The Kansas City Royals and How Often Teams Finish the Sweep

UPDATE: The Royals won 2-1 to sweep the Orioles and win their first pennant since 1985.

The Kansas City Royals are one win away from the World Series. Take a moment to let that sink in, then let's take a look at how often teams leading a best-of-seven series 3-0 finish the sweep.

The Royals are the 34th team in major league history to go up 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series. 27 of the first 33, a whopping 81.8 percent, completed the sweep in Game Four.

UPDATE: With the KC victory, teams up 3-0 are now 28-6 in Game Four, good for an amazing .824 winning percentage!

Of the six that managed to stay alive for another game, three were put away in the fifth game. The 1998 Braves won two games in San Diego to become the first team to force a Game Six after being down 3-0, but they lost. A year later they were on the other side when the Mets came back to push it to six games, but an Andruw Jones walk-off walk won the pennant, 4-2. The only team to force a Game Seven after losing the first three games is the 2004 Red Sox, who finished the job with a 10-3 thrashing of the rival Yankees in the Bronx.


1907 WS Chicago Cubs swept Detroit Tigers (Game One called a tie after 12 innings due to darkness)
1910 WS Philadelphia Athletics (lost Game Four to the Cubs, won Game Five)
1914 WS Boston Braves swept Philadelphia Athletics
1922 WS New York Giants swept New York Yankees (Game Two called a tie after 10 innings due to darkness)
1927 WS New York Yankees swept Pittsburgh Pirates
1928 WS New York Yankees swept St. Louis Cardinals
1932 WS New York Yankees swept Chicago Cubs
1937 WS New York Yankees (lost Game Four to the Giants, won Game Five)
1938 WS New York Yankees swept Chicago Cubs
1939 WS New York Yankees swept Cincinnati Reds
1950 WS New York Yankees swept Philadelphia Phillies
1954 WS New York Giants swept Cleveland Indians
1963 WS Los Angeles Dodgers swept New York Yankees
1966 WS Baltimore Orioles swept Los Angeles Dodgers
1970 WS Baltimore Orioles (lost Game Four to the Reds, won Game Five)
1976 WS Cincinnati Reds swept New York Yankees
1988 ALCS Oakland Athletics swept Boston Red Sox
1989 WS Oakland Athletics swept San Francisco Giants
1990 ALCS Oakland Athletics swept Boston Red Sox
1990 WS Cincinnati Reds swept Oakland Athletics
1995 NLCS Atlanta Braves swept Cincinnati Reds
1998 NLCS San Diego Padres (lost Games Four and Five to the Braves, won Game Six)
1998 WS New York Yankees swept San Diego Padres
1999 NLCS Atlanta Braves (lost Games Four and Five to the Mets, won Game Six)
1999 WS New York Yankees swept Atlanta Braves
2004 ALCS New York Yankees (lost four straight to the Red Sox, flopped into history books)
2004 WS Boston Red Sox swept St. Louis Cardinals
2005 WS Chicago White Sox swept Houston Astros
2006 ALCS Detroit Tigers swept Oakland Athletics
2007 NLCS Colorado Rockies swept Arizona Diamondbacks
2007 WS Boston Red Sox swept Colorado Rockies
2012 ALCS Detroit Tigers swept New York Yankees
2012 WS San Francisco Giants swept Detroit Tigers
2014 ALCS Kansas City Royals swept Baltimore Orioles



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