Biggest baseball collapse

Elliotte, refresh my memory. Toronto had a 3.5 game lead with how many games left?

 

No... was the last week.
10 days actually, because if the Tigers had lost the last game in Toronto, they'd have been done.

The two teams would square off in seven hard-fought games during the final two weeks of the season. All seven games were decided by one run, and in the first six of the seven games, the winning run was scored in the final inning of play. At Exhibition Stadium, the Tigers dropped three in a row to the Blue Jays before winning a dramatic extra-inning showdown.

The Tigers entered the final week of the 1987 season 3.5 games behind. After a series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Tigers returned home trailing by a game and swept the Blue Jays. Detroit clinched the division in a 1-0 victory over Toronto in front of 51,005 fans at Tiger Stadium on Sunday afternoon, October 4. Frank Tanana went all nine innings for the complete game shutout, and outfielder Larry Herndon gave the Tigers their lone run on a second-inning home run. Detroit finished the season a Major League-best 98-64, two games ahead of Toronto.

 

Still in absolute shock that the Mets fell apart in the fashion they did. I actually thought they would get in the post season. Absolutely awful! And thanks to their meltdown, I lost my baseball pool.

 

Up 9 in mid-August to down 8.

The 1969 Cubs.

I think you have to factor how much the clutch-up hurt the franchise. The Cubs are still waiting to play in the WS. At least the other teams (Yanks, Mets, Phillies, Boston) all tasted some type of success prior to or after the collapse.

 

What's that phrase, Shit happens!

 

Please keep the language clean or take it to PM.

 

Armchair, I believe it was 7 games left to play (If someone else can confirm this). I got the following from the Toronto Star:

"On the second last Saturday of the season, the Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead into the ninth, threatening to take
a 4 1/2 game lead on the Tigers with six to play. Instead Kirk Gibson tied it with a solo off Tom Henke-then won it with an RBI single in the 13th. Jays went on the lose their final seven, with Detroit clinching at home on the final day."

 

Ahhh, The Terminator... Mitch Williams before his time...

 

The 1964 Phillies' collapse is what really killed Gene Mauch. Lung cancer was just the scapegoat. With 12 games left, the Phillies blew a 6 1/2-game lead, and that -- coupled with Mitch Williams -- is why Phillies fans find breathing easily difficult in September and October.

 

Since I saw it I'll go out on a startling thin limb and say the 1986 Red Sox. This wasn't a choke over several months, weeks or a few days. That's a slow strangulation. The Sox took just a few minutes. You can't get any more decisive a gag then having the other team down to its last swing, as the Mets were in Game 6, and then all but handing them the game and the championship in the blink of an eye. And, like a baseball down the throat, the Sox took a lead in Game 7 and blew that, too.

 

Not sure how the '88 Mets, '93 Phillies or '03 Red Sox ended up on this poll, but typical. :

AQB, of course, nailed it in the second post. 1964 Phillies in the Regular Season Bracket, with the '07 Mets a close second, and 2004 Yankees in the Postseason Bracket.

Let me also throw out a few way-back contenders:

1934 Giants -- Up by 5.5 games with 16 to go. But the Cardinals won 14 of 16, including three of four from the Giants. New York ended the season on a five-game losing streak. The hated Dodgers knocked them out of the first place on the next-to-last day of the season and then beat them again in the finale to clinch the pennant for St. Louis. The Dodgers were still fuming from manager Bill Terry's infamous response to a prognosticating reporter in spring training, "Is Brooklyn still in the league?"

1938 Pirates -- Up by seven games on Sept. 1. Lost 8 of 11 to begin the month and lead was down to 2.5. Meanwhile, the Cubs were winning 10 in a row and going 21-5 in September. The Cubs swept Pittsburgh in three games Sept. 27-29, the middle one famous for Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'" in the bottom of the ninth to win 6-5 and put Chicago in first place for good. The Pirates then lost 3 of 4 to Cincinnati to finish 2 games out.