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Losing 1st Two Games Of LDS At Home

Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 8, 2010

How many times has a team lost the first two games of an LDS where they were the home team in both games?


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Sorting some data via Play Index, to date, I believe the answer is now 18 times -

Rk Date 5 Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt IP H R ER BB SO HR WP Pit Str IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO WPA RE24 aLI # ERA
1 1981-10-06 ALDS 1 KCR OAK L 0-4 9.0 8 4 1 1 3 2 0     0 0 36 35 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -0.122 0.047 .531 2 1.00
2 1981-10-07 ALDS 2 KCR OAK L 1-2 9.0 10 2 2 0 2 0 0     0 0 37 34 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0.090 2.047 1.235 2 2.00
3 1981-10-07 ALDS 1 MIL NYY L 3-5 9.0 13 5 4 1 3 1 0     4 0 41 40 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 -0.222 -1.113 1.081 5 4.00
4 1981-10-08 ALDS 2 MIL NYY L 0-3 9.0 7 3 3 0 4 2 0     0 0 33 33 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.125 0.887 .732 2 3.00
5 1995-10-03 NLDS 1 COL ATL L 4-5 9.0 12 5 4 3 7 3 0 166 100 4 2 40 37 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 -0.235 1.003 1.404 6 4.00
6 1995-10-03 NLDS 1 LAD CIN L 2-7 9.0 12 7 7 4 10 1 0 172 103 2 2 42 36 5 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 -0.320 -2.771 .354 5 7.00
7 1995-10-04 NLDS 2 COL ATL L 4-7 9.0 13 7 5 3 10 2 0 149 90 2 2 46 41 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 -0.494 -0.997 1.604 6 5.00
8 1995-10-04 NLDS 2 LAD CIN L 4-5 9.0 6 5 3 4 7 1 0 157 97 5 2 37 33 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 -0.164 -0.771 1.134 5 3.00
9 1996-10-02 NLDS 1 LAD ATL L 1-2 10.0 4 2 2 4 9 1 0 172 95 1 0 36 29 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 3 0 0.221 2.866 1.469 3 1.80
10 1996-10-03 NLDS 2 LAD ATL L 2-3 9.0 5 3 3 1 7 3 0 107 74 0 0 32 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -0.006 1.380 .816 3 3.00
11 1997-10-01 ALDS 1 SEA BAL L 3-9 9.0 13 9 9 5 5 2 0 181 105 2 2 42 36 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 -0.345 -4.107 .699 5 9.00
12 1997-10-02 ALDS 2 SEA BAL L 3-9 9.0 14 9 9 5 6 2 0 169 102 4 3 43 38 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -0.327 -4.107 .840 5 9.00
13 2000-10-03 ALDS 1 CHW SEA L 4-7 10.0 13 7 7 4 5 3 0 181 109 6 1 44 39 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 -0.125 -0.901 1.633 6 6.30
14 2000-10-04 ALDS 2 CHW SEA L 2-5 9.0 9 5 4 4 3 1 0 135 84 3 1 39 32 1 0 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 0 -0.041 0.489 .926 5 4.00
15 2001-10-09 NLDS 1 HOU ATL L 4-7 9.0 13 7 6 0 9 3 0 133 91 2 2 38 37 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 -0.430 -1.937 1.102 4 6.00
16 2001-10-10 NLDS 2 HOU ATL L 0-1 9.0 7 1 0 3 5 0 1 132 81 1 0 35 31 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.392 4.064 1.078 5 0.00
17 2001-10-10 ALDS 1 NYY OAK L 3-5 9.0 10 5 5 4 3 3 0 168 112 2 0 42 35 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 -0.058 0.034 .886 4 5.00
18 2001-10-11 ALDS 2 NYY OAK L 0-2 9.0 9 2 1 3 6 1 0 161 105 1 0 39 36 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.266 3.034 1.010 3 1.00
19 2002-10-01 NLDS 1 ARI STL L 2-12 9.0 14 12 8 5 5 2 0 152 96 4 4 47 40 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 -0.385 -7.047 .555 5 8.00
20 2002-10-03 NLDS 2 ARI STL L 1-2 9.0 10 2 2 1 8 1 0 120 81 1 0 38 35 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0.051 2.953 1.128 3 2.00
21 2004-10-05 ALDS 1 ANA BOS L 3-9 9.0 11 9 4 6 5 2 1 171 96 2 2 45 39 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 -0.303 -4.096 .390 4 4.00
22 2004-10-06 ALDS 2 ANA BOS L 3-8 9.0 12 8 8 7 5 1 3 190 112 0 0 45 36 2 0 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 -0.239 -3.096 1.356 3 8.00
23 2006-10-03 ALDS 1 MIN OAK L 2-3 9.0 7 3 3 1 9 2 0 125 83 1 0 35 34 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.088 1.873 .741 3 3.00
24 2006-10-03 NLDS 1 SDP STL L 1-5 9.0 12 5 5 1 4 1 0 121 79 1 0 37 33 1 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 -0.184 -0.581 .602 3 5.00
25 2006-10-04 ALDS 2 MIN OAK L 2-5 9.0 11 5 5 1 7 1 1 136 91 2 2 38 37 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -0.211 -0.128 .957 5 5.00
26 2006-10-05 NLDS 2 SDP STL L 0-2 9.0 10 2 2 1 3 0 0 130 83 3 0 34 32 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 1 0.108 2.419 .778 4 2.00
27 2007-10-03 NLDS 1 PHI COL L 2-4 9.0 6 4 4 4 12 1 0 150 97 1 0 37 32 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 -0.039 0.923 .815 4 4.00
28 2007-10-04 NLDS 2 PHI COL L 5-10 9.0 12 10 10 4 6 3 0 153 95 4 4 42 38 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 -0.509 -5.077 .683 6 10.00
29 2008-10-01 NLDS 1 CHC LAD L 2-7 9.0 8 7 7 8 7 3 0 184 100 1 0 41 33 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 -0.274 -2.038 .910 4 7.00
30 2008-10-01 ALDS 1 LAA BOS L 1-4 9.0 8 4 4 3 6 1 0 135 88 3 0 40 35 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0.042 0.944 1.058 4 4.00
31 2008-10-02 NLDS 2 CHC LAD L 3-10 9.0 12 10 5 3 9 1 0 161 101 1 1 46 41 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 -0.307 -5.038 .458 4 5.00
32 2008-10-03 ALDS 2 LAA BOS L 5-7 9.0 14 7 7 2 5 2 0 162 104 3 0 44 42 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 -0.497 -2.056 .875 4 7.00
33 2010-10-06 ALDS 1 MIN NYY L 4-6 9.0 9 6 6 3 8 1 1 163 97 2 0 39 36 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 -0.420 -1.167 1.087 5 6.00
34 2010-10-06 ALDS 1 TBR TEX L 1-5 9.0 10 5 4 0 8 2 0 132 94 0 0 37 37 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 -0.186 -0.067 .454 3 4.00
35 2010-10-07 ALDS 2 MIN NYY L 2-5 9.0 12 5 5 2 5 1 0 142 93 5 0 40 36 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 -0.192 -0.166 1.036 5 5.00
36 2010-10-07 ALDS 2 TBR TEX L 0-6 9.0 9 6 6 1 8 2 0 141 84 4 2 37 34 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 -0.207 -1.066 .625 5 6.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/8/2010.

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What does that work out to...about 27% of the time? That's more than I thought it would be - how about you?

13 Responses to “Losing 1st Two Games Of LDS At Home”

  1. Larry Says:

    ...And only the Yankees in 2001 came back to win. I'd say that the Twins and Rays have dug themselves a pretty deep hole.

  2. Bryan Says:

    What about the 2008 Cubs?

  3. Steve Lombardi Says:

    Bryan - they should be there. Maybe I cut them by mistake? Let me rerun the list later today. Thanks.

  4. Brendan Burke Says:

    Teams that lost the first two games at home are 1-8 in the series with the potential fifth game at home. In other words, only one team out of 9 has managed to win two road games followed by one home game down 2-0. Teams are 0-6 when the potential fifth game would be on the road, excluding the LCS from 1969-1984 which I'll check shortly.

  5. Tmckelv Says:

    I don't know when the change first occurred, but the ALDS/NLDS used to be of the format 2 games away, then 3 games home - so some of these occurrences may have been the "lesser" team (i.e. Wild Card or division leader with worst record) starting out with 2 home games so it wouldn't have been as much of a surprise for them to lose them (still a surprise because they are playoff teams at least, but supposedly not as good as their opponent). Even though there are a variety of holes in that logic, since for many of the seasons, the Wild Card team has the 2nd best record in the league, but you get my point.

    I would think they changed the format to 2 Home - 2 Away - 1 Home (for Home field advantage) because if home field holds true - then the team with the "advantage" would lose games 1 and 2 and be forced to win the last 3 at home (like the 1995 Mariners). So it would seem like a huge task even though it washes out as just the home team winning each game.

  6. Tmckelv Says:

    OK, upon further review, the 2 road - 3 home format (for home field advantage) was only used for 1981, & 1995-1997. They changed over to 2-2-1 format in 1998. Therefore, my comments above in #5 apply to only 6 out of the 17 occurrences.

  7. Cody Says:

    I'm surprised that both home teams in the same LDS postseason losing both home games has happened before. The NLDS games of 1995 had the home teams both lose twice (Dodgers and Colorado). Wait a minute. Colorado was the wild card that year. How did they get home field?

  8. Brett Says:

    @5 - nice research. I knew 95 was the biggest complaint of that, because the Indians had (seemingly) such a big homefield advantage that season. It figures that it took 2 years to change it. We're all still waiting to see when they will do-away with the wild-card team can't face the division winner from the same division. Which means they will ALWAYS face each other in the LCS if at all.

    7, read 5. 🙂

  9. Steve Lombardi Says:

    FYI, post/chart now updated to include the Cubs.

  10. sean-o Says:

    how about LCSs that were best of five? that was the case until 1985. in those days it was 2-3.....

  11. Cody Says:

    @ 8. Oh sorry. Somehow #5 must not have showed up before I posted my response.

  12. Bryan Mueller Says:

    Thanks Steve...as a Cubs fan I would rather forget that but I suppose it should be included 😉

  13. Jim Says:

    @5
    From what I understand, the change was made because under the old format, one team could never clinch at home.