MLB: Ranking Top 5 Heart-Wrenching Conclusions To the 2010 Season
Every fan wants their ball club to be the one that wins their last game of the post season.
In doing so they accomplish the goal at the start of Spring Training, to win the World Series and be crowned the champions.
Unfortunately there can be only one winner, one champion, and for all those teams that fall short where they fail doesn't really matter.
”Nobody remembers who finished second but the guy who finished second.”—Bobby Unser
As the League Championships Series looks to get started this weekend here's my look at the top five heart-breaking losses that ended the 2010 season for those teams not participating.
No. 5—Cincinnati Reds Lose to The Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 In NLDS.
1 of 5For Cincinnati fans maybe everyone was just happy that the Reds made it to the playoffs.
After a 15-year hiatus from the playoffs, and only their fourth winning season since 1999, perhaps this was enough.
The Reds dominated the NL Central, leading the division for a total of 115 days, and never fell out of first place after August 14th.
They had MVP candidate Joey Votto, who led the team with 113 RBI and 37 home runs.
Things were looking good for the Cincinnati Reds until they ran into the buzz saw known as the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies looking to make their third straight trip to the World Series, made quick work of the Reds with a Roy Halladay no-hitter to start the three-game series sweep.
The following quote kind of sums up the second game of the NLDS when the Reds squandered a four-run lead, eventually losing the game 7-4.
”Another club can be beating you for six inning,s but for some reason the good ball clubs get tough and win them in the last three.”—Billy Martin
At least Reds' fans can take solace in knowing they lost to the best team in baseball.
Hopefully 2010 can be a springboard to winning ways, and it won't be another 15 years for the next Cincinnati playoff game.
No. 4—End Of an Era: Bobby Cox and The Braves Lose To The San Francisco Giants.
2 of 5
At one time postseason baseball was a given in Atlanta.
For 11 seasons from 1995 to 2005 the Braves were the NL East Divisional Champions.
Over the past 20 years they made a total of 15 playoff appearances, including five World Series berths and one World Championship.
However the team entered the 2010 on a dry spell, not having made the playoffs the last four years.
It looked like that was going to change as the Braves were in first place of the NL East for all of June, July and August.
Then came September, and the Braves would go 13-14 in the month trailing the division by six games on October 1st. It looked like the Braves' playoff hopes were dead.
The improbable comeback was completed on the last day of the season, when they secured the wild card by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants defeating the San Diego Padres.
Last September, when Cox singed a one-year contract extension, he announced that 2010 was to be his last year as the Braves' manager.
How poetic was it for Cox to end is coaching career with another playoff appearance.
The only way this swan song could have been even more sweeter would have been to add a second world championship for the Atlanta franchise.
But it was not to be, as the team that helped the Braves into the playoffs would eliminate them in four games.
No. 3—Tampa Bay Rays Fall to Cliff Lee and The Texas Rangers.
3 of 5
Some may feel that the Tampa Bay Rays ALDS exit at the hands of the Texas Rangers should rank higher.
After all the Rays had the best record in the AL, and second only to Philadelphia in all of baseball. They won arguably the toughest division in baseball and were only two seasons removed from their World Series appearance in 2008. Facing the Rangers in the ALDS was only a speed bump to the eventual ALCS match up against the Yankees.
But when a team battling the New York Yankees not only for the division, but for the best record in baseball has an average attendance of 23,000 putting them ninth out 14 AL teams, there's just not that many hearts to break.
Perhaps the battle with the New York Yankees for the AL East took too much out of the Tampa Bay Rays.
This was the second playoff appearance for the franchise that has only been in existence for 13 years.
The Rays spent a total of 94 days leading the AL East, San Francisco with 38 spent fewer days in first.
Tampa Bay is a young team with plenty of talent, if they can find a way to keep many of their stars on the roster they will have plenty of opportunities to build on a winning tradition.
2010 was the third straight season the Rays have had a winning record. Joe Maddon knows how to win, having taken this team from 101 losses in 2006, to two 90-plus winning seasons out of the last three.
In consolation, Tampa Bay Rays' fans can say they lost to Cliff Lee, who would pitch 16 of 18 innings in their two of the three losses to the Rangers, allowing only two earned runs.
.png?w=256)
No. 2—Total Collapse: The Padres' Loss To The Giants
4 of 5
Yes, I know that the San Diego Padres didn't make it to the playoffs.
And that if they had won their last game it would have necessitated not one, but two single-game playoffs in order to determine the NL West and then the NL Wild Card team.
For the 2010 playoffs it is only the third time since 2000 that all eight playoff teams won at least 90 games.
For the San Diego Padres their 90-win season fell one game short of extending the season, and they were left on the outside looking in.
San Diego led the NL West for 148 days—only the Texas Rangers, with 154 days, spent more time atop their division.
Then came the streak, the 10-game losing streak that started on August 27. The Padres were leading the NL West by a season high 6.5 games over the San Francisco Giants.
How a first-place team can forget how to win and stumble for 10 games boggles the mind.
They would eventually end the streak, and incredibly still lead the division by one game. While a three-game sweep of the Dodgers would ensue, the damage was pretty much done and the Padres would finish the season going 14-13.
Going into the three-game series at AT&T Park against the Giants to close out the season, San Diego still had a chance. Sweep and force a game 163 for a chance to win the division.
If the Padres could have completed the comeback, there would have been plenty of ready excuses for an early playoff exit. but they fell short in game 162.
What was such a promising season, where they led the division for most of April through August, came to a sudden end.
In many ways this collapse was almost as bad as that of the 2009 Detroit Tigers, who lost the division up three games with four to play.
For a team with only five playoff appearances in their 42-year history, to get this close and fall short has to be tough on Padres fans.
No. 1—New Stadium, New Hope, Same Old Story: Twins Swept By Yankees.
5 of 5
For the Minnesota Twins 2010 was supposed to be different.
It was the opening of Target Field and outdoor baseball in Minnesota for the first time in 28 years. The team drew more than three million fans, the third-highest in the league behind New York and Los Angeles.
With their payroll jumping to the 10th highest in baseball, this was no longer a small-market team.
Flirting with the best record in baseball, up until the last week of the season, and the best home record in the American League, the Twins were bound to reverse the trend of early round exits in the playoffs.
Minnesota even had the home field in hosting the New York Yankees in the ALDS.
With Francisco Liriano, the AL Pitcher of the Month for April, and Carl Pavano, who led the team with 17 wins and seven complete games, the Twins were poised for a long playoff run.
Even after losing Justin Morneau on July 7th to a concussion, the Twins would go on to post the best record in the second half of the season at 48-26.
All the pieces were fitting into place for another championship in Minnesota as the Twins won their sixth AL Central title in nine years.
After clinching the division, the Twins would rest their regulars in an attempt to get the team healed and healthy for the playoffs. Instead, the team would win only three of their final 11 games, and go into the playoffs with no momentum.
Their losing ways carried into the ALDS against the Yankees, getting swept in three games.
For Minnesota fans it is no longer enough to win a mediocre division title—the expectations have risen with the payroll and now manager of the year candidate Ron Gardenhire is finding himself on the hot seat.
”Part of being a champ is acting like a champ."—Nancy Kerrigan.
.png?w=480)
