Presented for your edification, here's a link to the top collapses in baseball history. The bad news: The 1993 Giants are on there, and the 2011 Giants sneak in at #96. The good news: The 2010 Padres make the top ten.
According to Cool Standings, the Giants have a 99.8-percent chance of winning the division, combined with a 0.1-percent chance of winning a wild card. Meaning that if the Giants blow it, it will be the biggest collapse in major-league history.
No pressure.
Just when I start to get weird and cynical, though, I stare at the updated chart. Here's what a magic number of seven six means: (UPDATED: 9/19 AT 4:22 P.M. AFTER DODGERS LOSS IN FIRST GAME OF DOUBLEHEADER)
If the Giants finish the season like this ... | The Dodgers would need to do this to force a tie ... |
0-14 | 9-5 |
1-13 | 10-4 |
2-12 | 11-3 |
3-11 | 12-2 |
4-10 | 13-1 |
5-9 | 14-0 |
6-8 | Nope |
7-7 | Champagne in the champagne room |
The Dodgers have had one 9-6 stretch in the past two months. The Giants have never had a 14-game losing streak in their history. And that's the scorched-earth scenario. Looks pretty favorable, if I have to go out on a limb.
Now let's all go over to the 1995 Angels page and stare at it for a while. Can you even imagine?