The Dumb and Dumber Chances of a Baltimore Orioles Collapse
Apr 4, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers and Brooklyn Dodgers former pitcher Don Newcombe before the 2014 season home opening game against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
OTHER FAMOUS CRASHES OF THE DISTANT PAST
The 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers
The collapse of the ’51 Dodgers is often thought off as the greatest (or worst) in baseball history.
On August 11th of 1951, the Dodgers were 13 games in the lead with a record of 70-35. While their rival NY Giants went on a 37-7 run that included a 16-game winning streak, the Dodgers went 26-23 over the final third of the season. They finished tied at 96-58 and went into a best-of-three playoff.
They split the first two games and went into the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game with the Dodgers leading 4-1. Pitcher Don Newcombe yielded two singles and an RBI-double that cut the lead to 4-2 with runners on second and third. Ralph Branca was brought in to face Bobby Thompson, who hit a walk-off home run known ever since as “the shot heard around the world.” So no, you’re mistaken if you thought the real shot heard around the world was one in Massachusetts that led to a trans-Atlantic war in the 1770s
The 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers
A four-game lead with 10 to go was lost to the San Francisco Giants of the Willie Mays era. The Dodgers went 2-8 over that time, and lost a three-game playoff to the Giants.
The 1934 New York Giants
These Giants had a seven-game margin as late as September 6th, but they went 8-13 the rest of the way. Additionally, the “Gashouse Gang” Cardinals won 15 of their last 20 games to catch the Giants and pass NY in the final series of the season.
The 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers
It was the Cardinals team again who won 43 of their last 51 games to surpass the Dodgers, erasing a lead that at one point had reached 10 games. The Cards had 106 wins to 104 for the Dodgers—the most wins ever by a team that would not play in the postseason.