Series Seattle Mariners: 2001 ALCS
The 2012 Ranger's losing the pennant against the A's could have made the list but can't disagree with what ya got here. Great vid man, Roger Craig would be proud.
It looks like those Rangers won 15 games in September, so not really a full month's collapse. They were up by 5 games with 9 to play, and failed to win the division, so that is a type of collapse. They were in the wild card, so it was not a complete collapse. They led the division for almost the whole season, then didn't win it, so that's a form of a collapse. Yes/no, yes/no 😀
@@randallwong7196 Hella, I must admit to bias as I was at the final homestand that season and witnessed the demise in person. Hard to parse emotion from fact sometimes. Still felt good to watch Hamilton drop that flyball in person. I miss Coco Crisp so damn much. That was a fun A's team.They spent one day in first and it just happened to be the last day of the regular season. Of course they lost to the Tigers though, setting up three years of playoff frustration.
Oh yeah, 2007 Mets. I've been a fan since the 1973 crushing loss in game 7 to the A's. And only one great year in 1986. I thought for sure that this was our year. So I crowed loudly to my ex-wife, who is from Philadelphia , about my Mets. And then came the epic collapse. And to have the Phillies win the Series? As you can imagine, I'm still trying to live that down. Damn near as bad as '73. Thanks for the memories.
One very near collapse that was avoided happened to the 1980 Astros. Going into the last 3 days of the season, they had a 3 game lead on the Dodgers, going into a 3 game series at Dodger Stadium. All they needed was to take one game, but instead, they lost all three of them, each by one run. That forced the 1 game playoff, also in LA, for reasons I've never heard. But Joe Niekro came out and beat the Dodgers 7-1, saving the day at the last moment.
I was 17 in 1964 and lived in Philadelphia. I sent in my money for World Series tickets and then they fell apart. I got my money back a few weeks later. I am 75 now and I have never recovered. Until the collapse it was a magical year with Johnny Callison even winning the All-Star game with a homer in the 9th inning of the game.
I saw both of the top 2 collapses - lived in St. Louis in 1964, and in Tampa in 2011. In 1964, there remained possibility of a 4-way tie for the NL pennant into the final series, and a 3-way tie into the final game. Plans were being made for any combinations of 2-way or 3-way playoffs. IN 2011, Sep 28th of that year has been called the greatest night in baseball history, with collapses occurring all around the country at the same time. Boston's epic loss, and Evan Longoria's home run for the Rays occurred within seconds of each other. .
I've been a braves fan since the 90's I'm 35 now the 2011 collapse when the braves had the chance to go to the playoffs as a wildcard that had stung but at least made it up 10 years later with a world series title without our best players on the team but that 2011 collapse haunted me
The ‘64 Phillies broke my seven-year old heart. Still have not recovered. I went to some games that summer with my dad. I could not understand how they could lose, and still don’t. Glad you had them at 1.
I definitely remember the 1964 Phillies collapse.....and im originally from Boston.....i was an 11 year old paperboy and would read the sports section every day.....wow what a collapse !!!!!
One thing nobody remembers about that 1978 Red Sox Collapse is that the Yankees collapsed too. The whole reason that 1 game playoff was held was because the Yankees had a 1 game lead on the last game of the season, but got blown out by the 6th place Indians. The Red Sox won, and caught the Yankees, forcing that 1 game playoff in which they got home field advantage. Had the Sox held on and won that playoff, it's the Yankees who would be heartbroken to this day.
Didn’t the Jays win 3 out of 4 in Toronto? Kirk Gibson’s home run off Henke to avoid a sweep is one of the more clutch and consequential home runs that have been forgotten over the years.
The 1993 Giants should be on the list, as at least an honorable mention. Once Atlanta got Fred McGriff from San Diego, it was almost curtains for the Giants
@@sethtate2079 And the Braves had the good fortune to play an expansion team in the final weekend while the Giants were playing their hated rivals looking for revenge for 1951 and 1962.
I can think of one (I forget what year it was) it was the Oakland Athletics they had the best record in baseball at the all star break 70+ wins and 30+ games over 500, led the league in ERA/batting average/fielding and had a run differential of 200 runs or something like that then they traded away Yoenis for John Lester among other trades After they came back from the all star break everything fell apart (they got swept by Toronto in a 4 game set, swept by Kansa City in 3 games) each week their lead was dropping in the A.L west then came the trade deadline and the wheels began falling off (their league leading batting average fell, their ERA bloated and they began leading the MLB in fielding errors) I think they did manage to win the west but had to play against the Kansas City Royals (who were red hot) to get into the playoffs and the A’s had a decent lead (7-1) going into the 6th or 7th inning and Kansas City came roaring back then and eventually won sending the A’s packing of what could’ve been a World Series team and ultimately sending Kansas City to the playoffs and eventually the World Series
2014. It was brutal. They had basically run out of gas at the midway point and were on life support heading into October. They traded away Cespedes and went all in on Jon Lester, whose main achilles heel was he couldn't throw pickoffs to first. Their starting catcher got injured in the course of the game so they had to use a backup who was also injured couldn't throw base runners out. The Royals took full advantage of those weaknesses.
To me, the 1995 Angels collapse began when they got swept by the Orioles during 2131 by Cal Ripken. They were up 10 games on the Mariners going into that series. They lose all 3 in Baltimore, which like I said is overshadowed by Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's Ironman Record. But even worse was that the Angels then watched the Mariners sweep the Yankees in a 4 game series at the Kingdome. (Griffey hits a walk-off homer to beat John Wetteland on the night of 2131 too) Seattle then sweeps Minnesota that weekend, and the Angels lose 3 of 4 in Boston. All of a sudden now it's 4 games with 3 weeks to go. The next week the lead is back up to 6 games but then California went on another massive losing streak which led to the Mariners tying the race up only for Randy Johnson to shut em down in Game 163. Angels fans, if you want to blame someone for that legendary collapse, blame the Orioles and Ripken.
I wouldn’t put that Brooklyn Dodgers on that dishonorable mention list. The NY Giants admitted they had a sign stealing system set up. Telescope in Center picked the signs and relayed a call to the bullpen catcher who signaled the batter. It was in an HBO Documentary a few years back.
Recall being in H.S. in 1962. Had my trusty transistor radio. One click and Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett were on the air. I sat down on a cement round by a tree to hear the ending of the third game. I still recall the sinking in my stomach at the game's end as well as Vin Scully's words. "If you're a long time Dodger's fan, you've been through this before in Brooklyn. If you're a new follower of them here in Los Angeles ... get used to this happening. The Dodgers will take your spirits high only to break your heart. All I can tell you is to take hope because as they ssid in Brooklyn ... wait'll next year." His words or something akin to it. Damn year still hurts.😢 And I still hate those damn Giants.😡
Loved this video.I was getting a little worried as you got to the number 1 collapse and my beloved 64 Phillies were not mentioned as yet and after watching those other team meltdowns I figured this team with an idiot manager was not in the top 10.Then BINGO and my faith was restored.I remember that collapse like it happened a short time ago when I believe Jose Cardinal of Cincy stole home plate and Phillies lost 1 to 0 and started their trip to number 1.HALLELUJAH!!!
I grew up in South Philadelphia. I was 3 years old when the 1964 Phillies collapsed. My Father had bought a couple of those 1964 Philadelphia Phillies World Series Tickets. Not too many people talked about that collapse In Philadelphia when I was growing up. Most people would dismiss the question or would just say, "It was a shame".
I don't know why but the 78 Red Sox I thought would be number one. That damn season had many in New England messed up. 8 years later the 86 team did worse when Buckner let a dribbler go between his legs giving the Mets the momentum to win the World Series. At that point I said that's it no more baseball for me but a true fan never gives up and after the demise in 02 things turned around so if anyone knows of misery it is us Red Sox fans. Great vid you do awesome work
The '87 AL East was the greatest division race in history. Yes, the Blue Jays collapsed, but from the second week in August until the next to last weekend of the season, neither the Tigers or Jays could get more than 1.5 games of separation. The final 7 games between them (4 the next to last weekend and the final 3 in Detroit) make up the best 7 game series in the history of baseball. Every game was decided by one run, four in the winning team's final at-bat, and three of them were walk-offs. Best two baseball weekends of my life.
Another good reason to exclude the '51 Dodgers from the Top 10 is they didn't exactly play _terrible_ down the stretch; they were an even .500 in the final month, which is miles better than say the 1995 Angels or 2011 Braves.
I watched that Orioles/Red Sox game. I really didn't give a hoot about it. HOWEVER... The bottom of the 9th for the Orioles was the greatest thing all season. I will not rehash what has been shown in this video. For those of whom may not remember, in a 4 game series in Boston, the Sox and Os played in Fenway. The Gregg and Ortiz showdown was part of the weekend. The Sox pitchers/players were fist pumping as if the Orioles were relevant in the past decade. I remember thinking that if the two clubs meet up at the end of the season, I wholeheartedly want the Orioles to end the Sox season. I did get my satisfaction. Though, having Pedrioa's career end in Baltimore on a shady Machado slide into second is not something I want to remember. I'm a firm believer of cause and effect. The Orioles begin another rebuild through 4 out of 5 seasons with 100+ losses aren't by design. I call it the Machado effect.
I am a Cubs fan and while I wasn't alive in the 60s, I feel like we've had plenty of epic end of season collapses to go along with a few heartbreaking playoff meltdowns.
The best part about the Mets collapse is that Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins had said that the Phillies were the team to beat in 2007. The NY media and fans ate it up...until the Phillies overtook the Mets and Rollins won the league MVP.
So satisfying to hear the Phillies were first in something, even if it was for the biggest collapse. It was only a few years before that the Phil’s set the all-time record for consecutive losses with 23. To think that they were going to win the pennant a short time later was encouraging…until Chico Ruiz, that is.
What's unreal is the ticket price for the WORLD SERIES in '64. Even allowing for the considerable inflation since then, that's like about $60 today. Since when could anyone get into the ballpark for sixty bucks or so in the World Series?
The 1995 Angels.... we were so dominant offensively that I thought in July we would easily win it all. Believe it or not, at one point in July all 9 angels starters were batting over .300. We were on pace to score over 1,000 runs. Except for the Donny Moore home run to Henderson, the 1995 collapse is my lowest fan moment.
2022 Mets was also a massive disaster. The Mets was in first place for 156 games up until the last week of the season. They only had to win one game out of the last 3 game set with the Braves. Mets get swept and end up with the same record as the Braves. 101-61. The Braves had the tie barker and clinched the division
As a Mets fan i knew i be in for a hurt in this video but that 2007 team was supposed to win the World Series. 2021's hurt didn't even come close and i def have a hefty scar on my heart for life after the 07 collapse.
July 4, 1914, the Boston Braves were 26-40, in last place, 15 games behind the New York Giants (who held first by 4 1/2), and 5 games behind the Phillies for 7th. Not only did the Braves turn it around in the second half to win the pennant, they won it by 10 1/2 games! This wouldn't necessarily fit on your list because it wasn't just one team collapsing, it was an entire league!
Dayum. They won it that year too.
@Videogamelover58 They ended up sweeping the Athletics. That was the last season of that particular stretch of powerful Athletics teams under Connie Mack.
The 1914 Braves were really, really unexpected.
@@DaDitkaBecause Connie Mack dismantled his team following the 1914 World Series. What following was the A's went from World Series runners up to finishing the 1916 season with the worst record in baseball (36-117). The A's would finish in the second division, with numerous last place finishes in between. The A's would not return to contention until 1929 when they won the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
@@DaDitkaNobody expected the '69 Mets to do the same, although that collapse was already covered.
Ah yes, as a baseball fan, September 28, 2011 will go down as one of the best days in MLB history. I was in High School at that time and I remember talking to my baseball friends about that thriller.
ESPN's coverage of that game was insane and we were all blown away at how quickly the tides can turn with one mistake. Atlanta and Boston choking while the Cardinals and Rays got in.
But I agree, nothing can top the 1964 Phillies. The team was a great team and were about to get into the WS. And then Chico Ruiz happened and they just PLUMMENTED.
That was my introduction to baseball collapses so good it became a Memorable intro to MLB 12 the Show.
As a Redsox fan I always believed the Yankees choked on purpose! Who blows that big of a lead that late in the game on the same day the Sox choke ha
I was a 7 year-old during the Phillies 64 collapse. Still vividly remember dad and his transistor radio going through hell and back
I was 12. I feel your pain.
1995 was the first year I really began following baseball. I was in the 1st grade and still remember reading the LA Times with my dad over breakfast to keep up with my Angels. That was a brutal year to become an Angel fan. My dad and I watched that infamous game where Johnson shut down the Halos offense.
After the game my dad turned to me, saw the tears in my eyes, and said “this one time you can say as many swear words as you want without getting in trouble. Go ahead, let it out.”
Did he live to seem em win it all in 2002?
As an Indians fan in 1995, I was very happy to see the Angels collapse. With their lineup, they were really the only AL team that worried me in terms of a possible playoff matchup. The Mariners were tough, but I never thought their lineup presented as many problems for the Tribe's pitchers, top to bottom, as California's did.
So many parallels in my life as an elementary schooler who became and Angels fan in '95 (expect my dad was a Twins fan). The '95 season hardened me immediately, and I bet you too.
@@harryhighland591the pitching is really where the angels had the upper hand over the mariners. The mariners of the 90s were one of the greatest hitting line ups of all time, and they had Randy Johnson on the mound. However, almost every other mariners pitcher was abysmal. The 1996 mariners had the 2nd best hitting rotation in terms of ops post 1936, and yet they still missed the playoffs. That's how bad the pitching was.
Pennants can't be won in April, but they sure as heck can be lost.
For so many teams that had bad Septembers, it's sometimes a game or two in May that can come back to bite a team.
2016 Astros come to mind. 7-17 in April and lost the division by 2 games. The dynasty almost started early.
1984 Detroit tigers
I'm here in Tiger Town. The 2009 Tigers live on and will continue to do so as epic chokers in Detroit Sports history.
1988 was bad too. 4 game sweeps vs the Yankees and brewers were rough and went 8-21 from august 15- September 15. They choked that season away too.
I agree with that the #1 collapse of all time was the 1964 Phillies, it was epic. Their collapse is somewhat similar to the Cubs collapse in 1969. In 1964 the Phillies used their top two starters at the end of the season over and over. With the 1969 Cubs, they used the same lineup over and over in September and the players got tired at the end of the season. If both managers had used their lineups better, they may may not collapsed. No guarantee, but the endings could have been different.
Bunning and Short. Bunning and Short.
Great list! As a Giants fan, I'll never forget Jose Cruz Jr.'s error in RF, to cost the Giants a post-season birth, on the last day of the season. Also: the 103 win 1993 Giants club that missed the playoffs, in the last year before the Wild Card team. That was a pretty bad collapse by SF, but I blame the Padres, for giving away Fred McGriff to Atlanta. The Crime Dog absolutely caught fire down the stretch and carried the Braves past the Giants on the last freaking day of the season. I still don't know why Dusty started Salomon Torres.
dusty made a lot of dumb/unlucky moves
*berth
Technically it was 2 years before the WC was fully implemented because there was no post season in 1994.
Jose Cruz Jr dropped a routine fly ball during the divisional series against Marlins in ‘03.
The Wild Card was going to be implemented in 1994 if that season did resume from the strike & have playoffs.
That had to suck.
I listened on my portable radio to a Mets' sweep of the Cubs in September 1969. It was horrible. Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, Tug McGraw. The Cubs were tired and couldn't hit the great Met pitching. I think it scarred my childhood...but I hope to get over it soon. :)
This wasn’t included because they weren’t in a playoff spot, but the Orioles were 63-63 in 2002, then went 4-32 at the end. It was such a disaster.
The 2011 Red Sox and 1978 Red Sox immediately came to mind on this topic. To this day, Red Sox fans refer to Bucky Dent as Bucky bleeping Dent. You can probably guess what the bleeping stands for. Regarding the 2011 Red Sox, that collapse cost then manager Terry Francona his job.
David Juicing Ortiz?
And did the Red Sox comeback or did the Yankees choke or was it both? If the Red Sox came back, then it can’t be the biggest choke job by the Yankees because then that would diminish the Red Sox comeback. It was both; the Yankees couldn’t close it out in games 4 and 5 and then the comeback was on: the Sox took control of games 6 and 7. The 1978 and 2004 are unique seasons that happened generations apart nothing washed away anything. The Sox loss in 78 continued the curse until it finally ended after 86 years in 04.
I was born in Chicago in 1969 and my parents told me stories about how the Cubs blew it the year I was born.
I was in 6th grade, I was a die hard. I lost $10 to a cardinal fan! That was a hard lesson learned.
2016 must have been especially sweet for you. Winning the WS on the road in extra innings after how many years?
@@cambonious23 yes it was after 108 years.
As soon as I saw the video title I thought of the 69 Cubs :(
Another collapse: 1980 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were coming off of a World Championship in 1979, and looked ready to do it again. They were 71-62 on September 1. They were tied for 1st place with Montreal and Philadelphia. They lost 17 out of their last 29 games to finish the season 83-79. A distant 3rd place. And a far cry from their 98-64 1st place finish in 1979.
That was the year Bert Blyleven quit the team because he was pulled from a game after giving up 4 runs in 5.2 innings. That disrupted the chemistry from the "We Are Family" atmosphere of the previous season
That 2011 season for the Cardinals was just pure magic.
WOW!!!! I was a Phillies fan in 1964. The loss was so epic it had to be witnessed to be believed.
I remember that year, watched the standings all year,Phillies in 1st by 6 games all year....til the last 10 games .....I couldn't believe the collapse.
The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates should be mentioned. They were 67-54 on August 19, and had a chance to clinch a Wild Card spot. They went 12-29 to finish the season 79-83 for their 20th losing season in a row.
I’m a huge baseball history nut based in a large western Canadian city. This was an absolutely incredible video! I’d like to forget that epic Bluejays collapse in 1987. Frank Tanana of the Tigers totally mesmerized the Jays batters with his off speed pitches. I know all of these collapses have their own unique 19:22 background stories. One that resonates with me concerns the 1969 Chicago Cubs. I found it hard to believe that their Manager Leo Durocher went MIA from the team during a weekend series….to visit his son at summer camp! Thanks again for another great segment!
A big part of that collapse was Bill Madlock of the Tigers deliberately plowing into Tony Fernandez and injuring him for the rest of the season.
As Cardinals fan 2011 will long be remembered. 10.5 games out of the Wild Card on Aug 25th. Remember telling my oldest son it ain't over so many times late in that season. Also, remember the 2006 NLCS talking to my oldest on the as Waino struck Beltran. What baseball is all about, memories w/family.
Talk about never counting out the cardinals. They were the team that swept the collapsing team and made the playoffs in half of the top 10 collapses.
I know it doesn't quite make the cut for this video, one of my favorite collapse of all time took place over several seasons. The Phillies from 2008-2012 did something quite impressive. In 2008 they won the World Series. In 2009 they lost the World Series. In 2010 they lost the NLCS. In 2011 they lost the NLDS. In 2012 they didn't make the playoffs.
Not only did the Phils collapse in 1964, but they almost collapsed in 1978. On August 12th, the Pirates were ten games under .500 and 11.5 games behind the Phillies. By September 5th, they reduced the lead to 1/2 a game. The rest of the month, the Pirates were up and down, but stayed in it. On Wednesday, September 27th, they were 3.5 games back with a four game series with the Phils upcoming.
Friday, September 29th was to be a twilight doubleheader because of a rainout in August. The Pirates won both games. All they had to do was win the next two games, and then beat the Reds in a makeup game on Monday to win the division. On the 30th, they started out with a 4-1 lead (due to a first inning grand slam by Stargell), but they fell down 10-4 going into the 9th inning. They cut the lead to 10-8 and had Bill Robinson on base with one out, but Stargell struck out, and Phil Garner grounded out. That was all she wrote. The comeback that time forgot came up short, but it gave the Buccos momentum for 1979 and the "We Are Family" championship win.
The '07 Mets collapse was unbelievable, and then they did it again in '08. They also had a mini collapse in '98. Last year they needed only one win in Atlanta to secure the division and got swept. The team absolutely hates to win.
the Mets are the first team I think of when someone mentions sports teams collapses. I don't know what it is about that team, but they just seem to choke at every single opportunity. Maybe they should consider moving to a different city? I mean it's uncanny how they always find a way to blow it. Kinda reminds me of the 90's Buffalo Bills teams that just couldn't win a Super Bowl to save their lives. I guess some sports teams are just permanently cursed.
A good list.
As to the 1962 Dodgers, a big reason their lead dissipated was an injury to Sandy Koufax's index finger. After the July 17th game, he didn't pitch until the September 21 start in St. Louis. He was ineffective in September and October, losing all 4 games and not pitching more than 5 innings in any of them.
There is a difference between a collapse and being caught by a hot team. These can work together, but in the case of the 1951 Dodgers, they were up 13 games on August 11. After August 11, while they weren't as hot, they still played over .500 ball going 26-22 while the Giants went 37-7 necessitating the 3 game playoff. It came out later that the Giants were aided by someone with binoculars signaling to Giants hitters what the pitch would be.
On August 9 1938, the Pirates had a 6.5 game lead over the Giants while the Cubs were 8.0 games back in third. After the 9th, the Bucs went 24-29 while the Cubs caught fire going 34-19 to take the NL pennant. This was the year of Gabby Hartnett's Homer in the Gloamin' on September 28 1938 which won a game at Wrigley against the Pirates and put the Cubs up for good in the NL race. There were a lot of storms that year that led to a number of games being rescheduled. I suspect that may have tired the Pirates pitching staff though I haven't read anything conclusive on this.
In the second year of the National League, there was the 1877 Louisville Grays collapse/scandal. Teams played about a 60 game schedule back then. On August 13 1877, the Grays were up 4 games over the St. Louis Brown Stockings and 4.5 games over the Boston Red Stockings (now the Braves). The Grays had 20 games left in the season. The Grays then preceded to lose 8 of 9 with 1 tie and were 8-12 for the rest of the year. The Red Stockings went 20-1 and won the 1877 NL pennant by 7.0 games over the Grays. Gambling and game fixing were a problem in early baseball and were a factor in the demise of the National Association and the creation of the National League. It was proven that 3 of their players, Jim Devlin, George Hall, and Al Nichols threw games while a 4th, Bill Craver, was suspected but never proven. All 4 were suspended and never played again. Devlin and Hall were stars, Craver was the regular shortstop, and Nichols was a utility player.
Bro I was gonna be soooooo mad if you left off the 64 Phillies. Really good job on this video.
You forgot one the key issues effecting the Angels and that was the fluke injury to Gary DiSarcina. He was heart of the young Angels at the time. He got hurt in a freak batting cage accident. When one of coach's was swinging a bat in the cage and accidentally hit Gary's arm, putting him the dl. That is when the team fell apart.
Carl Crawford, the guy missing the catch at 17:20, is the guy responsible for asking the Rays to lower the wall down in the left field corner, as he wanted an opportunity to make more home run-robbing catches with the lower wall (true story). Had they not done that, Longoria's homer most likely wouldn't have gotten out. Baseball is crazy like that!
What a way to lose with a 320’ and 4’ high walk off that would literally only be out at that one spot in all of MLB. Good thing Vic Wertz of “The Catch” infamy wasn’t alive to see it.
Also crazy that Crawford who could’ve gone down as the greatest Ray of all time made the play that got his old team in the playoffs, signaled the beginning of the end of his career and one of the worst FA signings of all time.
Oh the irony
That was great! Number one was not really in doubt, but for two teams in the SAME YEAR to share #2 is astounding.
I'm a St.Louis Cardinal fan so i thoroughly enjoyed watching the Giants die to the Gas House Gang in' '34, and of course watching the Braved spit it out in'11; But your correct the 64 Phillies choke was EPIC. Ken Boyer, Bob Gibson, and an old time knuckleball pitcher named Barney Schultz who was lights out the last 2 months of the season. As a six year living in St.Louis I became a fan for likfe
Good Video
That's why it's never over until it's over. That's baseball. ⚾
Not till the fat lady sings!
Just listen to Yogi Berra. ⚾️
As a Phillies fan, I remember the 2007 Mets fondly.
I was actually at one of the games they lost to us in September. Pedro Martinez was his usual self, but we stayed close long enough that once he departed, we had a chance versus the New York bullpen... and we took it.
I also remember that last game of the season. I was at PNC Park that day, with one eye on the gane in front of me and the other on the out-of-town scoreboard.
Lots of "Holy Cow!"s that day, let me tell you...
Another great video. As an addendum I'd like to add: The 1978 Red Sox didn't just blow a six and half game lead in September--they blew a 14 game lead from July. A plethora of injuries to the defending champion New York Yankees coupled with Billy Martin's sad, steady descent into alcoholism allowed the Red Sox to their large lead over their division rivals. However, as the Yankees got healthier, and after Yankee GM Al Rosen replaced Martin with his former teammate, the sober, emotionally stable, Bob Lemon, the Yankees didn't simply defeat the Red Sox at Fenway Park, they utterly annihilated them: The Bronx Bombers outscored the Sox 42-7 over four games. It was so lopsided that Mickey Rivers went 3-3 in one game, and Thurman Munson 3-3 in another, all before Boston's number nine hitter recorded a single plate appearance.
As a Yankee fan growing up when the team was objectively awful (1988-through 1992 to be precise) I coped by watching the 1978 season video ad infinitum. As an adult, I enjoy watching clips of the 1978 Yankees because it's fun watching hitters actually choke up on the bat in order to get more hits and in turn, score more runs, rather than swing for the fences constantly only to strike out like hapless fools. It's a nice respite from the horrors of "analytic" baseball.
Didn't the red Sox come back from 3 games out in 1978 after blowing their huge lead to force a 1 game playoff? I vaguely remember
@cleanandsober2009 You are absolutely correct.
Thank you for pointing that out, because I was about to dive into baseball reference.
I just can't see how you can call that a choke/collapse.
Well, BR here I come!
At the end of July 19th, that is, through the first 90 games of the season
BOS (62-28) enjoyed a 14-game lead over NYY (48-42).
Over the next 52 games
NYY went 38-14 and BOS went 24-28
wiping out that 14 game advantage.
At the end of September 10th, BOS and NYY were tied for 1st at 86-56.
Over the last 20 games, they both went 13-7, so at the end of October 1st, they were tied at 99-63.
Leading to the playoff game at Fenway and Bucky F-ing Dent
Thus, in the last 72 regular season games from July 20 to October 1st
*BOS (37-35) allowed NYY (51-21)* to wipe out that 14 game deficit
So, the truth is that NYY choked in the first part by falling behind by 14 games
BOS choked in the 2nd part by allowing NYY to make up that 14 game deficit
analytic baseball sucks.. it was never meant to be played this way but money talks.... baseball has no one to blame but themselves
@@Jose_Hunters_EWF_Remixes the Yankees had a number of injuries in the first half of the season. The players gradually healed and they became the real Yankees. Boston had its injuries in the 2nd half of the season and faltered. But they also mysteriously began to play terrible baseball, butchering the most routine plays and losing because of it. They did win their last 7 games to end up in a tie, then losing the pennant in the 163rd game of the year. I still think they should have saved Tiant for that game, but used him to beat the last place Blue Jays in the final game.
87 blue Jay's had two key injuries to their shortstop and catcher the final week of the season.
I was at that Mets/marlins game in September 2007 @ Shea. The game was over before the Mets ever took an at bat. Glavine stunk it up.
great list. I am glad you put the 1987 Blue Jays in this list. Seriously, as a kid I watched that final weekend and it was heartbreaking.
I will never forgive Bill Madlock for taking out Tony Fernandez on a really bad slide.
The 2021 San Diego Padres had an epic collapse going 2-13 the last 15 games to miss the playoffs as a wildcard. The last 8 series were against teams that made the playoffs.
How about the 2006 Tigers speaking of Detroit? 40 games over .500 in early August, 19-31 afterward, losing the division to the Twins on last day of season after dropping final 5 games, including being swept by the lowly Royals at home after beating them all year long handily up to then. They did make the wild card and went all the way to the World Series despite this, beating the Yankees on the way there in Division Series in a fairly big upset, but....was quite a collapse all the same.
Yeah but they got in the playoffs. Didn’t matter they lost the division.
Ah, game 162 2011 (aka the greatest single day in MLB regular season history)
While not the regular season, the biggest blunder to me is the 2004 championship series between the Yankees and the red sox. I still chuckle over that 😂
I remember entering September in 2009. My Dad and I were already making plans to see the Tigers in the ALDS. It was a sure thing. I remember game 163. There was so much profanity in the house when they completed the choke job
The Braves collapse actually began after the three day Hurricane Irene break. We had just won 3 out of 4 in Wrigley. Then we lost 1-0 in New York to the Mets on August 26 and then had three days off…the last two games of the series were postponed because of the hurricane and Monday was a scheduled off day and after that we were never the same. We lost the next series to Colorado at home and the collapse was on. I thought we were good after we won the rescheduled doubleheader in New York September 8 but then Kimbrel blew the first game in St. Louis, leading to a Cardinals sweep and later Chipper lost the winning ground ball in the lights in Miami, leading to Omar Infante’s walkoff on September 19. That’s when I figured we were doomed. If it hadn’t been Fredi’s first year I think he would’ve been canned.
My family had tickets to the first round in Anaheim in 1995.😢 it was the first time I cried over sports.
It's great watching a team have a massive collapse unless it's your team then it REALLY sucks. I still remember vividly the Jays collapse in 87.
You know it’s going to be bad when the ‘51 Dodgers are only an honourable mention
2011 was crazy. The New York Post called The four-game Sweep the Boston Massacre
High school sophomore during the 78 season. The heartbreak of 75 still fresh. Sox had a big lead but were fading. That 4 game sweep by the Yankees at Fenway was called the Boston Massacre. I don't think any were even close. Ran home from soccer practice to catch Bucky "Effen" Dent hit one in the screen. Yaz popping out off Goose Gossage to end it. Good times.
Great list. Not surprised with the 2011 Braves. Goes to show you can never ever count out the STL Cardinals. They made the playoffs on the last day of the season in both 2011 & 1964, won the World Series both times beating the Rangers & Yankees respectively.
I'm honestly shocked the 2012 Texas Rangers didn't even make it as a Honorable Mention. They all but had the division sealed up and gift-wrapped for them to take all the way through early September, and they completely imploded. They lost 7 of their last 9 and blew a 5-1 lead in the final game and pissed away the division lead, leading them to their wild card game, in which they got embarrassed by the Orioles.
I mean, sure, the WC game is still technically the playoffs, but it should never have come to that in the first place.
I Remember the 64 season very well
To me as a Braves fan, the 2011 collapse was a bummer but not especially painful. This was a team that had overachieved for much of the season, and what looked like a "collapse" to the uneducated eye was more a long-overdue regression to the mean.
I was thinking about the 1973 Los Angeles Dodgers's collapse to the Cincinnati Reds. On July 1, 1973, the Reds trailed the Dodgers by 11 games.
Every MLB Team’s Most Painful Playoff Series Loss:
Boston Red Sox: 1986 World Series
Chicago Cubs: 2003 NLCS
Cleveland Indians: 2016 World Series
Houston Astros: 2019 World Series
New York Yankees: 2004 ALCS
Texas Rangers: 2011 World Series
San Diego Padres: 1984 World Series
Seattle Mariners: 2001 ALCS
The 2012 Ranger's losing the pennant against the A's could have made the list but can't disagree with what ya got here. Great vid man, Roger Craig would be proud.
It looks like those Rangers won 15 games in September, so not really a full month's collapse.
They were up by 5 games with 9 to play, and failed to win the division, so that is a type of collapse.
They were in the wild card, so it was not a complete collapse.
They led the division for almost the whole season, then didn't win it, so that's a form of a collapse.
Yes/no, yes/no 😀
@@randallwong7196 Hella, I must admit to bias as I was at the final homestand that season and witnessed the demise in person. Hard to parse emotion from fact sometimes. Still felt good to watch Hamilton drop that flyball in person. I miss Coco Crisp so damn much. That was a fun A's team.They spent one day in first and it just happened to be the last day of the regular season. Of course they lost to the Tigers though, setting up three years of playoff frustration.
I think it was the first ( and only time ) of a division title being won with the end of the last day being the only day in first ( alone ).
Oh yeah, 2007 Mets. I've been a fan since the 1973 crushing loss in game 7 to the A's. And only one great year in 1986. I thought for sure that this was our year. So I crowed loudly to my ex-wife, who is from Philadelphia , about my Mets. And then came the epic collapse. And to have the Phillies win the Series? As you can imagine, I'm still trying to live that down. Damn near as bad as '73. Thanks for the memories.
3:05 I've been asking myself this since I was a kid....how in the hell is Travis Jackson in the HOF?
That 2011 Braves one got me 😂 I knew it was gunna be here but I still got mad about it 🤣 great content as always!
One very near collapse that was avoided happened to the 1980 Astros. Going into the last 3 days of the season, they had a 3 game lead on the Dodgers, going into a 3 game series at Dodger Stadium. All they needed was to take one game, but instead, they lost all three of them, each by one run. That forced the 1 game playoff, also in LA, for reasons I've never heard. But Joe Niekro came out and beat the Dodgers 7-1, saving the day at the last moment.
I was 17 in 1964 and lived in Philadelphia. I sent in my money for World Series tickets and then they fell apart. I got my money back a few weeks later. I am 75 now and I have never recovered. Until the collapse it was a magical year with Johnny Callison even winning the All-Star game with a homer in the 9th inning of the game.
off my hero, Dick Radatz.
Jim Bunning threw a perfect game at Shea Stadium that year the same place Johnny Callison hit the All Star Game winning home run
Yeah, the All Star game was a day game back then, now it's a pageant
Shoutouts to the 1993 Giants. The greatest team to never make the playoffs.
As soon as I saw the title, I figured the Mets would be listed 2 or 3 times in the top 10...lol.
I saw both of the top 2 collapses - lived in St. Louis in 1964, and in Tampa in 2011. In 1964, there remained possibility of a 4-way tie for the NL pennant into the final series, and a 3-way tie into the final game. Plans were being made for any combinations of 2-way or 3-way playoffs. IN 2011, Sep 28th of that year has been called the greatest night in baseball history, with collapses occurring all around the country at the same time. Boston's epic loss, and Evan Longoria's home run for the Rays occurred within seconds of each other. .
2007 Mets.......I STILL remember that snakebit feeling knowing they'd blow it as the collapse was happening.
I've been a braves fan since the 90's I'm 35 now the 2011 collapse when the braves had the chance to go to the playoffs as a wildcard that had stung but at least made it up 10 years later with a world series title without our best players on the team but that 2011 collapse haunted me
I still m haunted by that Mike Torres pitch going into the net at Fenway. Bill Lee had a10-4 record against the Yankees and should have pitched!!
The ‘64 Phillies broke my seven-year old heart. Still have not recovered. I went to some games that summer with my dad. I could not understand how they could lose, and still don’t. Glad you had them at 1.
They where so sure they would be in the world series they printed tickets!
I definitely remember the 1964 Phillies collapse.....and im originally from Boston.....i was an 11 year old paperboy and would read the sports section every day.....wow what a collapse !!!!!
One thing nobody remembers about that 1978 Red Sox Collapse is that the Yankees collapsed too.
The whole reason that 1 game playoff was held was because the Yankees had a 1 game lead on the last game of the season, but got blown out by the 6th place Indians. The Red Sox won, and caught the Yankees, forcing that 1 game playoff in which they got home field advantage. Had the Sox held on and won that playoff, it's the Yankees who would be heartbroken to this day.
Padres in 2007 are a pretty notable one
Didn’t the Jays win 3 out of 4 in Toronto?
Kirk Gibson’s home run off Henke to avoid a sweep is one of the more clutch and consequential home runs that have been forgotten over the years.
The 1993 Giants should be on the list, as at least an honorable mention. Once Atlanta got Fred McGriff from San Diego, it was almost curtains for the Giants
The giants didn't blow it, the braves just couldn't lose the last two months of season.
@@sethtate2079 And the Braves had the good fortune to play an expansion team in the final weekend while the Giants were playing their hated rivals looking for revenge for 1951 and 1962.
I can think of one (I forget what year it was) it was the Oakland Athletics they had the best record in baseball at the all star break 70+ wins and 30+ games over 500, led the league in ERA/batting average/fielding and had a run differential of 200 runs or something like that then they traded away Yoenis for John Lester among other trades
After they came back from the all star break everything fell apart (they got swept by Toronto in a 4 game set, swept by Kansa City in 3 games) each week their lead was dropping in the A.L west then came the trade deadline and the wheels began falling off (their league leading batting average fell, their ERA bloated and they began leading the MLB in fielding errors)
I think they did manage to win the west but had to play against the Kansas City Royals (who were red hot) to get into the playoffs and the A’s had a decent lead (7-1) going into the 6th or 7th inning and Kansas City came roaring back then and eventually won sending the A’s packing of what could’ve been a World Series team and ultimately sending Kansas City to the playoffs and eventually the World Series
2014. It was brutal. They had basically run out of gas at the midway point and were on life support heading into October. They traded away Cespedes and went all in on Jon Lester, whose main achilles heel was he couldn't throw pickoffs to first. Their starting catcher got injured in the course of the game so they had to use a backup who was also injured couldn't throw base runners out. The Royals took full advantage of those weaknesses.
First thing I thought of was the Texas Rangers. They might deserve an honorable mention.
To me, the 1995 Angels collapse began when they got swept by the Orioles during 2131 by Cal Ripken. They were up 10 games on the Mariners going into that series. They lose all 3 in Baltimore, which like I said is overshadowed by Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's Ironman Record. But even worse was that the Angels then watched the Mariners sweep the Yankees in a 4 game series at the Kingdome. (Griffey hits a walk-off homer to beat John Wetteland on the night of 2131 too) Seattle then sweeps Minnesota that weekend, and the Angels lose 3 of 4 in Boston. All of a sudden now it's 4 games with 3 weeks to go. The next week the lead is back up to 6 games but then California went on another massive losing streak which led to the Mariners tying the race up only for Randy Johnson to shut em down in Game 163. Angels fans, if you want to blame someone for that legendary collapse, blame the Orioles and Ripken.
I wouldn’t put that Brooklyn Dodgers on that dishonorable mention list. The NY Giants admitted they had a sign stealing system set up. Telescope in Center picked the signs and relayed a call to the bullpen catcher who signaled the batter. It was in an HBO Documentary a few years back.
Recall being in H.S. in 1962. Had my trusty transistor radio. One click and Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett were on the air.
I sat down on a cement round by a tree to hear the ending of the third game. I still recall the sinking in my stomach at the game's end as well as Vin Scully's words.
"If you're a long time Dodger's fan, you've been through this before in Brooklyn. If you're a new follower of them here in Los Angeles ... get used to this happening. The Dodgers will take your spirits high only to break your heart. All I can tell you is to take hope because as they ssid in Brooklyn ... wait'll next year."
His words or something akin to it. Damn year still hurts.😢
And I still hate those damn Giants.😡
The 1977 Chicago Cubs and the 1978 San Francisco Giants both dominated their divisions, but both teams faded in September.
2022 New York Mets HAVE to make you’re next list….. oh my poor Mets😭
Loved this video.I was getting a little worried as you got to the number 1 collapse and my beloved 64 Phillies were not mentioned as yet and after watching those other team meltdowns I figured this team with an idiot manager was not in the top 10.Then BINGO and my faith was restored.I remember that collapse like it happened a short time ago when I believe Jose Cardinal of Cincy stole home plate and Phillies lost 1 to 0 and started their trip to number 1.HALLELUJAH!!!
Not Cardenal. Chico Ruiz.
@@brianthomas2434 Thx Brian ,Ruiz was the guy.👍
Mauch had another collapse later, in the 1986 ALCS. Game 5, leading the series 3-1 and a 4 run lead in the 9th. Unbelievable.
1:10 My uncle Pete was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and he snuck into this game back then and he was absolutely livid and still livid to this very day
Seems like everytime an NL team collapses the Cardinals are there to take advantage 😂
I grew up in South Philadelphia. I was 3 years old when the 1964 Phillies collapsed. My Father had bought a couple of those 1964 Philadelphia Phillies World Series Tickets. Not too many people talked about that collapse In Philadelphia when I was growing up. Most people would dismiss the question or would just say, "It was a shame".
1:25 I’m already laughing. 😂
The 95 Angels still leaves me speechless by how bad they fell, and the Cubs one as well because of the black cat.
The big takeaway form this is that if you see the Cardinals lurking about 6 games back in September, be afraid.
The 2004 Yankees were the only team in MLB history with the dubious distinction of having blown a 3-0 lead in a seven game playoff series.
18:08 -- So long before the SI cover jinx, there was the PRE-cover jinx!
I don't know why but the 78 Red Sox I thought would be number one. That damn season had many in New England messed up. 8 years later the 86 team did worse when Buckner let a dribbler go between his legs giving the Mets the momentum to win the World Series. At that point I said that's it no more baseball for me but a true fan never gives up and after the demise in 02 things turned around so if anyone knows of misery it is us Red Sox fans. Great vid you do awesome work
The '87 AL East was the greatest division race in history. Yes, the Blue Jays collapsed, but from the second week in August until the next to last weekend of the season, neither the Tigers or Jays could get more than 1.5 games of separation. The final 7 games between them (4 the next to last weekend and the final 3 in Detroit) make up the best 7 game series in the history of baseball. Every game was decided by one run, four in the winning team's final at-bat, and three of them were walk-offs. Best two baseball weekends of my life.
Just found your channel and been on a binge the last couple hours. Great work new sub
That's heart-rending just to watch. MAN!
Another good reason to exclude the '51 Dodgers from the Top 10 is they didn't exactly play _terrible_ down the stretch; they were an even .500 in the final month, which is miles better than say the 1995 Angels or 2011 Braves.
I watched that Orioles/Red Sox game.
I really didn't give a hoot about it.
HOWEVER...
The bottom of the 9th for the Orioles was the greatest thing all season.
I will not rehash what has been shown in this video.
For those of whom may not remember, in a 4 game series in Boston, the Sox and Os played in Fenway.
The Gregg and Ortiz showdown was part of the weekend.
The Sox pitchers/players were fist pumping as if the Orioles were relevant in the past decade.
I remember thinking that if the two clubs meet up at the end of the season, I wholeheartedly want the Orioles to end the Sox season.
I did get my satisfaction.
Though, having Pedrioa's career end in Baltimore on a shady Machado slide into second is not something I want to remember.
I'm a firm believer of cause and effect.
The Orioles begin another rebuild through 4 out of 5 seasons with 100+ losses aren't by design.
I call it the Machado effect.
I am a Cubs fan and while I wasn't alive in the 60s, I feel like we've had plenty of epic end of season collapses to go along with a few heartbreaking playoff meltdowns.
Cubs could have their own top 10 list of epic season ending collapses.
@@HercuLync Dennis Rodman was a coke artist.
2016 eased all my pain
Remember when pitchers threw complete games and had 150 pitches a game. Oh the good old days
The best part about the Mets collapse is that Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins had said that the Phillies were the team to beat in 2007. The NY media and fans ate it up...until the Phillies overtook the Mets and Rollins won the league MVP.
So satisfying to hear the Phillies were first in something, even if it was for the biggest collapse. It was only a few years before that the Phil’s set the all-time record for consecutive losses with 23. To think that they were going to win the pennant a short time later was encouraging…until Chico Ruiz, that is.
Chico Ruiz stole home, right?
Why do I get the feeling this will be 9 split between the Red Sox and Cubs and 1 for the 1951 Dodgers.
What's unreal is the ticket price for the WORLD SERIES in '64. Even allowing for the considerable inflation since then, that's like about $60 today. Since when could anyone get into the ballpark for sixty bucks or so in the World Series?
The 1995 Angels.... we were so dominant offensively that I thought in July we would easily win it all. Believe it or not, at one point in July all 9 angels starters were batting over .300. We were on pace to score over 1,000 runs. Except for the Donny Moore home run to Henderson, the 1995 collapse is my lowest fan moment.
2022 Mets was also a massive disaster. The Mets was in first place for 156 games up until the last week of the season. They only had to win one game out of the last 3 game set with the Braves. Mets get swept and end up with the same record as the Braves. 101-61. The Braves had the tie barker and clinched the division
As a Mets fan i knew i be in for a hurt in this video but that 2007 team was supposed to win the World Series. 2021's hurt didn't even come close and i def have a hefty scar on my heart for life after the 07 collapse.
I'm assuming yall like to forget Tom Glavine was a Met.
1995 Angels I still can't believe
They lost the division.
I'll never forget