Friday, September 16, 2005

All time choke in progress?

The White Sox could join the likes of the 1969 Cubs and the 1964 Phillies on the list of the all-time chokers in baseball history.

On August 1st, the Sox had a 15-game lead in the AL Central. Entering today, the lead over second-place Cleveland is 4.5 games, with six remaining between the teams. The 69 Cubs had an 8.5 game lead on August 1st over the Mets before blowing it. The 64 Phils had a six-game lead with ten to play. That's the all-time choke record, sprint division. The Sox are looking to beat the Cubs (and perhaps others, but none come to mind) in the marathon division.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you might add the 1995 Angels to this bunch. The Angels once had 13-game lead on the Mariners but the "Refuse to Lose" M's stormed back and beat the then California Angels in a 1-game playoff.

That was one of the more amazing things I ever saw and literally saved MLB in the Pacfiic NW (the Mariners, among other things, hold the record for most consecutive losing seasons by an expansion team in any sport before having a winning year at 27).

Jerry P. Palm said...

Good one. Do you remember how late in the season that 13-game lead was?

Anonymous said...

it was in early august - the angels were playing WAY over their heads but then fell back to Earth. They had to win their four games just to tie Seattle and force a one-game playoff at the Kingdome.

don't forget the '78 Red Sox's collapse - Bucky Dent