The New York Yankees have won 27 best-of-7 format MLB Finals series – far and away more than any other MLB team and certainly the most in the American League of MLB. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 best-of-7 format MLB Finals series – second only to the Yankees and the most in the National League of MLB. Of all the teams that have played the New York Yankees in best-of-7 MLB Finals series more than once, only the St. Louis Cardinals own a winning best-of-7 MLB Finals series record (3-2) against the Yankees. Together, the Yankees and Cardinals have won 38 of the 103 best-of-7 MLB Finals series (36.9%) played to date. At the outset of the Fall 2012 best-of-7 MLB playoff season, it appeared as though, for the first time since the 1964 MLB Finals, the Cardinals and Yankees might meet in the 2012 MLB Finals. As it happened, however, a team other than the Yankees will meet a team other than the Cardinals in the 2012 MLB Finals.

There is no general shame in failing to win a best-of-7 MLB Semifinals series. There are, however, instances in which a generally successful (and possibly pride-prone) team may find reacquaintance with humility after a particularly humbling defeat in the MLB Semifinals round. In MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series 1185 – the 2012 American League Championship Series in the MLB Semifinals - the Detroit Tigers defeated the New York Yankees. The defeat was not just a defeat; it was a four-game sweep. And the sweep was not just a sweep; it was an “annihilation” – a four-game sweep in which the swept team never, ever holds an in-game lead. In best-of-7 format MLB playoff series history, there have only been five such annihilations. Among the five victims, the only repeat victim has been the New York Yankees, having suffered not only the latest annihilation at the hands of the Tigers in the 2012 MLB Semifinals, but also the first MLB annihilation at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 MLB Finals. It is the most one-sided, ignominious loss a team can suffer in a best-of-7 MLB playoff series.

Trailing a best-of-7 MLB playoff series 3-games-nil, a team might look for a precedent which leads to four straight game wins and a 4-games-3 series victory. There is only one such precedent in best-of-7 MLB playoff series history: In the 2004 American League Championship Series, the Boston Red Sox fell behind the Yankees 3-games-nil, but rallied to win the series 4-games-3. So it is that the Yankees are the only MLB team ever to take a 3-games-nil lead in a best-of-7 MLB playoff series but fail to win that series ... and against their archrival Boston Red Sox, no less. But even before a series victory can be contemplated, the team trailing 3-games-nil should focus on the task at hand – winning Game 4 and thus staving off the sweep. In the 2012 ALCS, the Yankees did not lead 3-games-nil, but rather trailed 3-games-nil. New York did not win Game 4; New York has never won Game 4 under these circumstances. With the 2012 ALCS loss, the Game 4 record for the New York Yankees when trailing 3-games-nil in a best-of-7 MLB playoff series falls to an MLB-worst 0-4. As of this writing, in only four of 307 MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series has a team trailing 3-games-nil rallied to win the series. The first step on that difficult journey is the winning of Game 4. It is a step the New York Yankees have often had the opportunity to take, but have never taken.

Whereas the New York Yankees are an MLB-worst 0-4 in Game 4 when trailing 3-games-nil in a best-of-7 MLB playoff series, the St. Louis Cardinals (in a tie with the Oakland Athletics) are next-worst at 0-2. But it was not a 3-games-nil deficit confronting the St. Louis Cardinals in MLB/NBA/NHL best-of-7 playoff series 1186 – the 2012 National League Championship Series in the MLB Semifinals. Rather, the Cardinals led the San Francisco Giants 3-games-1 after four games of the 2012 NLCS. Whereupon the Giants outscored the Cardinals 20-runs-1 in Games 5-7 to win the 2012 NLCS 4-games-3. The 2012 NLCS is now the fourth best-of-7 MLB playoff series lost by the St. Louis Cardinals in the wake of a 3-games-1 series lead; no other MLB team has lost more than one best-of-7 MLB playoff series upon having led 3-games-1. And just as losing a best-of-7 MLB playoff series they once led 3-games-1 is hardly unprecedented for the Cardinals, so it is that losing Games 5-7 in a landslide is likewise not without precedent: In the 1996 NLCS, the Cardinals led the Atlanta Braves 3-games-1, but lost Games 5-7 by an aggregate score of 32-runs-1 to lose that series. Such large losses add up, as will be shown.

Whereas the New York Yankees are the only MLB entity to suffer more than one best-of-7 MLB playoff series annihilation, the St. Louis Cardinals have also been on the annihilated side on an annihilation – courtesy of the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 MLB Finals, just after Boston rallied from their 3-games-nil deficit to defeat New York 4-games-3 in the 2004 MLB Semifinals. Together, then, the Yankees and Cardinals have reveled in 36.9% of best-of-7 MLB Finals series victories, but have wallowed in 60% of best-of-7 MLB playoff series annihilations. The 2004 annihilation that the Red Sox administered onto the Cardinals was the worst of the five to date: Not only had St. Louis never once led during that 2004 MLB Finals-round sweep, but also it occurred that Boston held an in-game lead at some point of each inning of all four games (so collectively energized were the Red Sox from their having successfully surmounted their 3-games-nil deficit in the previous playoff round).

For the St. Louis Cardinals, the end result of the 2004 annihilation and the Games 5-7 collapses in 1996 and 2012 is an aggregate best-of-7 MLB playoff run differential (runs yielded subtracted from runs scored) of -55 runs. This -55 run differential is the worst of any MLB team – lower even than that of the current -53 run differential of the Cardinals’ archrival Chicago Cubs (second-worst of any MLB team). So it is that the 2012 MLB playoff season brought humility to two teams – the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals – for whom pride is the first and foremost reaction to their respective accomplishments in best-of-7 format MLB playoff competition. It will not hurt them.

23 October 2012