Playoff Misery 101

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Pity the poor fans of the Chicago Cubs. After a great regular season where they were arguably the most dominant team in the National League, they go out and get bounced from the playoffs after only three games. The Dodgers win two at Wrigley and one at Chavez and the loveable Cubbies’ span between World Series titles will be at least 101 years now.

After watching the Red Sox and the White Sox both erase decades-long World Series title droughts/generation-crushing curses, the overwhelming opinion was that it would be the Cubs turn to lose their identity and host a parade. So a baseball nation mourns as the Northsiders losing streak continues. Can any franchise match that kind of futility?

Oh, wait, maybe I can think of one.

You want to moan and cry about 101 years between titles, Cubs fans? Really??? Where do you keep the trophy from that 1908 Series win? Because in Texas, we don’t have that problem. We can’t even enter the “how long between titles” debate, because you have to win ONE before you can win the second one.

Longest suffering fans in baseball? It’s not even close. Steve Bartman dropped a ball and extended the streak? Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that in the NLCS? Oh, so you’ve won a playoff round in the last 20 years? Oh, poor you.

Let me recap the Rangers’ entire postseason existence. We won a game, first Texas playoff game ever in fact, right there in the pile of rubble that was Yankee Stadium. October 1, 1996, 6-2 over the pinstripes. Juan Gonzalez with the game-winning RBI, a 3-run homer in the top of the 4th. John Burkett with the win. And then we lost every other playoff game in 1996. And 1998. And 1999. That’s right: Texas ALL-TIME playoff record is 1-9.

Wanna talk about futility? Everyone stand up. Now, every franchise that’s won a round in the playoffs since the Division Series was added in 1995, sit down. Who does that leave? Only 7 of the 30 teams are still standing. In the AL, it’s Toronto (World Series wins in 92 and 93) and Kansas City (WS win in 85). So everyone in the AL has more playoff game wins in the past quarter century than Texas. In the NL, it’s the Reds (1990 WS win), Pittsburgh (3 NLCS appearances in early 90’s, WS win in 79), Milwaukee (WS loss in 82), and the still new-car-smell Washington Nationals. Even the Expos won a series and made the 1981 NLCS during the strike-season playoff format.

So, here’s my thought. Complain, lean on the curses, and mourn your team’s lack of postseason success all you want. Then remember that you, your mom, and probably most people that you know are tied with me and Cary Lowry for second place on the list of “Rangers All-Time Winning Pitchers in the Playoffs”, right behind John Burkett. Would falling a game or two short of the World Series be devastating? I honestly have no idea. You’d have to check with a poor, pitiful Cubs fan.