10 MLB Teams With the Worst Collapses in History
All of these collapses are still painfully memorable for the fans that had to watch them happen.
Every baseball fan remembers the year their favorite team put it all together and brought home a World Series championship. Equally as memorable, but much more painful, are the memories of their team collapsing down the stretch and losing a playoff berth.
This is the homestretch of the MLB season, and several teams are jockeying for the coveted six playoff spots in each league. Hope springs eternal for fan bases as they root their teams on to possible immortality. The fact that only a precious few will reach their holy grail does not concern their supporters in the least.
But just as there are vivid memories of championships won, several teams have suffered the wrath of their fans for blowing insurmountable leads that knocked them out of playoff contention. These collapses are as painfully memorable as the important victories are exhilaratingly dreamlike.
A Pair of NL Collapses
10. 2010 San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres were flying high in 2010, sporting a 6.5-game lead in the NL West standings as of Aug. 25. They had a strong starting rotation led by Mat Latos and Jon Garland and a lights-out bullpen anchored by their closer Heath Bell. Up to that point in the season, they had not suffered a losing streak longer than three games.
But starting on Aug. 26, they would drop 10 straight games and fall behind the San Francisco Giants for the division lead. The two teams would face off in a three-game series to end the season. San Francisco needed only one win to clinch the division title. The Padres won the first two games but were kept scoreless by the Giants in the rubber match.
And with San Diego’s loss that day, coupled with the Atlanta Braves’ win over the Philadelphia Phillies, the Padres ended up one game back of the Braves for the sole NL Wild Card spot.
9. 1969 Chicago Cubs
Without the 1969 Chicago Cubs, no one would remember the Miracle New York Mets from that season. That Cubs team was loaded with an offense led by Billy Williams, Ron Santo, and Ernie Banks. And both Ferguson Jenkins and Bill Hands won 20 games for the Southsiders that season, with Ken Holtzman adding 17. They had a nine-game lead in the NL East on Aug. 16.
But the Cubs closed the season with a 9-18 record, including a seven-game losing streak in early September. The Mets, in turn, would go 24-8 down the stretch and would improbably go on to beat the AL Champion Baltimore Orioles in the World Series four games to one.
AL Teams That Dropped the Ball
8. 1987 Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays, unlike most teams on this list, never had a commanding lead in 1987. Led by All-Stars George Bell, Fred McGriff, and Tony Fernandez, the Jays got hot in June but faded in July. But they roared back in September, winning seven straight games to take a 3.5-game lead with seven to play.
Then they lost four straight to the Milwaukee Brewers, setting up a three-game series with the second-place Detroit Tigers for the AL East title. With a one-game lead, they got swept by the Tigers in three one-run games to finish second.
7. 2009 Detroit Tigers
The 2009 Detroit Tigers were not one of the teams on this list that fell apart down the stretch. They just got smoked by a hotter team. The Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera-led Tigers were the only AL Central team with a winning record, and their division lead ballooned to seven games on Sept. 6.
From that day forward, the Minnesota Twins would go 18-8 in September while Detroit stumbled, going 11-15 for the month. The teams were tied after 162 games, setting up what would be a memorable play-in game. After 12 innings, Minnesota’s Alexi Casilla hit a walk-off RBI single off Fernando Rodney to send the Twins to the American League Division Series.
Two Teams That Fell Apart
6. 1978 Boston Red Sox
Can anyone say, Bucky Dent? The Boston Red Sox were on a tear during the first half of the 1978 season. Before the All-Star break, they were 30 games above .500 and led the AL East by 10 games. With their torrid play, they were on pace to win 110 games.
However, the Yankees would go 53-21 the rest of the way, including a four-game September sweep of the Red Sox, in which the Bronx Bombers outscored their division rivals 42-9. The two teams were tied at the end of the regular season, forcing a 163rd game. That game ended with a… Oh, you know how it ended.
5. 2011 Atlanta Braves
While the Atlanta Braves were never going to be a threat to the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies in 2011, their play through August suggested that they would be a tough playoff opponent. On August 30, they were 25 games over .500 and deployed a lineup that included Chipper Jones, Freddie Freeman, and Tim Hudson.
But the bottom fell out in September when Atlanta went 9-18 for the month, allowing the St. Louis Cardinals to make up 8.5 games to tie them for the last NL Wild Card spot. And in game 162 for both teams, the Cardinals would defeat the Houston Astros 8-0, while the Braves would fall to the Phillies 4-3 in 13 innings.
Two NL Teams Combust
4. 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers
The 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers had a Hall of Fame roster that included Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Pee Wee Reese. For much of that season, they dominated the rest of the National League. By Aug. 11, they had a 13-game lead and appeared to be headed to the Fall Classic.
While they were a respectable 26-22 down the stretch, the New York Giants heated up, going 37-7 during that period. This completely erased the Dodgers’ lead and forced a three-game playoff. The teams would split the first two, and in Game 3, the Giants were up 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Giants scored a run to start the inning, and the Dodgers’ Ralph Branca faced Bobby Thomson with two runners on board. In what became known as the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” Thomson hit a three-run homer to left field, sending the Giants to the World Series.
3. 2007 New York Mets
The New York Mets were the toast of the town for most of the 2007 MLB season. New York’s record was 83-62 on Sept. 12, the best record in the National League. They had a seven-game lead over their NL East rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. A 9-2 start in September should have locked up the division title for the Mets.
However, they followed that up with a five-game losing streak, shrinking their lead to a game and a half on Sept. 18. They then lost their next five games, and the Phillies moved into first place in the division. In the next-to-last game of the season, the Mets demolished the Florida Marlins 13-0. With that win, they tied the Phillies for the division lead with one game to play.
The next day, Philadelphia rolled over the Washington Nationals 6-1. Meanwhile, Mets starting pitcher Tom Glavine got shelled in a 9-1 spanking by the Marlins. The Mets ended the 2007 season one game back of the Phillies in the division standings and one game back in the NL Wild Card race.
They’re No Angels
2. 1995 California Angels
The 1995 California Angels had a 10.5-game lead on the Texas Rangers and an 11.5-game advantage over the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 26. This Angels team was a hitting machine with Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds, and Tony Phillips each hitting over 25 homers and driving in over 100 runs. They looked unbeatable.
But California would crash, going 14-28 in their final 42 games. Included in that total were a couple of nine-game losing streaks. However, unlike most teams on this list, the Angels did mount a late-season comeback. They went 6-1 in their final seven games, tying the Mariners for the division lead on the final day.
The teams would square off in a tiebreaker game to decide who would move on to the playoffs. Unfortunately for California, the Mariners ace, Randy Johnson, would throw a complete game, and Seattle would demolish the Angels 9-1, thus ending their playoff dreams.
The Mother of All Collapses
1. 1964 Philadelphia Phillies
Ex-Phillies manager Gene Mauch is still turning over in his grave about this one. His Phillies team was very balanced, led by hitting stars Dick Allen and Johnny Callison and pitching aces Chris Short and Jim Bunning. With 12 games left in the season, Philadelphia held a 6.5-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals.
The lead quickly disappeared as the Phillies lost 10 straight, including three-game sweeps by both of their top rivals. They did defeat the Reds in their final two games, but St. Louis won their final game of the season to clinch the NL title.
Post Mortem
In an effort to be fair, I did not include multiple collapses by the same team. This spared the 2011 Mets, the 2011 Red Sox, and the 1962 Dodgers from any more indignation. Did your team make the list?
Become a Member of Just Baseball
Subscribe and upgrade to go ad-free!
* Save 25% by subscribing annually.
Written by