The Strange Tale of The Blowout Series

NEW YORK — Welcome to one of the most peculiar postseason series ever played, aptly dubbed The Blowout Series. Each day, you might think this National League Championship Series is poised for an exhilarating October classic, only to glance at the scoreboard and find it reading 10-2 in the fourth inning.

After five games, the Dodgers and Mets are both making their way across the country for yet another showdown on Sunday. While it’s true that this NLCS has never felt particularly competitive, the current standings show Dodgers with 3 wins and Mets with 2 wins — making it as close as it can get.

Just take a look at the scores from these five games so far. The term nail-biter will not be applicable here:

• Game 1 (Sunday): Dodgers 9, Mets 0
• Game 2 (Monday): Mets 7, Dodgers 3
• Game 3 (Wednesday): Dodgers 8, Mets 0
• Game 4 (Thursday): Dodgers 10, Mets 2
• Game 5 (Friday): Mets 12, Dodgers 6

If you’re wondering — Is this as bizarre as I think it is? — you are certainly not alone. Even the players involved in this series seem baffled by the unfolding events. “Well, it’s different,” admitted the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo. “It makes no sense,” echoed his teammate, reliever Ryne Stanek. “But it’s the playoffs; you almost expect things to go sideways.” “You know,” added his bullpen mate, Phil Maton, “baseball is just gonna baseball.”

And oh, is it ever. This is one of those rare moments in sports when we can be grateful for a column dedicated to the October Weird and Wild phenomena. Our purpose is to highlight just how off-kilter this series truly is.

Additionally, games like Friday’s — where the winning team (the Mets) astonishingly struck out zero times in 44 plate appearances — are so unfathomable that after the game, Francisco Lindor requested to see the box score on my phone before he could believe it actually happened. More on those Mets Zero Heroes shortly.

The Land of the Blowouts

Five games. Five decisive victories. It’s hard to comprehend, isn’t it? “It’s not exactly how I saw this going,” Nimmo remarked — and with good reason.

How rare is it to witness a series like this? I reached out to our colleagues at STATS Perform for some insights, and no matter how we approached the question, the answer was always: Incredibly rare.

Five Straight Games Decided by Four Runs or More

Those of us covering this series have spent considerable time asking one another: Do you ever remember a series like this? The consensus is no — and for a good reason. Historically, there have only been three other series in postseason history where five games were decided by a margin of four runs or more:

• 1965 World Series: Dodgers vs. Twins (6 games)
• 2010 ALCS: Yankees vs. Rangers (5 games)
• 2021 ALCS: Red Sox vs. Astros (5 games)

(Source: STATS Perform)

However, that list may make this seem more common than it truly is, as the total number of blowouts in those series does not reflect how uniquely lopsided this current series is. In fact, only once in 121 seasons of postseason baseball has the first five games of a series been decided by margins of four runs or more, and that was during the 1965 World Series, where the initial six games were all blowouts.

Four Games in a Series Decided by Six Runs or More

Let’s not forget that in this series, a four-run game almost seems close. Remarkably, Friday marked the fourth game won by a margin of six runs or more. Only two other postseason series have featured that many lopsided games:

• 2007 ALCS: Red Sox vs. Indians (5 games)
• 1986 ALCS: Red Sox vs. Angels (4 games)

(Source: STATS Perform)

However, both of those series extended to seven games. This current series has only been played for five games. So, the question remains: what will happen next?

Five Games Decided by 35 Runs in Total?

Isn’t it downright crazy that the average margin of victory across the five games in this NLCS stands at seven runs? According to STATS, there has only been one other series comprising five games or longer that matched this criterion. That was the five-game 1999 ALDS between the Red Sox and Indians, where the total combined margin of victory was 37 runs — averaging 7.4 runs.

When focusing solely on best-of-seven series, this NLCS is on track to become one of the most lopsided in history. STATS identified just four other best-of-seven series where the total margin of victory exceeded 35 runs: