Bryce Harper and the Phillies will look to end what is now the longest postseason drought in MLB. (Don Otto)
WASHINGTON — In dramatic fashion, the Seattle Mariners clinched the final wild card spot in the American League on a walk-off home run from Cal Raleigh. The win snapped Seattle’s 21-year long postseason drought, which was the longest in both Major League Baseball and men’s North American professional sports.
The Phillies are not the Sacramento Kings, who have not made the NBA playoffs since the 2005-06 season and have the longest postseason drought in major men’s North American sports. The Phillies, however, are now the owners of the longest active postseason drought in baseball at 11 years. The NFL’s New York Jets and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres also have an 11-year postseason drought.
That could all change and the Phillies could be in the postseason at this time next week, but for now, they will bear the burden of being the franchise that has gone the longest without playing in the playoffs.
Long postseason droughts are nothing new for the Phillies organization. When the ’07 Phillies clinched the NL East title on the final day of the regular season, they snapped a 14-year long postseason drought. Ever since the Whiz Kids won the NL pennant in 1950, the Phillies have had postseason droughts of 26 years, 10 years, 14 years and 11 years.
The playoffs have expanded numerous times over the last 50 or so years. The league championship series was added in 1969 after the four-team expansion and the division series plus a wild card was added in 1995 following realignment to three divisions after expansion in ’93. The latest collective bargaining agreement expanded the playoffs from five teams in each league to six.
To reach the postseason, the Phillies need a combination of five wins or Milwaukee defeats over their final six games. The Brewers squeezed out a 1-0 victory over the Marlins on Friday night. Corbin Burnes threw eight shutout innings while Sandy Alcantara allowed one run on a sacrifice fly in an eight-inning complete-game loss.
The Phillies are a half game ahead of Milwaukee with a game in hand and the tiebreaker, which means the Brewers will have to finish ahead of the Phillies to make the playoffs.
FanGraphs says the Phillies have just over a 70% chance to make the postseason, but the math cannot account for having to attempt to squeeze in three games in two days with perpetual rain in the forecast. They are scheduled to begin game one of a split doubleheader at 1:05 p.m. in D.C.
At least someone from Philadelphia is heading to the postseason. Here’s Philly’s own Dave Sims nailing the call on Raleigh’s home run:
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