Worst September collapse in MLB history…

It took 162 games to determine the fate of this year’s Boston Red Sox. And at 12:02 a.m. some ten or so hours ago, Baltimore Oriole Robert Andino’s walk off sinking liner put an end to any doubt of the Red Sox going to the post season. A crushing blow to a team that had a 9 game lead in the A.L. East on September 1st. They even had the the 2nd best record in all of baseball at that time, trailing only the Philadelphia Phillies.

Their September collapse, to put it into perspective, wasn’t as bad as the inaugural 1962 Mets’ first September was. In fact, the ’62 Mets had a better September winning percentage than the 2011 Sox. How bad was it? Try this on for size…the Red Sox played 27 games in this month; they lost 20 of them!

If history does in fact repeat itself, then the one Red Sox collapse that stands out to us, is the total implosion in the summer of 1978; Boston’s most devastating demise up to that time. The ‘Sawx’ had a 14 game lead over the Yankees in July and a 7 1/2 game lead with 32 to play. But N.Y.’s relentless pursuit ended in a single game Fenway Park playoff, punctuated by Bucky Dent’s unexpected home run into the left field screen. R.I.P. Boston..

Bucky Dent's Home Run.1 game playoff at Fenway Park. AP Photo