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All I have to say is, I'm glad that I'm only a peripatetic baseball fan, because if I was a serious White Sox fan, I would be in mourning about now. It looks like the Sox are going to tank much much more spectacularly than the 1969 Cubs, and that's saying something. A 15.5 game lead on August 1 has dropped to a two game lead as of tonight's remarkably stupid loss. (Seriously, seriously stupid. Granted that the starter had been struggling a bit, but why on earth would you pull him immediately after he'd gotten a strikeout and seemed to be pitching pretty well? So that his relief could then immediately give up two runs, that's why.)
The only other team to give back this big a lead was the Phillies, back in the ... 70s? 80s? sometime around there, anyway. They actually recovered to win their division, but I'm thinking that if the Sox actually give back this lead, they're going to be so dispirited, and Cleveland is going to be so charged up, that they're never going to get the lead back. The Sox will likely have to wrestle New York and/or Boston for the wild card slot, and even if they get that, they're still going to exit in the first round.
The only other team to give back this big a lead was the Phillies, back in the ... 70s? 80s? sometime around there, anyway. They actually recovered to win their division, but I'm thinking that if the Sox actually give back this lead, they're going to be so dispirited, and Cleveland is going to be so charged up, that they're never going to get the lead back. The Sox will likely have to wrestle New York and/or Boston for the wild card slot, and even if they get that, they're still going to exit in the first round.