By Woodrow Carroll
Postseason Major League Baseball (MLB): October 5, 2004, the Minnesota Twins defeated the New York Yankees, 2-0, in an American League Division Series game. It was the opening playoff game of the postseason for both clubs. It was the last time the Twins won a postseason game.
Since facing the Yankees in 2004, the Twins have dropped 18 consecutive postseason games. Last week, Minnesota made good on extending that streak by losing two games to the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series. The Twins have made the playoffs a many times since 2004. A postseason victory, however, has remained elusive.
After losing to the Twins in their 2004 playoff opener, the Yankees reeled off six consecutive victories. The Twins were eliminated, and New York went ahead, 3-0 on the Boston Red Sox. Another victory over Boston and the Yankees were World Series-bound. It didn’t happen!
Boston took games four and five of the 2004 AL Championship Series in extra innings. The Red Sox finished the comeback by taking games six and seven in New York. It was on to the World Series.
The Yankees have won six straight games in the postseason. The Red Sox won eight straight, four straight in the comeback over the Yankees, then a four-game sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series in 2004.
Boston’s World Series conquest ended an 86-year quest. Prior to 2004, the previous Red Sox championship was in 1918. One year after Boston’s sweep of St. Louis, the Chicago White Sox did a 4-0 number on the Houston Astros in the 2005 World Series. With it, the White Sox wrote finish to an 88-year World Series dry spell. The White Sox and Red Sox were World Series champions in 1917 and 1918, respectively.
The Twins reached the World Series on three occasions. All three appearances were in odd-numbered years, 1965, 1987, and 1991, a happenstance that favored the Twins because the Series opened at the home of the American League team.
Minnesota is 11-1 in home World Series games and 0-9 on the road. In 1965 the Twins lost the World Series, four games to three to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A 2-0 loss to Sandy Koufax in game seven of the 1965 World Series played in Minnesota is the only Twins loss on home turf.
Minnesota beat the St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three in 1987, by winning all four home games and losing three times on the road. The same World Series scenario prevailed in the Twins-Atlanta Braves 1991 World Series.
The magic can disappear in a hurry! In 2001 the Seattle Mariners concluded the regular season with a 116-46 record. The 116 victories tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs for most victories in the modern era. Seattle’s Lou Piniella was AL manager of the year and Ichiro Suzuki was AL rookie of the year and many players had career seasons.
The postseason for the 2001 Mariners was another story. Seattle struggled to get past the Cleveland Indians, and won three games to two to open the playoffs. The season came to a sudden end when the three-time defending World Series champion Yankees ousted the Mariners, four games to one in the League Championship round.
Things took a turn for the worse for Seattle after 2001! The Mariners have failed to make the playoffs since 2001. Seattle’s playoff futility is the longest in major pro sports in North America. Every other team in the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and MLB has participated in postseason play since 2001.
Negativity continues to surround the Mariners. Of the 30 franchises in the MLB, San Diego, Colorado, Texas, Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, and Seattle have yet to win a World Series championship, however, only the Mariners’ franchise has not made it to the World Series.