Having a big lead in September is usually a good sign that a team is playoff-bound, but it’s definitely not a sure thing. You may think your team is sitting pretty with a 9 game division lead in the middle of the month, then cold hard reality smacks you in the face and your squad has suddenly lost 8 of 9 and are struggling to hold on. Think it can’t possibly happen? It can. And it has.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest late-season collapses in baseball history:
1964 Philadelphia Phillies
You know it’s a bad situation when a September collapse gets a snappy nickname. Known as “The Phold,” the Phillies held a 6.5 game lead with 12 left to play, promptly lost 10 in a row, and finished a game behind the Cardinals in the National League. To somehow make matters worse, the Phillies had been in first place since Opening Day until things fell apart over the last few weeks of the season. Not just one of the biggest failures in baseball history, it’s one of the biggest in sports history, period.
1995 California Angels
On August 25, the Angels had an 8 ½ game lead in the AL West. They promptly lost 9 straight and still had a 5 ½ game lead, which they built back up to 8 games by the end of the month. Then in September, they somehow lost another 9 straight and fell out of first place behind the surging Mariners. The Angels managed to right their ship in time to force a one-game playoff at the end of the year, but Randy Johnson dominated them in the tiebreaker and the Angels missed the playoffs entirely.
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 30: A disconcerted New York Mets fan reacts following the Mets’ loss to the Florida Marlins during the MLB game at Shea Stadium September 30, 2007 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Marlins defeated the Mets 8-1. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
2007 New York Mets
You could also include the ’08 Mets on this list, but ’07 was worse. The Mets held a 7 game lead as late as September 12 and looked like a sure thing for the playoffs. They went 5-12 down the stretch, allowing the Phillies to exorcise some of their ’64 demons and take the division. It was a total, complete collapse: pitching, offense, and defense all were to blame. It’s understandable why Mets fans may be wary of their current division lead, given their history.
2011 Boston Red Sox
Early in the month, Boston held a small lead over the Yankees for the division but a much bigger one over the Rays for the Wild Card (as much as 8 games on September 6). Then disaster: The Sox went 5-16 down the stretch while the Rays went 14-7 and they were tied for the WC on the final day of the season. Boston took a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning at Baltimore and ended up losing, while the Rays battled back from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees on a walk-off home run. Shockingly, the Red Sox were out of the postseason.
ATLANTA – SEPTEMBER 28: Members of the Atlanta Braves watch play in the 13th inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Turner Field on September 28, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
2011 Atlanta Braves
Another Wild Card collapse: the Braves led the Cardinals by 9 ½ games in the WC division in early September and looked like they were going to cruise to the playoffs. Like the Red Sox, disaster then struck: Atlanta went 8-17 to end the month and needed to win on the last day of the season to force a playoff with the Cards. Instead, the Braves blew a 9th inning lead and lost in extras, eliminating them from the postseason. The excitement generated by the high-pressure games at the end of this season (exciting everywhere but Atlanta and Boston, probably) directly led to MLB adopting the second Wild Card in 2012.
2012 Texas Rangers
Having a 4 game lead with 6 games to play would seem to be as much of a lock as humanly possible, but no. The Rangers went to Oakland for a three game series needing only to win one game to clinch the division; instead the A’s swept them, culminating in the Rangers blowing a 5-1 lead in the final game and losing 12-5. Instead of winning the division, the shell-shocked Rangers were a Wild Card team and promptly lost to the Orioles in that game, too.
