1969 Major League Baseball postseason

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1969 Major League Baseball postseason
Tournament details
DatesOctober 4–16, 1969 [1]
Teams4
Final positions
Champions New York Mets
(1st title)
Runners-up Baltimore Orioles
(3rd World Series appearance)
Awards
MVP Donn Clendenon
(NYM)
1970  →

The 1969 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1969 season. It was the first edition of the new playoff system introduced by MLB, coinciding with the beginning of the "Divisional Era." Each league expanded from 10 teams to 12 teams and was divided into two 6-team divisions. The 162-game schedule stayed in place, but now each team played the other 5 teams in its own division 18 times each (90 games) and the 6 teams in its league's other division 12 times each (72 games). The winners of each division advanced to the postseason and faced each other in a League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that would face each other in the World Series.

Contents

In the inaugural edition of the MLB postseason, the American League teams included the Baltimore Orioles, who were making their second postseason appearance in the past four years, and the Minnesota Twins, who were making their second postseason appearance in the last five seasons. This was the first of two consecutive postseason appearances for both the Orioles and Twins.

In the National League, the New York Mets ended a streak of many losing seasons and made their first postseason appearance in franchise history, becoming the first expansion team to accomplish such a feat. The Atlanta Braves also made their first postseason appearance since 1958, when the team was based out of Milwaukee, marking the first playoff appearance by an Atlanta-based team in any of the four major leagues. This was Atlanta’s last postseason appearance until 1982.

This was the last time until 1979 where neither team from the previous year’s World Series appeared in the postseason.

The postseason began on October 4, 1969, two days after the end of the 1969 Major League Baseball season, and concluded on October 16, 1969, with the Mets upsetting the 109-win Orioles in five games in the 1969 World Series, to win their first ever World Series title.

Playoff seeds

Red pog.svg American League Teams Blue pog.svg National League Teams

The American and National leagues were split into two divisions per league. With the exception of 1981, until the addition of the wild card in 1995 only the two division winners in each league could qualify for the postseason.

The following teams qualified for the postseason:

American League

National League

Playoff bracket

League Championship Series
(ALCS, NLCS)		 World Series
East Baltimore 3
West Minnesota 0
ALBaltimore1
NLNY Mets4
East NY Mets 3
West Atlanta 0

American League Championship Series

Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore won the series, 3–0.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 4 Minnesota Twins – 3, Baltimore Orioles – 4 (12) Memorial Stadium 3:2939,324 [6]  
2October 5 Minnesota Twins – 0, Baltimore Orioles – 1 (11) Memorial Stadium 3:1741,704 [7]  
3October 6 Baltimore Orioles – 11, Minnesota Twins – 2 Metropolitan Stadium 2:4832,735 [8]

This was the first postseason meeting between the Twins and Orioles, and the first of thirteen straight ALCS series to feature either the Orioles, Oakland Athletics or Kansas City Royals. The Orioles swept the Twins to advance to the World Series for the second time in four years.

The Orioles took Game 1 after twelve innings thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Paul Blair which drove in Mark Belanger. The Orioles also took Game 2 in extra innings, and set a postseason record for the longest complete game shutout, as Orioles' starting pitcher Dave McNally pitched eleven shutout innings. In Minneapolis for Game 3, Jim Palmer pitched a complete game as the Orioles blew out the Twins to secure the pennant.

This was the first of three consecutive AL pennants won by the Orioles. The next year, the Orioles swept the Twins again to capture the pennant, and in 1971 the Orioles swept the Oakland Athletics.

The Twins would not win their next pennant until 1987, where they defeated the Detroit Tigers in five games en route to a World Series title.

National League Championship Series

New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves

New York won the series, 3–0.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 4 New York Mets – 9, Atlanta Braves – 5 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 2:3750,122 [9]  
2October 5 New York Mets – 11, Atlanta Braves – 6 Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium 3:1050,270 [10]  
3October 6 Atlanta Braves – 4, New York Mets – 7 Shea Stadium 2:2454,195 [11]

This was the first postseason meeting in the history of the Braves-Mets rivalry, and the first postseason series ever played in the Deep South. The Mets swept the Braves to advance to their first World Series in franchise history.

In Atlanta for Game 1, the Braves held a 5–4 lead after seven innings. However, the Mets rallied with five unanswered runs in the top of the eighth to steal the first ever NLCS game on the road. Game 2 was an offensive slugfest that was won by the Mets as Ken Boswell, Tommie Agee, and Cleon Jones helped pad the Mets’ lead with a trio of two-run home runs despite the Braves best attempts to rally. When the series shifted to Queens, Nolan Ryan helped lead the Mets' to the pennant in Game 3 with a solid seven-inning performance, winning his first postseason game. Game 3 would ultimately be Hank Aaron’s final postseason game.

The Mets would win the pennant again in their next two postseason appearances in 1973 and 1986 over the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros respectively.

The Braves would return to the NLCS in 1982, but were swept by the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. They would eventually win the NL pennant in 1991 over the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

Both teams would meet again three decades later in the 1999 NLCS, which the Braves would win in six games before falling in the World Series.

1969 World Series

Baltimore Orioles (AL) vs. New York Mets (NL)

New York won the series, 4–1.

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 11 New York Mets – 1, Baltimore Orioles – 4 Memorial Stadium 2:1350,429 [12]  
2October 12 New York Mets – 2, Baltimore Orioles – 1 Memorial Stadium 2:2050,850 [13]  
3October 14 Baltimore Orioles – 0, New York Mets – 5 Shea Stadium 2:2356,335 [14]  
4October 15 Baltimore Orioles – 1, New York Mets – 2 (10) Shea Stadium 2:3357,367 [15]  
5October 16 Baltimore Orioles – 3, New York Mets – 5 Shea Stadium 2:1457,397 [16]

Considered by many to be one of the biggest upsets in World Series history, the Mets shocked the 109-win Orioles in five games to win their first championship in franchise history, becoming the first expansion team to win a World Series.

Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game as the Orioles took Game 1 by three runs. In Game 2, the Mets jumped out to an early lead thanks to a home run by Donn Clendenon, but the Orioles tied the game in the bottom of the seventh off an RBI single from Brooks Robinson. However, the Mets prevailed as an RBI single from Al Weis in the top of the ninth to put them in the lead for good. When the series moved to Queens for Game 3, the Mets shutout the Orioles, capped off by Nolan Ryan pitching the final 2+1⁄3 innings, earning Ryan a save in his only World Series appearance. In Game 4, Tom Seaver pitched a complete game through ten innings in a 2-1 Mets victory as an error by Orioles’ reliever Pete Richert allowed Rod Gaspar to score. In Game 5, the Orioles jumped out to an early 3–0 lead, however the Mets scored five unanswered runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to take the lead for good, capped off by an RBI from Jerry Grote, which resulted in a rare double error by Baltimore’s Boog Powell and Eddie Watt. Jerry Koosman then silenced the Oriole bats in the top of the ninth to secure the title.

Along with the New York Jets winning Super Bowl III in January 1969 against the Baltimore Colts, the New York metropolitan area had both World Series and Super Bowl champions in the same season or calendar year. The Mets would return to the World Series in 1973 as even greater underdogs than in 1969, but they would fall to the Oakland Athletics in seven games, becoming the second victim of an Athletics three-peat from 1972 to 1974. They would eventually win the World Series again in 1986 against the Boston Red Sox in seven games after being a strike away from elimination twice in Game 6.

This was the first of three straight World Series appearances for the Orioles - the Orioles would redeem themselves the following year by defeating the Cincinnati Reds in five games to win their second title. They also made the World Series in 1971, but would fall to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

Broadcasting

NBC televised all postseason games nationally in the United States. Each team's local broadcaster also televised coverage of LCS games.

References

  1. ↑ "1969 Major Leagues Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  2. ↑ "1969 Baltimore Orioles Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  3. ↑ "1969 Minnesota Twins Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  4. ↑ "1969 New York Mets Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  5. ↑ "1969 Atlanta Braves Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  6. ↑ "1969 ALCS Game 1 – Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  7. ↑ "1969 ALCS Game 2 – Minnesota Twins vs. Baltimore Orioles". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  8. ↑ "1969 ALCS Game 3 – Baltimore Orioles vs. Minnesota Twins". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  9. ↑ "1969 NLCS Game 1 – New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  10. ↑ "1969 NLCS Game 2 – New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  11. ↑ "1969 NLCS Game 3 – Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  12. ↑ "1969 World Series Game 1 – New York Mets vs. Baltimore Orioles" . Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  13. ↑ "1969 World Series Game 2 – New York Mets vs. Baltimore Orioles". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  14. ↑ "1969 World Series Game 3 – Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Mets". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  15. ↑ "1969 World Series Game 4 – Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Mets". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
  16. ↑ "1969 World Series Game 5 – Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Mets". Retrosheet. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
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