#65.4 – Epic Baseball Comebacks, Worst Teams of All-Time

That One Sports Show

The Indians are headed to the World Series and I could not be more excited, so sorry for acting like a little kid at the beginning of this episode. As we prepare for the ultimate Fall Classic, either Indians vs. Cubs (who lead the series 3-2) or the Dodgers, who could still very much rip this one away from the Cubs, we thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the best playoff comebacks in baseball. This is not a complete list, but has some great stories. If you don’t see your favorite comeback let us know and we’ll talk about it on next week’s show.

1968 World Series – Tigers vs. Cardinals

Down 3-1 in the World Series, the Tigers set out to make one of the greatest World Series baseball comebacks of all time. Without the arm of Pitcher Mickey Lolich, it would not have been possible. After winning game 2, by the arm of Lolich, the Tigers lost the next two. Again in game 5 they turned to Lolich and he put together another nice victory taking the series to 3-2. Game 6 was a total blowout with the Tigers winning 13-1. With the series now tied at 3-3, Lolich took the rubber. Lolich pitched 8 shutout innings and let up one run in the 9th. It was enough and the Tigers completed the comeback winning 4-1 in game 7.

Lolich is still the last player to earn three complete game victories in a single World Series and because of his heroics won the World Series MVP. Bob Gibson (Cardinals pitcher) had an equally impressive series, winning complete games in game 1 and game 4 and then lost to Lolich in game 7. Had that final game gone the Cardinals way, it would have been easy to hand Gibson the MVP.

Fun fact: Mickey Lolich would go on to retire and open up a donut shop after his MLB career.

3-1 Deficit Comebacks

• 2007 ALCS – Red Sox over Indians
• 2004 ALCS – Red Sox* over Yankees
• 2003 NLCS – Marlins* over Cubs
• 1996 NLCS – Braves over Cardinals
• 1986 ALCS – Red Sox over Angels
• 1985 ALCS – Royals over Blue Jays
• 1985 World Series – Royals over Cardinals
• 1968 World Series – Tigers over Cardinals
• 1958 World Series – Yankees over Braves (Mil.)
• 1925 World Series – Pirates over Senators

2007 Colorado Rockies

The Rockies pulled off one of the greatest September comebacks in the history of the game when they went 14-1 over their last 15 games to win the NL Wild Card. Unfortunately this was the Red Sox “Year of the Idiots” and the Rockies were promptly swept in the World Series. The Red Sox won 13-1 in game one, an MLB record for the first game of a World Series.

2003 NLCS – Marlins vs. Cubs

Even without knowing much about this series you can probably tell from the year and the team in the series what happened. The name Bartman ring a bell? The Marlins came back from a three games to one deficit and won the series in seven games, advancing to the World Series against the New York Yankees. With the Cubs leading 3–0 (in the game) and just five outs away from their first World Series since 1945, Steve Bartman, a fan, reached for the foul ball hit by Luis Castillo off Prior, preventing Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou from catching it. They would lose that game and the next one after a series of errors and flubs that people could only explain by the Curse of the Billy Goat. Poor Steve Bartman. If you watch closely, everyone was reaching for the ball, but because he was lucky enough to get it, everyone turned on him. Fan psychology is crazy.

2004 ALCS – Red Sox vs. Yankees

I know, I know, I don’t like the Red Sox either. I actually wrote a scathing Josh Beckett column in college because he whooped the Indians in 2007 but the stories and numbers don’t lie, they’ve had some of the best combacks in baseball.

After losing 19-8 to the Yankees in the ALCS in Game 3, Boston found themselves losing in the series 3-0. Facing elimination in the next 4 games, they took them all, becoming the first Major League team to win eight straight postseason games in the same postseason (four straight in the ALCS and four consecutive games in the World Series). This was the high point for then manager Terry Francona (now manager for the Indians).

Fun Fact: Game 5 was the longest Major League postseason game in history at 5 hours and 49 minutes until Game 4 of the 2005 National League Division Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves which lasted 5 hours and 50 minutes, though that game lasted 18 innings.

In single games, the Indians also hold a major record, >coming back from a 12-point deficit in 2001 to beat the Seattle Mariners 15-14.

SB Nation had a nice post last year about “A brief history of teams down 0-3 in a best-of-seven series” which I definitely recommend checking out.

Bad Teams

For every good team, there is one that is bad, it’s checks and balances, so here are just two (we’ll cover this another time) of the worst teams in baseball.

The 1909 Boston Doves finished 65 and a half games out of first place, winning 45 and losing 108.

The worst team ever is back in the World Series this year. That’s right, the baseball team in Cleveland holds the record for worst ever winning percentage, winning only 20 games and losing 134. Granted this was in 1899, but still. Ouch.

Did we miss some of the best comebacks? Let us know and we’ll talk about it on the show this week.