A collapse of historic proportion

The New York Mets went down to defeat yesterday 8-1 and thereby missed out on post-season play. The Mets led Philadelphia by 7 games with 17 to play. Squandering this lead represents, I believe, the biggest last-season collapse since the Pholding Phillies in 1964. The Washington Nationals played a major part in the demise of the Mets. Down the stretch, we took 5 of 6 games from the Mets, but only 2 of 7 from Philadelphia.
I have no particular affection for the Mets, but I’ve always like their manager Willie Randolph. The Mets collapse might well cost him his job.
The playoffs will be notable for the lack of differentiation among the teams. In the National League, three of the four teams will have won 89 or 90 games (identical records for statistical purposes) and the fourth team (the Cubs) won 85. In the American League, the difference is even less significant. All four teams won 94 to 96 games.
In theory, this should make for playoffs that are even more interesting than usual.

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