The Los Angeles Dodgers completed their shocking crash out of the postseason on Wednesday night, as their once-fearsome offense went quiet once again in a 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the NLDS. L.A. won 100 games during the regular season, cruising to an NL West title, only to be summarily swept by a team that finished 16 back in the division — and really, none of the three games were even all that competitive.
Just about no one saw this coming before the series started; heck Arizona wasn’t even supposed to make it this far, as most had them losing to the Brewers in the Wild Card round. It’s a development so shocking, it got us thinking: Just where does it stand among the biggest upsets in MLB playoff history?
MLB postseason: Biggest upsets ever
Arizona went just 84-78 in the regular season, capturing the third and final Wild Card spot. But that’s not the worst record by a playoff team: That honor belongs to the 2005 Padres, who snuck in at 82-80 before getting swept by the Cardinals in the NLDS. (Speaking of the Cardinals: The 2006 Redbirds won it all after going 83-79 in the regular season.)
Similarly, the 16-game regular-season gap between the D-backs (84-78) and the Dodgers (100-62) is huge, but shockingly enough, it doesn’t even crack the top five biggest record discrepancies in playoff history. Let’s run down the list.
5. 1973 NLCS: New York Mets (82-79) defeat Cincinnati Reds (99-63)
Cincy was just approaching its Big Red Machine zenith; the Reds had lost in the World Series in two of the last three years, and Sparky Anderson’s club was looking to finally get over the hump in 1973. They ran into a Mets pitching buzzsaw in the NLCS, however: Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman allowed just two combined runs in complete-game wins in Games 2 and 3, and Tom Seaver dominated the decisive Game 5 to get New York back to the Fall Classic. (They’d eventually fall to the A’s in seven games.)
4. 2021 NLCS: Atlanta Braves (88-73) defeat Los Angeles Dodgers (106-56)
The Dodgers are something of a theme on this list. The 2021 team may have been the very best of the Dave Roberts era, waltzing to the NL West title and top overall seed with a truly ridiculous +269 run differential in the regular season. This series was a seesaw affair: Atlanta walked off in Games 1 and 2, only for the Dodgers to take Game 3 with a four-run rally in the eighth. The teams would split the next two games, setting up a barnburner Game 6 in Atlanta, with postseason hero Eddie Rosario delivering the decisive blow off Walker Buehler.
3. 2001 ALCS: New York Yankees (95-65-1) defeat Seattle Mariners (116-46)
The Yankees were awfully good — they’d won three straight AL pennants, after all — but the Mariners were literally the greatest regular-season team of all-time, setting a new MLB record with 116 wins. New York didn’t care about any of that, storming into Seattle and taking the first two games behind strong outings from Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina. Alfonso Soriano’s walk-off homer in Game 4 proved to be the backbreaker:
2. 2022 NLDS: San Diego Padres (89-73) defeat Los Angeles Dodgers (111-51)
The Dodgers had owned the Padres for years, and they took Game 1 of this best-of-five behind Julio Urias’ strong performance on the mound. From there, though, San Diego flipped the script: The lineup got to Clayton Kershaw in Game 2, and Blake Snell was sensational in Game 3. L.A. looked to be on the verge of forcing a decisive Game 5, but a five-run seventh sent the Padres to their first NLCS since 1998.
1. 1906 World Series: Chicago White Sox (93-58-3) defeat Chicago Cubs (116-36-3)
For the greatest upset in October history, however, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of the 20th century. The 1906 Cubs might still be the greatest baseball team ever assembled, a juggernaut that scored 704 runs in the regular season and allowed just 381. But they fell to their crosstown rivals in the World Series, as the Hitless Wonders (so coined by sportswriter Charles Dryden) exploded for 26 hits in the last two games. True to their nickname, the White Sox hit only .198 as a team, but it beat the .196 average produced by the Cubs.
