They were known as “The Miracle Braves” for good reason.
Someone could write a good book about that team.
I figured it was the 1914 Braves. They had less time to catch up, too. But the 2005 Astros were just as far below, which I hadn’t remembered at all.
The 1989 Blue Jays started 12-24, even worse in percentage terms, fired their manager… and finished first. I am fairly sure that represents the best playoff-bound turnaround by a team after firing its manager; the 1914 Braves (George Stallings) 2005 Astros (Phil Garner) and 2019 Nationals (Dave Martinez) did not fire their skipper.
The 1983 Phillies won the pennant after firing the manager mid season. The thing is, they were in first place when they fired him.
Pour encourager les autres?
It wasn’t just that they mounted a tremendous comeback; it was that there was no sign at all the team was any good. The year before, they went 69-82, and that was a pleasantly GOOD year for them; prior to that they’d been the most miserable team in baseball for a long time.
After 1914 they had a few good but not first place years, and then promptly collapsed, not winning the pennant again until 1948 and sucking donkey balls almost every year.
Getting to the game, the Astros made a little noise in the top of the 2nd. But after yesterday’s game I can’t help but feel that it’s over for Houston. It’s very similar to game 7 in 2002 after Dusty’s gaffe with that “game ball” in game 6.
In game 7 every Giants fan I know knew it was over even before the game was played.
I feel it’s over for the Astros.
I think it was a collapse of the very strong New York Giants teams more than anything else.
The Giants faded down the stretch in 1914 and finished in last place in 1915 before they could retool a few years later, leaving the field open for other teams for a few years. Not sure if they aged out or if losing players to the Federal League had anything to do with it.
Speaking of fire sales…the 1914 A’s were an interesting team, featuring the $100,000 infield and 6 Hall of Famers. They had won 3 World Series in the previous 4 years, so they were heavily favored. After the WS loss, Connie Mack sold off several of his best players, possibly due to salary inflation from the FL, and the A’s sank to the bottom of the standings for over a decade.
He admitted that he had gotten rid of too many good players, but after rebuilding through the '20s, did it again with his second great team in the '30s. Hmmmm…
This post aged well, eh?
Could still end up with a Phillies Series in 6 but it’s clearly not over. Problem with small sample sizes, of course. There can always be an egg or two laid by any team at any time.
Not quite yet.
Not quite over yet…
A no-hitter in a World Series game tonight! Something that absolutely nobody saw coming.
This whole postseason has had a bunch of weird games apparently.
Maybe I need to post It’s Over for each game. 
A combined no hitter. Pretty amazing, especially after last night’s game. And there’s already a wiki page for it. I’m guessing it was not created by a Phillies fan.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astros's_combined_World_Series_no-hitter
So tomorrow we can expect the highest scoring game in WS histor as the Fillies defeat Houston 29-27 in 15?
Combined no-hitters rank up there with 15 game hitting streaks in terms of meaning and excitement. Javier was terrific, but we see dominant relievers throw clean innings every day of the season. Meh.
Combined no-hitters are bullshit and shame on MLB for even acknowledging such a thing.
What’s next?
4 different guys on a team: one hits a single, another a double, a 3rd guy a triple and one other hits a home run. Oh boy a combined cycle!!! Stop the presses. What an achievement.
Or maybe you and 11 of your friends can go to a bowling alley. Each one of you bowls a strike. Oh gee, a combined perfect game. Drinks for all!
Ridiculous!
I guess?
There were only 2 combined no-hitters in the regular season. To go with an additional 5 total over the last decade. Single pitcher no-no’s are still waaaay more common, despite the increased reliance on dominant relievers.
To be honest, if you and 11 friends each only bowled 1 frame and each bowled a strike on the one chance you got, I would be very impressed.
Opinions on the “combined no hitter” aside, I was surprised to learn that that was the first time since Don Larsen that a team had been no hit. If you asked me if it had happened in the intervening 65 years I would have easily said “probably” despite not knowing for sure.
Well, at 2-2, it’s a 2 out of 3 series now. I haven’t been following this series, so do you think either team has the pitching advantage for this upcoming “mini-series”? Outside of the one close 6-5 game, it seems like the teams have taken turns at totally dominating the games they’ve won.
I was a little surprised, too, but no-hitters are rare enough, and there are few enough games played in the post-season, that the odds weren’t that high.
There are 2430 regular-season games played in an MLB regular season, and, over the past few decades, it looks like MLB has been averaging three or four no-hitters in any given regular season. That puts their occurrence at somewhere around one in every 600 to 800 games played.
Prior to 1969, and divisional play, there was only the World Series, and thus, a maximum of only seven games in a particular post-season (and, there could be fewer, of course, if a series didn’t go the full seven games). From '69 to '93, there was only one round of league playoffs before the World Series, and thus, a maximum of seventeen post-season games (1969-1984) or twenty-one post-season games (1985-1993, when the LCS went from best-of-five to best-of-seven).
Even in the expanded playoff structure of today, with three rounds of league playoffs prior to the World Series, there is still (if my math is right) only a maximum of 53 total games potentially played during the post-season, if every single series goes to the limit.
Yeah. It’s kind of an oddity, but if Cristian Javier had personally thrown a complete game no hitter, that would be a genuinely historical event.
Not to mention the fact that your “average” MLB team that gets no-hit isn’t super likely to be in the playoffs, let alone the World Series. (Oddities certainly occur, but it’s usually teams like the Royals and Tigers getting no-hit.)