5 biggest collapses in MLB history
It's July 15, 2016, the day after the All-Star break, and the San Francisco Giants own the best record in baseball. The pace they've set over the first half (57-33) puts them in line for 103 wins.
Fast forward to today, the season's final weeks, when pennants are won and wild-card spots are fought for.
The Giants are an awful 23-38 since the All-Star break - the worst second half record in baseball - so bad, in fact, that the Giants are the first team in history to win fewer than 40 percent of their games after owning the best record in the first half.
We took a look at five epic free falls in MLB history, and it's never, ever, pretty.
God speed, Bruce Bochy and friends.
1987 Toronto Blue Jays
When the Toronto Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers arrived at Tiger Stadium on Oct. 4, 1987 for the final game of the season, the Tigers held a one-game lead over the Jays in the AL East. The previous week, Toronto had a 3 1/2 game lead on the division, while the Tigers at one point that season were 11 games out of first place. By the time the Blue Jays left the stadium that day, their record was 96-66, they were swept by the Tigers, and in second place (where playoff spots aren't won).
2011 Boston Red Sox
The 2011 Boston Red Sox probably predicted their own demise. The team's 2-10 start to the season should have been indicative of what was to come, but instead, the Red Sox went 81-42. And then came September: Boston lost 20 of 27 games, blew a nine-game lead, and became the first team to miss the playoffs after being up by that margin for a postseason spot entering the final month.
1969 Chicago Cubs
Maybe it was the black cat walking behind the on-deck circle where Ron Santo was standing at Shea Stadium that turned the tables on the 1969 Chicago Cubs, cursing the team from the North Side and allowing the New York Mets to take the pennant that year. The demise had the first place Cubs (in first for 155 days) collapse in mid-September, losing 17 of 25 games down the stretch and finishing eight games behind the "Miracle Mets." The Mets had never finished better than ninth place in their first seven seasons.
2009 Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers spent 146 days in first place and held a three-game lead with four games left to play. As the theme of this list might suggest, that lead was squandered and the second consecutive tiebreaker for the AL Central title was set to take place.
With identical 86-76 records, the Tigers took on the Minnesota Twins for a tie-breaking 163rd game of the season - and lost 6-5 in 12 innings. Hey, at least Detroit helped make the Metrodome's final regular-season game be forever memorable.
1951 Brooklyn Dodgers
The 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers held a 13-game lead over the National League as late as August but failed to keep it up. The identical 96-58 record with the New York Giants meant they were subject to a best-of-three tiebreaker series to decide the winner of the pennant. In the deciding game, Giants' Bobby Thomson hit a walk-off home run, best known as baseball's "Shot Heard 'Round the World." Yes, a shot directly into the heart of every Dodgers' fan.
(Image courtesy: MLB.com)