Teams With Weak Regular Seasons That Still Reached the World Series

Houston's postseason run gets underway Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox in the wild-card series, with the team requiring 14 victories to secure a World Series championship. Baseball history offers several examples of clubs that struggled through the regular season yet advanced deep enough in October to play for a championship, including the 1973 New York Mets, who finished 82-79 before losing the World Series and, alongside the 2005 San Diego Padres, shared the record for fewest victories by a postseason qualifier in a complete regular season until the current Houston Astros squad claimed that distinction. Trailing in the standings with a month left in the season and five games below the break-even mark on September 11, the Mets — long tied to Tug McGraw's rallying cry "Ya Gotta Believe!!!" — proceeded to win 12 of their last 16 games. After eliminating the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Championship Series and building a 3-2 series lead against the Oakland Athletics, the team dropped the final two games and was unable to claim the World Series title. From there, they defeated the San Diego Padres in the NLDS and edged past the New York Mets across seven games in the NLCS, before claiming the World Series title over Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in five games. Arizona's run to the 2023 World Series required seven games to eliminate Philadelphia in the NLCS before losing to Texas, which had also needed the full seven-game distance to beat Houston in the ALCS; separately, the 1987 Minnesota Twins, finishing the regular season at 85–77, captured that year's World Series title, holding the record for the lowest win total by a championship team until the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals claimed it. During the regular season, the Twins recorded a 29-52 road record, yet they went on to win all four home games at the Metrodome in the postseason, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals to take the World Series. Cleveland eliminated the Yankees and Orioles in the postseason that year, while the Florida Marlins went on to capture the World Series in seven games, with Édgar Rentería producing the winning hit in the final at-bat; separately, the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies, who finished the regular season at 87-75, were unable to win the World Series, a campaign that had also seen manager Joe Girardi replaced in June following a slow start to the season. Down five games as late as August, the club posted a 36-18 mark over the remainder of the regular season, then navigated the postseason to beat the 95-win Astros in six games and capture the World Series. Jorge Soler earned the World Series Most Valuable Player award after his home run travelled beyond the boundaries of the Astros' ballpark.

Teams With Weak Regular Seasons That Still Reached the World Series

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Teams With Weak Regular Seasons That Still Reached the World Series

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