So the 2010 Phils were unbeatable? Just like the 1993 Braves
On July 21, the Philadelphia Phillies were 48-46, not even in second place in the National League East. They were third, a half-game behind the Mets and seven games behind the Braves. Then Philly won 49 of its final 68 regular-season games and surged from seven games behind to six games ahead. And then it swept the Reds in the Division Series, allowing no hits in Game 1 and no runs in Game 3.
And right about there, I’m guessing one or two of you were thinking just what I was thinking: “There’s no beating this team.”
The World Series begins tomorrow night. Philadelphia will not be playing. The best-looking National League team of the past 16 years was beaten by San Francisco in six games in the NLCS, three of the losses coming by one run. I mention this because there was, 17 years ago, a team of similar eminence that stormed down the stretch, overrode an even deeper deficit and seemed a mortal lock to become the first team since the Cardinals during World War II to win three consecutive NL pennants.
And it lost in the NLCS, also in six games, three of which were lost by one run. That team was the 1993 Atlanta Braves, and it was undone by the Philadelphia Phillies.
The ‘93 Braves trailed the Giants by 10 games in the NL West on July 22, 1993. Those Braves won 49 of their final 65 games and took the division title on the regular season’s final day when Tom Glavine beat Colorado and Salomon Torres lost to the Dodgers.
Of all the great Braves’ teams of the ’90s, that was the greatest. It had the best rotation — Greg Maddux had joined Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery that season — and the best batting order. (You’ll recall that Fred McGriff arrived in July.) It was as close to being invincible as any baseball team ever gets, and yet it lost in October.
Like those Braves, the 2010 Phillies were trying to win a third NL pennant in a row. Like those Braves, these Phillies had an armor-plated top of the rotation — Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels — and a batting order devoid of holes. And these Phillies lost, too. Consensus in Philadelphia was that this was by far the best of the teams that had won the NL East four years running, better even than the 2008 World Champions. On the day the NLCS began, Bill Lyon used the word “dynasty” in the Philadelphia Inquirer to describe these Phillies.
Who then lost in six games.
See, it happens. And not just to the Braves.
Baseball is strange. These Giants didn’t appear all that much better than the Braves — each game of the NLDS was a one-run job — and we’d all seen the Phillies crush the Braves in the late going. And yet the Giants beat the Phillies by outpitching them and outhitting them, too. How many everyday Giants would start for the Phillies? (Maybe Buster Posey at catcher, and I stress that that’s a “maybe.”) And yet where will Game 1 of the Fall Classic be staged?
In AT&T Park, hard by San Francisco Bay. You wouldn’t have guessed it, but there it is. And that’s, as Eddie Haas used to say, baseball.
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126 comments Add your comment
Puma
October 26th, 2010
3:46 pm
I am sick of people crying about the Teixeira trade!!! When we got Tex, we had an outside shot at reaching the playoffs and that was the reason they went out and got him, and he played great for us for the remainder of that year. If we had made the playoffs, would it have been worth it? The WS? It looks bad now, but the biggest piece of that trade was Salty, not Andrus or Neftali Feliz.
Did we get hosed in the long run? Yes. But Teixeira was, and still is, one of the top 3 players in all of baseball, just like Pujols. What would it take to get Pujols?
Mr. Turnip-Green Jeans
October 26th, 2010
3:52 pm
“What would it take to get Pujols?”
For us?
A Genie?
GwinnettDad
October 26th, 2010
3:55 pm
Incidentally, arguably the best baseball team of all time, the 1954 Cleveland Indians, was swept 4-0 in the World Series by the Giants – the New York Giants. The 111-43 (.721) winning percentage is the best ever in the modern era, better than the much more recent 116-46 (.716) of the New York Yankees. Any Clevelander sports fan has seen the Willie Mays catch ad nauseum at the Polo Grounds, which pretty much decided the first game and the series.
For fun, who here can name the hitter that hit the pitch that Willie Mays caught?
Hillbilly Deluxe
October 26th, 2010
3:55 pm
MLB needs to expand their playoffs to 10 or 12 teams before it becomes as irrelevant as soccer in this country. If more teams had a chance of making the postseason, you’d see more interest from cities that can’t afford to have $100 million rosters.
I think too many teams make it now. If you can’t win your division, should you really be there? I remember when you had to win your league, which was a good thing.
On Postseason and the Phillies:
The post-season this year is about the same thing it’s about every year, which team’s pitching gets hot and can manufacture runs.
johngaltjkt
October 26th, 2010
3:57 pm
Yes and it’s why I hate Baseball and Football is a far superior sport. Baseball is far too long with most games being tedious bores. Sure it’s fun to sit in the stands and drink beer and munch hot dogs and if you take a nap you’ll probably not miss anything.
Paul in RDU
October 26th, 2010
3:57 pm
One big difference between 1993 and 2010 is that there were no wildcards in 1993. And who can forget the fire in the stadium around the time of the McGriff trade?
Thinker
October 26th, 2010
3:58 pm
Very good, MB. I read one writer a few weeks ago who called these Phillies “maybe the best team in history”. I puked.
T-Bone
October 26th, 2010
4:06 pm
Great article, MB. It should also quiet all the Bobby Cox nay-sayers who yell that he should have won more WS titles. Sometimes you can have the best team, and simply not win. As you, and Eddie Haas, says, “That’s baseball.”
Bob Pettit
October 26th, 2010
4:07 pm
Bravo Mr. C – funny how you don’t hear much about the fleecing Schuerholz took in that deal – it might affect the carefully-crafted legacy that ignores some of the clunkers. The worst part about it is that he made that deal knowing what Tex’s market value was and knowing the Braves had no intention of signing him. If he didn’t know, all the worse……
Bob Pettit
October 26th, 2010
4:09 pm
Hey GwinnettDad – Vic Wertz
T-Bone
October 26th, 2010
4:11 pm
And let’s not start saying that other sports’ seasons are better. Baseball has the best combination of regular season and post-season. It’s a marathon to get to the post-season, then it becomes a sprint. And teams that win it all must have the ability to win both the marathon and the sprint–and a lot of luck.
chainz
October 26th, 2010
4:17 pm
The season is way too long…more teams in the playoffs may help….but americans can’t pay attention to a 30 second T&A filled beer add……do you really think theres any hope for baseball…..only if you can get the games down to about 45 minutes….. I grew up with baseball being the only major sport, football was a close second……. NOW how do you spell boring…MLB……or…. NBA…….these guys should make proper $$ for such talent….like $30K a year…. Lets pay a school teacher what they are worth…… Not some jerk-off athlete…..
GwinnettDad
October 26th, 2010
4:18 pm
@Bob Pettit – you win the fully immersible used pop up toaster! With a name like yours, Bob Pettit very possibly was playing baskeball for the St. Lous Hawks while Vic Wertz was a first baseman for the Cleveland Indians.
T Bren
October 26th, 2010
4:19 pm
Phillies were man-handled with relative ease by the Giants, who did not even require 7 games to put the inferior phillies in their place.
Bye-Bye, Philadelphia Phillies!
JASon
October 26th, 2010
4:21 pm
It doesn’t matter how dominant your team is offensively, you won’t know how good they really are until you put them up against the best pitching. The NLCS was everything baseball was meant to be. The fundamentals were great. The strategizing was great. The games were close. You really felt like these two teams deserved to be there.
Whit Oliver
October 26th, 2010
4:23 pm
Braves blew it when they dumped Escobar for the second-rate flop Gonzalez. Escobar having a good laugh now!
Captain Midnight
October 26th, 2010
4:47 pm
Howard looking at strike 3 to END THE SEASON was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.
sg10
October 26th, 2010
4:56 pm
How about 98 Braves who had 3 twenty game winners and won 106 or somewhere like that number of games? Wasn’t that team unbeatable too until it lost in 6 games in NLCS after sweeping the NLDS? or how about Mariners in early 2000 when they won 116 games and lost in the first round… baseball playoffs are strange and the best regular season team doesn’t win often..it may be the only sport where it happens so frequently, that the best or the most talented team gets knocked out early this frequently…
Deanna
October 26th, 2010
4:59 pm
And that’s why they play the games on the field and not on paper. Flip Flop Fly Ball (fun baseball stuff there!) has a great post today that illustrates what the 2010 MLB standings would look like if based on payroll. It just illustrates that winning isn’t always based on the tangible. Check out the post here: http://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/info-ifpayrollsdecided.html
GwinnettDad
October 26th, 2010
5:01 pm
@Whit, Escobar had only 4 HR and 11 extra base hits for Toronto. Whoopie. Batted .275 up there. That’s nothing to laugh about. Gonzalez had 17 doubles, 2 triples, and 6 HR here, but a .240 average. The trade was a wash, so far.
Roger
October 26th, 2010
5:02 pm
I think as long as baseball stretches the season into college football season they will always loose viewers. I’m a Braves fan for 30+ years, I was on the floor shouting when Sid Bream slid in home and we won the pennant. I got a cramp in my leg and could hardly get up. I have numerous Braves sports items and baseball cards but when my Alabama Crimson Tide football team is playing, I’ll be watching. Baseball needs to shorten the season by a few games. Just my .02.
Roger
October 26th, 2010
5:03 pm
Escobar was a misfit. Don’t miss him a bit.
DawgDad
October 26th, 2010
5:10 pm
“The trade was a wash, so far.”
Escobar played far better defense than Gonzalez. He would make a stupid play every now and then and look real bad, but he regularly made range plays (including arm effect) that Gonzalez can only dream about. Alex is steady and has very quick hands, but not a big plus-side asset defensively any more. At his worst offensively this year we had another Belliard.
Alex easily won the clubhouse, before he even showed up.
J-MAN
October 26th, 2010
5:18 pm
Well the only reason the Tex trade was a “bad trade” is the fact we did not m make him sign an extension. The rule now should be if you trade the farm for a player then you should make sure you keep the player. If you put the money that went to D. Lowe and KK then it would be the same per year as Tex. Also, we could be in the world series if Conrad didn’t have a meltdown or if we scored 3 more runs. While I blasted Bradley for the 8 reasons curse, we did get close and if we get Carl Crawford and trade JJ for Matt Kemp we will be in the Series MARK IT DOWN!!!!!!
J-MAN
October 26th, 2010
5:21 pm
Also Baseball needs to quit having their series DRAG OUT…… Ugu 3 day between each game and 2 weeks between series. Its as bad as the NBA……. When will they realize people LOOSE INTREST when you drag them out over 2 months.
interested observer
October 26th, 2010
5:24 pm
No way Heyward wins rookie of the year. Posey deserves that. This comes from a Braves (and Heyward) fan. Just the way it is.
Larvell Blanks
October 26th, 2010
5:27 pm
Though no one wants to admit it, in a game where the best team loses 40% of the time, and the best hitters fail 70% of the time, success in the playoffs isn’t usually a matter of heart, or coaching, or even skill — it’s mostly a matter of random chance, who gets hot at the right time, who doesn’t, who gets the strike call, whose hits go between the infielders rather than to them, etc. If someone has a big postseason, it’s probably not that he has some mystical quality that makes him a “clutch performer,” it’s just that his hits happened to fall during that week, and he could go ice cold the next postseason, or vice versa (see Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds). If that last strike against Howard was called a ball (which it easily could have been), the Phillies could have won the series. A “very good” team probably has a slightly better than 50% chance of defeating an “almost as good” team in a series, and it doesn’t take a choke for them to lose.
Same with the Braves. During their 14-year playoff run, I believe 100 teams made the playoffs. Statistically, therefore, one would have expected the Braves to win two championships. They won one. If Lonnie Smith hadn’t been deked by Knoblauch, they win in 1991. If Leyritz doesn’t hit a 3-run homer off Wohlers in 1996, the Braves take a 3-1 lead, and probably win the series. Baseball turns on things like that, and sometimes you’re on the wrong end of the stick.
Murph#3
October 26th, 2010
5:44 pm
Great comparison, Mark, and right on point, I might add! I remember watching that Phils-Braves series in ‘93 and simply not being able to comprehend how our juggernaut of a Braves team got beat in 6 games, but hey like you said, strange things happen in the postseason…
TTTT-Thumbody Thed Thats Thupid!
October 26th, 2010
5:59 pm
If Heyward win the ROY after the way he finished the season it would be a travesty. Posey deserves it much more and BTW, they voting needs to be done after the postseason, not before. That is just as important, if not more, than the regular season when it comes to telling a player’s true statistics.
Susan Odom
October 26th, 2010
6:01 pm
Someone said somewhere in this blog that Teixeira was in the top three baseball players, and I agree. He is the best first baseman I have ever seen (granted, I have not seen them all). HOWEVER, although he is/was good, we should not have to “sold the farm”. The trade at the time seemed beneficial, but in the long run and over time….not so good. Sure wish we had Andrus and Salty….oh, well, can’t sry over spilt milk. Looking forward to some of the prospects coming up. Thanks, Mr. Bradley, for a nice NEW blog…been waiting for Braves news….
Susan Odom
October 26th, 2010
6:03 pm
I can spell, I just can’t type very well.
DawgDad
October 26th, 2010
6:08 pm
“If Heyward win the ROY after the way he finished the season it would be a travesty.”
You are entitled to your opinion but I do not share it. ROY is based on accomplishments across the entire regular season. Heyward, at 20-21 years old, was a consistent offensive catalyst, the best player and the top marquee player on a playoff team (people bought tickets to see him play who otherwise might have stayed home). If he receives the award he is very deserving. That’s not to say there aren’t other players worthy of consideration, too.
BR
October 26th, 2010
6:14 pm
That’s why you play the games………………….
juice sourcer
October 26th, 2010
6:20 pm
Mr C…I did not realize what a horrible trade that was to rent Mark Texeira for a year and a half. I don’t follow minor league that closely. What the hell was Wren thinking…the Rangers starting shortstop and closer to name 2. My God he gave away the farm. Can’t wait to see what Bradley has to say.
DawgDad
October 26th, 2010
6:20 pm
It’s not so much the Drew and Teixiera deals individually didn’t work out so well (that will happen from time to time), it’s the cumulative lasting damage each trade left in its wake. As much as this year’s team lacked a “final piece” I’d rather take what we got and still have some semblance of a future. World Series rings are great, but the party is quickly over (and the Marlins, to me, are a sick joke).
Baseball is experienced in daily doses over long periods of time, and the focus should be on making all those days more enjoyable. Big crowds and the associated excitement primarily derive from the excitement of the pennant race. Far better to be in the race than hopelessly out.
DawgDad
October 26th, 2010
6:26 pm
I don’t think Wren made the Teixiera deal – wasn’t that Schuerholtz?
Joseph
October 26th, 2010
6:33 pm
I had a blast watching the GIANTS beat the Phillies and the Rangers beat the Yankees! The thing I do not like about many Phillies fans is how rude and full of themselves they are! They had the best team by far to me, but the bigger they are the harder they fall. They will be good again next year, but then that window will be closing with aging over paid stars! There is a fine line between keeping your core and moving forward each year with younger homegrown less expensive talent. The farm system is the key and finally baseball is figuring this out. I for one don’t care to see the Braves give a Carl Crawford or Jason Werth crazy money only to get 2-3 good years and 2-3 years where a great athlete is aging and breaking down.(Carlos Beltran) Let’s keep our young players and and be in the hunt every year!
Reason
October 26th, 2010
6:36 pm
Oliver Yunell needs to grow up He is with a team that will not make the playoffs for some time.The Braves will be back in the playoffs next year and will go deep.
Immigracion
October 26th, 2010
7:14 pm
Since Fredi Gonzalez is a Cuban refugee, what will the Braves do if he gets deported during the season?
Jon
October 26th, 2010
7:20 pm
Ir demonstrates once again that baseball in general and the World Seroed in particular is a lot like poker; if the cards don’t fall your way all the skill and talent in the world won’t help you. And both poker and baseball can be maddening.
dawg4u
October 26th, 2010
7:26 pm
Kudos Mark for a very good column and it really brought back memories of the ‘93 Braves and how good they were in August and September only to lose to the Phils. The Braves won 104 games to the Giants 103 to win it. Imagine winning 103 games and going home because there was no wild card then. You are right on in that the similarities or just unbelievable. The column made me ask which rotation was better – ‘93 Braves or ‘10 Phils. I would have to give a slight edge to the Braves but only slight because their fourth starter was better. It would have been an argument as to who the fourth starter was for the Braves in ‘93 with Maddox, Smoltz, Glavine or Avery because from ‘91 to ‘93, Avery was just lights out for the Braves at times. If the Phils could have had Moyer as the fourth starter then I still like the Braves but it would have been close – very close.
Bubba Joe
October 26th, 2010
7:27 pm
Whooooop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dere it is. The Phillies cleaning out their lockers with their tails between their legs.
TommyP
October 26th, 2010
7:33 pm
Buster Posey would’ve started in Philly. I know Ruiz had a career year but he was no Buster Posey.
And Posey wins ROY, people. Heyward shouldn’t even finish 2nd. (Jaime Garcia)
WeBurn
October 26th, 2010
7:35 pm
Great analogy, though I think you can make the argument that the 98 team was the best of the 90s. That 93 team is definitely in the top two, probably #1.
Fredi's the man!
October 26th, 2010
8:28 pm
Elvis Andrus was a large part of what Texas wanted in the trade that brought Tex here, Schuerholz (not Wren) included him because we had Yunel who was impressive defensively and offensively and green enough that his antics and inconsistency was blamed on his youth. Obviously in retrospect we should’ve kept Elvis, but without him the trade would not have happened. Feliz? I think going forward he could help us more than Andrus.
Curious George, it’s probably been pointed out on another post by now, but the respect that Fredi has around the league is BECAUSE of Handley ‘the idiot’ Ramirez. Fredi’s refusal to let one player, regardless of his ability, show up the staff, the teammates, and the game itself by not hustling and playing the game the right way earned him respect from the small group that didn’t already respect him for what he had done with a woefully underfunded, ineptly owned team.
I can’t wait for spring training, and while I’m at it, Chipper…RETIRE. You’re a HOFer and we need your money to help the team in other ways. Even Mantle got too old to hit, and you’re there, dude.
Fredi's the man!
October 26th, 2010
8:31 pm
Dawg for u: to me, the Bravos of 93 had the better rotation if only because those guys eventually won a total of 7 Cy Young awards. Nice post, though.
MB, good column.
Now back to the grass field…it’s Ga Fla week, you know. Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fredi's the man!
October 26th, 2010
8:32 pm
Enter your comments here
lee
October 26th, 2010
8:39 pm
yah, they should really be distraught about not making the World Series for the first time in 3 years. Let’s see, the Braves appeared in a World Series in uh, when was it, somebody help me out here….oh yeah 1999 and they got SWEPT!! Quit living in the past Bradley and to all the other people who wanted the Phillies and the Yankees, deal with it!!
extremus
October 26th, 2010
8:40 pm
Mr. Bradley,
Since everybody’s started talking about expanding the playoffs here, what if MLB thinks outside the box for a change and begins negotiations with the Japanese (and perhaps other foreign) league to evolve the World Series into a multinational affair more worthy of its name? Sure, the jet lag would make regular season matchups between US and Asian teams impractical, but a World Series with an extra travel day (or two) between city transitions could boost ratings for both leagues exponentially. It could become baseball’s semi-equivalent of the World Cup.
I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen, but I admit that it WOULD be intriguing to see the best talent from BOTH sides of the Pacific featured in the Fall Classic.
Dawgdad (The Original)
October 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
I’ve been a big baseball fan for 50 years, but if they expand the playoffs I’m done. An expansion turns this sport into the NBA or NHL, where you play the whole season to eliminate 4 teams. What unmitigated cropola! Help us defeat another instant gratification folly perpetrated on America.