Top 10 Closest Calls to Winning the World Series (Without Winning It)

Last night, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4 in 11 innings at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, to win Game 7 and the World Series.

The Dodgers thus won their 8th World Championship, their 9th counting their 1955 title as the Brooklyn Dodgers. By winning back-to-back World Series, they joined these teams in the achievement: The 1907-08 Chicago Cubs, the 1910-11 and 1929-30 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1915-16 Boston Red Sox, the 1921-22 New York Giants, the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics (3 straight), the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, the 1992-93 Blue Jays; and the New York Yankees in 1927-28, 1936-39 (4 straight), 1949-53 (5 straight), 1961-62, 1977-78, and 1998-2000 (3 straight).

The Blue Jays were 2 outs away in the top of the 9th, when Miguel Rojas hit a home run to tie the game. In the 10th, Rojas made a key defensive play, throwing a runner out at the plate. In the 11th, Will Smith hit a home run. So, does this game go down in history as The Miguel Rojas Game, or the Will Smith Game?

As hard as both teams fought in this postseason, it was pretty clear that whichever team won would have fully earned the title of the best team in baseball. But, let's be honest: The Jays choked.

As a Star Trek fan, I noted that the Blue Jays had scored 4 runs, and that I hadn't seen a "Blue Jay 4" so ineffective since the callsign the plane of Captain John Christopher, played by Roger Perry, in the 1967 time-travel-themed episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday."

Top 10 Closest Calls to Winning the World Series (Without Winning It)

Honorable Mention: All teams that had a lead in Game 7 and still ended up losing, even if they're not in the Top 10:

1958 Milwaukee Braves: 24 outs away, lost to the New York Yankees.

1947 Brooklyn Dodgers: 16 outs away, lost to the New York Yankees.

1946 Boston Red Sox: 14 outs away, lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

1987 St. Louis Cardinals, 14 outs away, lost to the Minnesota Twins.

1982 Milwaukee Brewers, 12 outs away, lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

1979 Baltimore Orioles, 11 outs away, lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1940 Detroit Tigers: 9 outs away, lost to the Cincinnati Reds.

2019 Houston Astros: 8 outs away, lost to the Washington Nationals.

1975 Boston Red Sox: 7 outs away, lost to the Cincinnati Reds.

10 (Tie). 1925 Washington Senators: 4 outs away in Game 7, lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

10 (Tie). 1960 New York Yankees: 4 outs away in Game 7, lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

9. 2016 Cleveland Indians: 4 outs away in Game 7, lost in 10 innings to the Chicago Cubs.

8. 1924 New York Giants: 4 outs away in Game 7, lost in 12 innings to the Washington Senators.

7. 2001 New York Yankees: 2 outs away with 2 men on base in Game 7, lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

6. 1997 Cleveland Indians: 2 outs away with 2 men on base in Game 7, lost in 11 innings to the Florida Marlins. The team now known as the Cleveland Guardians rank "ahead" of the '01 Yankees because they got 2 more chances.

5. 2025 Toronto Blue Jays: 2 outs away with the bases empty in Game 7, lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

4. 1912 New York Giants: 2 outs away in the 10th in Game 8, after being 7 outs away in Game 7. This ranks them "ahead" of the 2025 Jays. Lost to the Boston Red Sox. (Game 2 was called due to darkness while tied.)

3. 1986 Boston Red Sox: 1 strike away -- in Game 6. And then, 11 outs away in Game 7. Lost both games, and the Series, to the New York Mets. As bad as it was, as much as it's thought of as the biggest meltdown in baseball history, there are 2 teams that, technically, came closer to winning it without winning it:

2. 2002 San Francisco Giants: 6 outs away -- in Game 6. And then, 22 outs away in Game 7. Lost both games, and the Series, to the Anaheim Angels. Blowing 2 such chances ranks them "ahead" of the '86 BoSox. But not ahead of:

1. 2011 Texas Rangers: 1 strike away -- in Game 6, in the 9th. Then, still in Game 6, 2 outs away in the 10th. Then they took the lead in the top of the 1st in Game 7, but the St. Louis Cardinals came right back in the bottom of the 1st, tied it, and went on to win.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Atlanta Falcons for Losing Super Bowl LI

February 5, 2017: Super Bowl LI is played at NRG Stadium in Houston. With 2 minutes and 12 seconds left to play in the 3rd quarter, the Atlanta Falcons led the New England Patriots 28-3. In other words, with less than 18 minutes to play, they had a 25-point lead.

In the 1st 50 Super Bowls, no team had ever blown a lead of more than 10 points. The Falcons were in great shape to win the 1st World Championship in team history, 51 seasons, the entire Super Bowl Era.

Several sources said that the Falcons had a 99 percent chance of winning at that point. One source said it was 99.9 percent.

With 57 seconds to play in regulation, the Patriots tied the game, and we had the 1st Super Bowl that went to overtime. With 11:02 left in the 1st overtime, the Patriots won the ballgame, 34-28.

Boston, and all of New England, were now the beneficiaries of "the greatest choke in baseball history" and "the greatest choke in football history."

And Tom Brady was certified as not merely the greatest quarterback, but the greatest player in the history of football.

How could the Falcons have blown it?

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Atlanta Falcons for Blowing a 25-Point 2nd Half Lead and Losing Super Bowl LI

5. The Officials. They called 9 penalties on the Falcons, only 4 on the Patriots. They penalized the Falcons for 65 yards, the Patriots only 23. The Patriots gained 4 1st downs as a result of penalties, the Falcons only 1.

It's been suggested that there were no bad calls in this game, and that the disparity in the penalties was due to the Patriots being sufficiently disciplined, and the Falcons not. So I can only leave this as Reason Number 5.

4. The Curse of Mark Wohlers. In 1995, relief pitcher Wohlers was key to the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series. It was the 1st World Championship Atlanta had won in any sport, and remains the only one.

Unless you count soccer: The Atlanta Chiefs won the old North American Soccer League title in 1968, and Atlanta United won the MLS Cup in 2018. However, soccer is still the Number 5 league sport in North America. So maybe, for most fans of Atlanta sports teams, it doesn't really count.

In Game 4 of the 1996 World Series, the defending World Champion Braves were up 3 games to 1, led the Yankees 6-0 after 5 innings, and were still up 6-3 in the 8th. With 5 outs to go, but with 2 men on, Wohlers was throwing 98- and 99-mile-per-hour BBs to Jim Leyritz, and got 2 strikes on him. Then he hung an 86-MPH slider, and Leyritz hit a game-tying home run.

The Yankees won the game 8-6 in 10 innings, and won Games 5 and 6 to take the title. In the 25 years since:

* The Braves haven't won a World Series game, and have won only 1 National League Pennant, in 1999, and the Yankees then swept them in the World Series. They have lost the NL Championship Series in 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2020. They have lost the NL Division Series in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2019. And they have lost the NL Wild Card Game in 2012.

* The Falcons have lost Super Bowl XXXIII (1998 season) and, the point of this post, Super Bowl LI (2016 season). They have lost the NFC Championship Game in 2004 and 2012. They have lost in the NFC Divisional Playoff in 2002, 2010 and 2017. They have lost in the Wild Card Playoff in 2008 and 2011.

* The Hawks have not won an NBA Championship since 1958, when they were the St. Louis Hawks. They haven't made the NBA Finals since 1961. They moved to Atlanta in 1968. But let's talk about what's happened to them just since Wohlers hung that slider. The Hawks have lost in the Conference Finals in 2015. They've lost in the Conference Semifinals in 1997, 1999, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2016. They've lost in the 1st Round in 1998, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017.

* And Atlanta has both gained and lost an NHL team, the Atlanta Thrashers. They played 12 seasons, 1999 to 2011, made the Playoffs exactly once, in 2007, and got swept. By the New York Rangers. Is that the lowest?

It's been 25 years. I think it's safe to say that Atlanta sports could have a curse on it.

3. Donald Trump. He attended the Super Bowl. As Rick Wilson, a Republican political operative who launched the anti-Trump "Lincoln Project" in an effort to cleanse his Party of Trump's influence, titled his book about the man, Everything Trump Touches Dies.

Furthermore, Trump and Patriots team owner Robert Kraft are friends -- or, perhaps, the closest Trump knows how to come to being someone's friend. The Patriots' players would not have been thrown off their game by the sight of Trump. The Falcons' players might have been.

Maybe it was poetic justice that Georgia helped take both the Presidency and the U.S. Senate away from the Republican Party in the elections of 2020-21.

2. Lady Gaga. This might be the most controversial thing I've ever written in this blog. Not just because it seems silly to blame the performer of the halftime show for the defeat of the team that lost the Super Bowl. But because Gaga's fans are among the most passionate of any performers', ever, and will not take kindly to perceived attacks on her.

So, let me state for the record that I'm not accusing her of intentionally hurting the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. I don't know which team she was rooting for, or even if she likes football. (She did show up at home games for both the Yankees and the Mets in 2010, early in her career, behaved badly at both, and wore a Yankee jersey, and not much else, at the former.) I am saying that her halftime show may, however inadvertently, have had a deleterious effect on the Falcons.

She began by singing the chorus of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." She sang "The Edge of Glory," which would seem to be a good title for a song at the Super Bowl, but was really about her grandfather on his deathbed, knowing he had lived a good life, despite not having experienced anything of what Gaga had once called "The Fame." She has reached the point where gaining fame, becoming a bigger star, is no longer the point: Making a difference is. This is something that Trump will never understand.

Next was "Poker Face," something Trump doesn't have, and it's about gay people being forced by society to hide who they really are. Next was "Born This Way," which is the opposite: She called it "my this-is-who-the-fuck-I-am anthem." It's an in-your-face message. Next was "Telephone," which she has said is about "Fear of suffocation, something that I have or fear is never being able to enjoy myself."

Next was "Just Dance," her 1st single, from the Spring of 2008, a song that helped a lot of people get through that year's economic crash, the last time a Republican held the White House. Next was "Million Reasons," which is about questioning everything, and was released on the day Trump was "elected," November 8, 2016. She closed with "Bad Romance," which is certainly what America entered into with Trump. In short, all 8 songs she sang could be interpreted as a middle finger to Trump, without even mentioning his name. If you really want to piss him off...

Super Bowl halftime shows are a crapshoot. Some are really good. Some are bad. At least one has been outright scandalous. But Gaga's was one of the best-received, ever.

And it ran a little long. Maybe the Falcons players heard it, maybe they didn't. Maybe it threw them off their game. In the 1st half, Atlanta outscored New England 21-3. The rest of the way, New England outscored Atlanta 31-7.

1. The Patriots Cheated. We don't actually know that the Patriots cheated at any point in the 2016-17 NFL season, including in the Super Bowl. We only know that they have been caught cheating multiple times. They have forfeited the presumption of innocence.

And Matt Ryan, as a result of winning the NFC Championship Game 2 weeks earlier, had done something Tom Brady has never done: He quarterbacked a team into the Super Bowl, and did it fairly.

You say Brady has never cheated? You are a liar.

VERDICT: Not Guilty. You can argue that, even with the Patriots having cheated, the Falcons should still have been able to hold onto a lead that was 25 points with a little over 17 minutes to go, 19 points with 10 minutes to go, 16 points with 6 minutes to go, and 8 points with 1 minute to go.

Instead, they had the best excuse of all for why they didn't: Unfairness.

UPDATE: The Braves ended Atlanta's drought by winning the 2021 World Series.

September 29: 1954, The Catch; 2011, The Choke

On September 29, 1954, in Game 1 of the World Series, Willie Mays made the most famous defensive play in the history of sports.

It preserved a 2-2 tie, and the New York Giants went on to win 5-2 in the bottom of the 10th, when, with Willie on 1st, Dusty Rhodes pinch-hit and hit a home run down the right-field line.

I had to include the official highlight film for all of Game 1, as the only YouTube stuff under the name "Dusty Rhodes" are of some idiot who calls himself a "professional wrestler."

Some game: Vic Wertz hits the ball 440 feet (that wall was 450 from home plate, not 460 like it's often been said), and it's a long out; Dusty Rhodes hits the ball 260 feet, and it's a home run.

Anyway, the Giants went on to sweep the Indians. It took until 2010 for the Giants, now in San Francisco, to win another. The Indians still haven't won one since 1948.

Mays, left fielder Monte Irvin, shortstop Alvin Dark, and right fielder Don Mueller (a.k.a. "Mandrake the Magician") are the only Giants players from this game who are still alive; third baseman Al Rosen, right fielder Dave Philley (who, in case you're wondering, did play for the Philadelphia Phillies), first baseman Bill Glynn and pinch-runner Rudy Regalado survive from the Indians.

Willie has said that even before the ball got to him, he was thinking about the throw. This was a 23-year-old guy... although not in his first World Series.

The best ones never look like they're working hard, even though they are. A pair of later San Francisco sports legends, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, were the same way.

*

So... on this September 29, 2011, what's the big news in baseball?

Well, it ain't the World Series, that's for damn sure. But it does involve eligibility for this season's World Series, as the full 162 games have been played.

The New York Yankees will play the Detroit Tigers in one of the American League Division Series; the Texas Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Rays in the other.

The Philadelphia Phillies will play the St. Louis Cardinals in one of the National League Division Series; the Milwaukee Brewers will play the Arizona Diamondbacks in the other.

The Atlanta Braves were supposed to get the NL Wild Card, but they choked. Do I care? Yeah, a little. Dumb rednecks and their annoying Tomahawk Chop.

But the Boston Red Sox...

In my next post, I'm going to rank the biggest baseball collapses of all time. That this Red Sox collapse has just happened, and hasn't had the time to sink in, may not rank it all that high (or low, depending on how you look at it).

But it was one hell of a choke.

*

In order for the choke to be completed, 1 of 3 things had to happen: Either both the Red Sox and the Rays had to win last night, thus forcing a 1-game Playoff that the Rays would then have to win; both the Red Sox and the Rays had to lose last night, thus forcing a Playoff; or the Rays had to win and the Red Sox had to lose, making a Playoff unnecessary.

The Yankees did their part to screw over their old enemies by tanking the last 3 games of the regular season.

How do I know Yankee manager Joe Girardi tanked this one? Here's the lineup he started with:

1. SS Derek Jeter
2. CF Curtis Granderson
3. 1B Mark Teixeira
4. DH Robinson Cano
5. RF Nick Swisher
6. LF Andruw Jones
7. C Jesus Montero
8. 2B Eduardo Nunez
9. 3B Brandon Laird

And here's the lineup Girardi ended the game with:

1. 2B Ramiro Pena
2. LF Greg Golson
3. 3B Eric Chavez
4. DH Jorge Posada
5. RF Chris Dickerson
6. CF Brett Gardner
7. C Austin Romine
8. SS Eduardo Nunez
9. 1B Brandon Laird

A team that's trying to win does not have Eduardo Nunez or Brandon Laird in the lineup. Does not pinch-hit Ramiro Pena for Derek Jeter. Does not pinch-hit Greg Golson for Curtis Granderson. Does not pinch-hit Chris Dickerson for Nick Swisher. Doesnot pinch-hit Austin Romine for, well, anybody. Not in 2011, anyway.

A team that's trying to win might use 11 pitchers. But Dellin Betances, making his major league debut, only went 2 innings -- both scoreless -- before Girardi pulled him. Why? Was he not pitching well? He was.

George Kontos got the 1st 2 outs in the 3rd. Aaron Laffey finished it and the 4th. Phil Hughes pitched the 5th. Raul Valdes the 6th. A.J. Burnett, Andrew Brackman, and Boone Logan each got an out in the 7th.

It didn't seem to matter: It was 7-0 Yankees going into the bottom of the 8th, thanks in part to Teixeira hitting his 38th and 39th home runs of the season, and Jones hitting his 13th.

But, as John Sterling is always reminding us, "You can't predict baseball." He didn't preface it last night with, "You know, Suzyn... " Because Suzyn Waldman, who is Jewish, was not working last night, due to it being Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Instead, Tampa native Tino Martinez was in the WCBS booth with Sterling.

And what happened next made me wonder if Sterling was having flashbacks to a game he did for the Atlanta Braves' station WSB on July 4, 1985, when the Braves and the Mets went 19 innings, enduring 2 rain delays, and ended at 3:55 AM, following multiple ejections and a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 18th by the last man the Braves had on their roster, relief pitcher Rick Camp, who came into the game batting .067 for his career.

Sterling told his broadcast partner, the late Ernie Johnson Sr., "I'll tell you, Ernie, if he hits one out, that certifies this game as the nuttiest in the history of baseball." Camp hit it out, and Sterling said, "That certifies this game as the wildest, the wackiest, most improbable in history!"

Last night's Yanks-Rays game might be another contender. This game meant absolutely nothing to the Yankees -- unless they truly wanted to screw over the Red Sox, which I would understand completely and even encourage. It meant everything to the Rays.

It seemed to mean everything to the Rays' fans, too. And they got a bigger crowd for this game than they did for the 1st 2 games of this series: 29,518. Only about 10,000 empty seats.

Logan, as he has done so many times this season, imploded in the 8th, and Luis Ayala struggled to stop the bleeding. When it was over, it had gone from 7-0 Yanks to 7-6 Yanks.

In the bottom of the 9th, Girardi had just 4 pitchers remaining. One was Mariano Rivera. Another was David Robertson. No reason at all to use either one, because, as has been said a jillion times, this game meant absolutely nothing to the Yankees, so why risk your 2 most valuable relievers -- maybe your 2 most valuable players, period?

That left Cory Wade and Scott Proctor. Wade got the 1st 2 outs, but allowed a game-tying home run, juuuust inside the foul pole, to Dan Johnson, only his 2nd homer of the season.

Girardi brought in the execrable Proctor, who, somehow, got the last out in the 9th. The 10th, the 11th, and the top half of the 12th passed without incident.

In the bottom of the 12th, Proctor faced Evan Longoria, who had already homered in the 8th. Boom. Screamer down the left-field line. Like Johnson's, it was just barely over the fence, and just barely fair. But, in baseball, there's no style points. This ain't figure skating, and this ain't gymnastics. There's no penalty for "just barely." There's no credit for "almost." As Yoda would say, "There is only do, or do not."

Final score: Rays 8, Yankees 7. WP: Jake McGee (5-2). LP: Proctor (2-6).

The Rays still had a chance at the Playoffs.

*

The Rays still had a chance at the Playoffs because the Red Sox' game, in Baltimore against the Orioles, was as yet unresolved, in a rain delay, with the Sox leading 3-2 in the 7th.

Play was resumed -- under the circumstances, with this game having a direct effect on the Playoff race, there was no way they were simply going to call it and make it official -- and the Sox held their 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 9th. On the mound was their closer, their big-mouthed fireballer, Jonathan Papelbon.

He struck out Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds. One more out, and the Sox would be guaranteed a Game 163 -- if not, as yet, a Game 164.

But Papelbum gave up a double to Chris Davis, who was then replaced by pinch-runner Kyle Hudson. Tying run on 2nd. Winning run at the plate.

He gave up another double, to Nolan Reimold. Game tied. Winning run on 2nd.

Robert Andino up. Base hit, single to left. Reimold scored.

Final score: Orioles 4, Red Sox 3.

The Orioles, who had just won their 69th game of the season against 93 losses, in a season in which they had expected to make a serious run at the Playoffs, celebrated as if they had clinched.

The Red Sox slunk off the field like the losers and bums that they are.

*

So the Playoffs will begin tomorrow night, with the Yankees, but not with the Boston Red Scum.

And any Red Sox fan who still mentions 2004 can kiss my Pinstriped ass. You cheated. You lied about it. It was proven. And we've won a World Series since the new rules came into effect, you haven't.

Again, the Yankees are the title contenders, the Sox are the chokers.

As God intended it.

Or, as Hank Steinbrenner might say, the universe has been restored to order.