They're not as good as they once were

 

 

This was meant to be a companion piece to the Joy Of A Team Set post I did on the 1972 Topps Pirates.

In fact, I thought of this post first, and I probably should have posted this one first. But life has a way of forcing you into next-best scenarios.

I was thinking -- as I often do -- of MLB's issue with competition. Maybe the new playoff system will take care of this -- although that's hardly the best way to address the problem -- but the same teams keep showing up in the playoffs year after year.

It's always the Dodgers (yes, I'm OK with that), Yankees, Astros, Red Sox, Braves, Cardinals, Giants and Rays. There are cameos by the Mets, Brewers, Phillies, Twins, Indians/Guardians and White Sox here or there. But mostly you can forecast who is going to be in contention early in the season.

Some of the teams that I didn't mention have not been repeated playoff participants in years, even decades. A lot of those unnamed teams were very good and constant postseason players when I was following baseball as a kid, back in the '70s and early '80s. Outside of the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, none of those late '70s/early '80s teams are consistent contenders now. I miss them. Yeah, even the ones I didn't like back then.

I'm going to go through those 10 teams who are not as good as they once were. I'll include the first card that I thought of from that time to accompany the team, all very weighty cards when I was a kid.

The last couple of teams maybe don't fit into what I'm saying but I wanted to get to 10. It's disturbing though that there are that many.

I'll start with the top one because I just wrote about the Pirates' woes a few days ago:

1. Pittsburgh Pirates

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: five

Last playoff appearance: 2015

Last winning record: 2018

You could count on multiple appearances by the Pirates in the All-Star Game when I was 13 years old. And even more appearances on NBC's Saturday afternoon Game of the Week. Now, ESPN wouldn't broadcast a Pirates game if you planted a cornfield in center field and had Honus Wagner walk out of it.

 

2. Cincinnati Reds

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Six

Last playoff appearance: 2020

Last winning record: 2021

The Reds' recent winning record and postseason appearance are both deceptive. Their winning percentage since 2014 is .440 and they've lost 90 games in a season five times (and on their way to a sixth). Shameful numbers for easily the most imposing team of my childhood.

3. Kansas City Royals

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Seven

Last playoff appearance: 2015

Last winning record: 2015

My second- or third-favorite team to root for during the late '70s and early '80s. Brett was great but I loved Hal McRae, Willie Wilson and Dennis Leonard even more. That's why I mourned the Royals World Series loss in 2014 and celebrated their win in 2015.

4. Oakland A's

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Six

Last playoff appearance: 2020

Last winning record: 2021

The A's were once what the Tampa Bay Rays are now, a low-budget team that still knew how to win. I don't know if that's the case anymore. And despite a number of postseason showings in the last 10 years, if you throw out the abbreviated 2020 season, the A's haven't reached the ALDS since 2013 and were last in the ALCS in 2006. (Happy birthday, Rollie).

5. Baltimore Orioles

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Six

Last playoff appearance: 2016

Last winning season: 2016

For me, the current Orioles are the feel-good story of the season. They have players who look like they'll be good for a long time and they actually seem to have the commitment from the organization to keep them in Baltimore. There hasn't been talk like that since the early '80s. Remember how long Palmer and Brooks Robinson played for the Orioles? Yeah, my childhood was a long time ago.

6. Philadelphia Phillies

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Six

Last playoff appearance: 2011

Last winning season: 2021

Out of all the teams listed here, this is the team that seems like they should be doing a lot better than they are. They always have stars on their team. But aside from those Phillies teams from my childhood and some pockets of success here and there, the Phillies' history is filled with lousy teams. Maybe that's difficult to shake.

7. Los Angeles Angels

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Two (Three if you push it to '86)

Last playoff appearance: 2014

Last winning season: 2015

The Angels' woes have been well-chronicled over the last couple of years, especially this season. I've never been much of an Angels fan and part of me wants them to stay dysfunctional to continue to prove to the star worshipers that baseball is more than star players. But, yeah, they need a new owner.

8. Milwaukee Brewers

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: Two

Last playoff appearance: 2021

Last winning season: 2021

The Brewers are still a successful team but they just haven't gotten as far as those early '80s Brewers teams did. They also haven't gotten the national exposure that those teams did. Starting in 1978, the Brewers seemed to be a Saturday Game of the Week feature at least every month.

 

 

9. Chicago White Sox

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: One

Last playoff appearance: 2021

Last winning season: 2021

Like the Brewers, the White Sox were an up-and-coming team when I was following baseball in the late '70s. They had been bad for a long time. In fact, I think the White Sox are better now than they were when I was a kid. They just have an issue with consistency.

10. Montreal Expos

Playoff appearances in the 1970s/early '80s: One

Last playoff appearance: 1981

Last winning season: 2003

I'm pushing it with this one. The Expos are now the Washington Nationals and the Nationals have been pretty good a time or two. But I won't root for the Nationals the way I did for the Expos and the Nationals will never be as "good" as those Expos were.

 

I know that baseball is cyclical and probably in time some of these teams will be consistently good one day. That's the optimistic side of me.

 

The other side thinks, well, it's been decades now and those teams STILL aren't good and I've never seen so many teams actively trying not to win.

 

So, I don't know if I'll ever seen teams as fun as the '79 Pirates and '82 Brewers again.

 

At least I got to experience them once.