Mariners’ Brutal Playoff Collapse All Too Familiar For Red Sox Fans
For Boston Red Sox fans, the Seattle Mariners’ stunning collapse against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS was all too familiar.
For starters, the Mariners became just the fourth team in MLB history to lose a seven-game playoff series after winning the first two games on the road. One of those teams was the 1986 Red Sox, who were famously one strike away from winning the World Series before choking against the New York Mets.
The Mariners losing the final two games of the series on the road when they only needed to win one recalls the 1949 Red Sox, who dropped the final two games of the regular season at Yankee Stadium to cough up the pennant. It happened again to the Red Sox during this year’s AL Wild Card Series, as they became the first team to blow a 1-0 series lead in that round under the current format.
And of course, blowing a late lead in a winner-take-all playoff game on a crushing home run is classic Red Sox. George Springer’s go-ahead three-run homer to left field in the seventh inning was eerily similar to Bucky Dent’s three-run bomb to left in the seventh inning of the 1978 AL East tiebreaker game against the New York Yankees. It was also reminiscent of Aaron Boone’s walk-off shot in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.
The Mariners were ultimately undone by Dan Wilson’s managerial blunder, which the Red Sox endured their fair share of during their 86-year championship drought. From Dick Williams and Grady Little sticking with their aces too long in Game 7s to John McNamara letting a hobbled Bill Buckner man first base at Shea Stadium, the Red Sox were often sabotaged by their own managers at the most critical moments.
The Mariners could and probably should have won Game 7 and advanced to the World Series, just like the 2003 Red Sox. They let a pennant slip away, and there are few things in sports more painful than that.