Once Every Decade

by Bob Tompkins

Reaching the playoffs: The Holy Grail of every sports franchise. If you're the Yankees, it seems like you go every year. If you're the Devil Rays, you probably never will. But for most clubs, there's roughly a 25% chance that they'll make it to the first round of the playoffs in any given season, so theoretically, a team will make it to the post-season once in about every four years, right? So...do they?

The New York Mets have been in existence as a franchise for three complete decades and parts of two others, and have appeared in the post-season at least once in each of the five decades in which they have participated. Think that's not an uncommon feat? In a few minutes, we'll take a look at how many other baseball teams can make that boast. But first, let's explore briefly just how the New Yorkers accomplished this phenomenon.

Historical Overview

In the 1960s, the fledgling Mets were the doormats of the National League, all the way from their inception in 1962 to the beginning of the 1969 season, when the Las Vegas oddsmakers made them 100-to-1 underdogs to win the World Series. But that season was the stuff of miracles, as the Mets blew past the highly favored Cubs, the highly favored Braves, and the highly favored Orioles to win the Championship of the World, in the last possible season of the decade of the '60s.

New York's only appearance in the post-season during the 1970s very nearly didn't happen at all. In August of 1973, the Mets were actually in last place in the Eastern Division of the National League! But the rally cry of "Ya Gotta Believe!" led the way as the Mets overcame weak Eastern Division competition, surprised the Reds in the playoffs, and took the Athletics all the way to the seventh game of the World Series.

The 1980s provided the Mets with their only decade with multiple trips to the post-season (so far). In the last six years of that decade, the Mets finished second four times, went to the playoffs in 1988, losing to the Dodgers, and captured the whole prize in their glorious season of 1986, winning more games that season than any other team in the '80s.

In the 1990s, my faith in this string of decade appearances was strained nearly to the snapping point. Yes, I was already thinking of this as early as 1990, when the Mets were still considered to be a National League powerhouse. But they went into a swift and disastrous decline, as the teams from 1991 to 1996 were, to say it politically, victory-challenged. But then came the Bobby Valentine era, when they immediately became respectable again, climbing back to third in 1997, then second in 1998. The Met club in 1999 (the last chance for the decade, of course) actually went to the day after the last day of the season, winning a one-game playoff against the Reds for the honor of being named the Wild Card winners for the National League. Talk about making it to the post-season by the skin of their teeth! But make it they did.

In 2000 they took all the suspense out of the decade immediately, going to the World Series for the fourth time, and losing to the crosstown Yankees. Now the heat is off for continuing their impressive string of decade appearances in the post-season, at least for the next sixteen years or so!

Who Else Has Done It?

"Well, the Yankees have done the same thing, of course," you are saying to yourself. Ah, but not so, Grasshopper! The Yankees didn't reach the post-season (which at the time meant the World Series) for the entire first two decades of their existence, not making the big show until a certain fellow named Ruth came along.

So, who has? My studies started with the decade of the 1900s, since most of the teams that played before 1900 are unknown to most of us now anyway, and the American League didn't even exist.

Let's start by looking at the AL. In that first decade of the last century, four superb teams each went to the World Series at least twice: the White Sox, the Red Sox, the Tigers, and the Philadelphia Athletics. In the 1910s, three of those four teams utterly dominated, with the White (and Black) Sox going back to the Series twice, and Boston and Philadelphia each going four times! But the powerhouse Red Sox and White Sox were out of steam by 1920, being shut out for the next decade, leaving only the Athletics, who did make it once in the 1920s and twice in the 1930s before Connie Mack's fiscal sensibilities brought an end to that four-decade string.

What about expansion teams? In 1961, the AL brought in the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels and the Washington Senators (who would become the Texas Rangers), but neither of them made it to the playoffs in their first decade. In 1969, the league expanded again, adding the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers, but with only one year to try, they never had a chance. Again in 1977, the league added two more teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, but they didn't have enough time to make it in their first decade either, though they have both had impressive histories since then. The American League's last expansion came in 1998, when they added the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Enough said.

No American League team in history has appeared in the post-season during every decade of their existence.

In the National League in the decade of the 1900s, only four teams reached the post-season: Brooklyn, the New York Giants twice, Pittsburgh four times, and the Cubs three times. In the 1910s, Brooklyn again went to the World Series once, the Cubs went twice more, the Giants four more times, but the Pirates were shut out. In the 1920s, all three remaining teams again reached the Series, with the Giants again going to the big dance four times in the decade. In the 1930s, the Dodgers fell out of the running, but the Cubs and the Giants each went to the Series three times. In the 1940s, the Giants were shut out, but the Cubs once more went to the World Series, giving Chicago an impressive string of five consecutive decade appearances in the post-season. Which, as Cub fans everywhere know, came to a stop right there.

In 1962, the National League expanded for the first time, adding the Mets and the Astros. A second expansion occurred in 1969, adding the Expos and the Padres. The Astros, Padres, and Expos didn't get to the playoffs in that decade, so their potential strings expired before they could get them started. No more expansion occurred until 1993, when the Marlins and Rockies were added. Well, Colorado and Florida both made it to the post-season in the 1990s, but not so far in the 2000s. The last expansion took place in 1998, adding the Diamondbacks to the National League. Arizona made it to the post-season in 1999 (being defeated by the Mets in the playoffs), and also did in this current decade, besting the Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

And there you have it, the only team who has appeared in the post-season in every decade of their existence besides the Mets: the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have existed for a total of five years.

To be fair, since expansion began in 1961, several clubs have made it to the post-season at least once in each decade from then until now. Springing to mind quickly are the Yankees and (I think) the Giants and Dodgers. Also, rather surprisingly, the Minnesota Twins. There may be more. But the fact remains, for any team that has existed for at least a decade, the New York Mets are the only team in history who has gone to the post-season at least once in every decade of their history.

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