The early years of the American League Championship Series had been somewhat anticlimactic. A playoff round that was founded in 1969 as a best-of-five series, the first three editions had seen the Baltimore Orioles blow through with sweeps each time. The 1972 ALCS was different. The Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers provided heart-stopping excitement throughout, […]
The battles between the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates defined the National League Championship Series in the 1970s, especially in the decade’s early part. Four times, these teams played for the pennant. And their battles were never better than in the 1972 NLCS, a series that was decided on its final pitch, with the Reds […]
The 1972 Cincinnati Reds came into the season looking for a comeback. When the Reds won the National League pennant in 1970, with a core group of talented young players, they appeared poised to dominate for years to come. But a surprise collapse to a sub-.500 finish in 1971 had tempered those hopes. As it […]
The Pirates were riding high, having won a dramatic World Series in 1971. Pittsburgh had won the NL East each of the last two years. Even with a managerial change—Bill Virdon took over for Danny Murtaugh, who retired upstairs to the front office–the 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates were more of the same. They ran away with […]
After winning the World Series in 1968, the Tigers had slipped under .500 by 1970. A year later, they hired Billy Martin. With the feisty Martin in the dugout, Detroit rose to 91 wins and a second-place finish in 1971. And the 1972 Detroit Tigers took the next step, captured the old AL East and […]
Earl Weaver’s Orioles had dominated the American League for three consecutive seasons. From 1969 through 1971, they won an average of 106 games each year. They swept through the best-of-five ALCS with a combined 9-0 record to win the pennant each year. In 1970, they won the World Series. But some big names were getting […]
The Subway Series had once been a concept that defined baseball, especially in the late 1940s and through much of the 1950s. That was when the Dodgers and Giants joined the Yankees as New York’s teams. When the former two teams moved west, the Subway Series stopped, even as the Mets became the Big Apple’s […]
The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners came into the 2000 ALCS with very different histories. The Yankees were the most decorated franchise in all of professional sports, and the two-time defending World Series champions to boots. The Mariners were a team whose very existence was still less than 25 years old. They had never […]
In the latter part of the 1980s, the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals were archrivals in the NL East. The realignment of 1994 put the Cardinals into the NL Central, but the rivalry was renewed in the 2000 National League Championship Series. New York was looking for its first pennant since 1986, St. […]
When the 2000 National League Division Series began, the Atlanta Braves were the defending NL pennant winners and back again as a division champ. The San Francisco Giants were the team who had the National League’s best record in 2000. But neither team would make it out of this best-of-five round. It was the New […]
The 2000 ALDS Series had some new cast members. The Chicago White Sox were in the postseason for the first time in seven years. The Seattle Mariners were here after a five-year absence. And the Oakland A’s were in the playoffs for the first time since The Bash Brothers era came to an end eight […]
Tony LaRussa’s arrival in St. Louis in 1996 had paid immediate dividends. A proud Cardinal franchise that had been on the outs for several years got to within one game of the World Series. But that progress was not sustained. Over the next three seasons, St. Louis finished under .500 twice and topped out at […]