2007 Mets fell harder, faster than 2011 Red Sox, Braves

Wow. Looking at the headlines, you would think that nothing like the Red Sox AL Wild Card collapse has ever, ever happened. But it has. Recently.

Back on September 12, 2007 the New York Mets had a 7 game lead over the Phillies in the NL East, with 17 games left to play. With 17 games left to play on September 10, 2011, the Red Sox had a 4.5 game lead over the Rays in the AL Wild Card race. With 17 games left to play on September 09, 2011, the Atlanta Braves had a 6.5 game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Wild Card race. So, even though the leads of the Red Sox and Braves were larger earlier in the month than the lead the 2007 Mets had over the Phillies, the collapse of the 2007 Mets was more dramatic – more losses over a fewer number of games to end the season – than either of the 2011 collapses.

Sorry for the crudeness of the charts. That's what you get when you copy and paste from Microsoft Word.

So, while the dual collapses of the Braves and Red Sox was indeed dramatic this year, it was not more dramatic – and not as steep – as the collapse of the 2007 Mets, who lost more games to close a season resulting in losing a playoff berth over a shorter period of time than did either the Red Sox or the Braves this year.