Closest Oriole-Yankees pennant races

[Frobby]

There really haven’t been too many close pennant races involving the Yankees and the Orioles.   These are the closest finishes:

2012: Yankees 95, Orioles 93 (O’s eliminated in game 162; last held the lead in game 159)

1997: Orioles 98, Yankees 96 (Yankees eliminated in game 161; O’s led wire to wire)

1974: Orioles 91, Yankees 89 (Yankees eliminated in game 161; last held the lead in game 154)

1964: Yankees 99, Orioles 97 (O’s eliminated in game 160; last held the lead in game 151)

1980: Yankees 103, Orioles 100 (O’s eliminated in game 160; last held the lead in game 9)

1977: Yankees 100, Orioles 97 (O’s eliminated in game 159; last held the lead in game 105) 

1996: Yankees 92, Orioles 88 (O’s eliminated in game 159; last held the lead in game 49).

This year’s race is the next-closest, and there’s really nothing else that was even remotely close.

 

[Jagwar]

What about 1980? O's went freaking 100-62 games and didn't make the WC-less playoffs. They went 45-18 from August on, and finished 2 games back of the Yankees

[Moshagge3]

If there had been the expanded playoffs that exist now, the O's would have made the playoffs every year from 1977-1983, and they would have been in the fight until the last day of 1984. 

[Just Regular]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

1974: Orioles 91, Yankees 89 (Yankees eliminated in game 161; last held the lead in game 154)

This is a fun one to discover with the detail B-Ref and Fangraphs can now provide, and changes a lower information view I had previously had that the Orioles have never beaten the Yankees for something they both wanted.

September 12th the Yankees beat the Orioles 3-0 at Memorial Stadium as Jim Palmer drops to 6-12 when he blinks first in the 8th inning of a 0-0 duel with Mike Wallace, and the Orioles fall to 75-69.

NYY leads by 2.5 games with 18 to play.    

The Orioles revive and close 16-2 to take the AL East championship, including a sweep at Yankee Stadium as part of the division taking run.

The BAL wRC+ late that September is 130 - Boog and Don Baylor do the Judge and Soto thing and have 257 and 231 wRC+'s for a couple weeks.    Palmer redeems himself with three complete games of 0.33 ERA.    Naturally fWAR considers Ross Grimsley slightly better with a 3.60 ERA and better peripherals in a similar number of innings during that run.    Kevin Brown should get on bugging Palmer tonight whether or not Grimsley was better than him at the end of the happy 1974 story.

They get a 2nd go at OAK in the ALCS but lose again as the A's march towards the 3-peat.

It is the 50th anniversary of that in case things get really weird and entertaining the next few days.

 

[SouthRider]

I remember being at an O's victory over the Yanks in August of '97.   By winning they opened up their lead to 10 games over the second place Yankees.   The crowd was going nuts.  Watching that led dwindle to just 2 games over the next two months was nerve racking. 

[Just Regular]

8 minutes ago, SouthRider said:

I remember being at an O's victory over the Yanks in August of '97.   By winning they opened up their lead to 10 games over the second place Yankees.   The crowd was going nuts.  Watching that led dwindle to just 2 games over the next two months was nerve racking. 

It was a strong answer after the '96 Jeffrey Maier shenanigans.

The '96 NYY championship over the Braves was kind of an upset at that time, and these two years we didn't really know what the '98-'00 Yankees were about to become.

I mean, I don't think Rocky Coppinger's teams would have gone on to beat Mariano Rivera's teams over the long haul, but I have an easy pick for a 1-use time machine to (minimally reasonably) right a wrong.     

Can we please re-simulate the late 90's for Ripken, Mussina, Benitez and Jeter if that 0/30 parks batted ball didn't cost the Orioles the 2 road wins they very nearly earned to open the series?

[Ohfan67]

2 hours ago, Just Regular said:

 

I mean, I don't think Rocky Coppinger's teams would have gone on to beat Mariano Rivera's teams over the long haul, but I have an easy pick for a 1-use time machine to (minimally reasonably) right a wrong.     

 

Please, please, don't write or say that name. I was at the Coppinger playoff game. I think Strawberry's home run ball is still in orbit.  That was such a frustrating game. If I remember correctly, the Orioles had the bases loaded with no outs and the heart of the order coming up. And scored zero runs. And then Coppinger. Ugh. Bad memories. Bad mojo.