The Yankees were dismissed by the AL champion Tigers, who not only swept the Bombers, but never allowed them to take a lead at any point in the 4 games.

How unusual is that? Let’s find out.

Let’s look first at best-of-seven LCS series where a team has been swept.

So, the Yankees debacle is just the 6th sweep in 27 seasons (54 series) since the LCS went to a best-of-seven format in 1985.

• Oakland 2006 – Athletics led in two games, after the 1st inning in game 2, and until the 6th inning in game 4, won by the Tigers on a Magglio Ordonez walk-off HR
• Cincinnati 1995 – Reds led only in game 1, from the 4th inning until the 9th. Cincinnati tried to coax a shutout from starter Pete Schourek, but two singles and a fielder’s choice tied the game in the Braves’ 9th, and Atlanta never looked back after that.
• Boston 1990 – Despite scoring only 4 runs in the series (one in each game) the Red Sox scored first in each of the first three games, leading for a total of 5+ innings. The victorious As had the tables turned on them, getting swept by the Reds in the World Series.
• Boston 1988 – The Red Sox were stymied again by the As, but did lead twice, after the 6th inning in game 2 and until the 3rd inning in game 3. After sweeping Boston, these As were prohibitive favorites to beat the Dodgers but a come-from-behind walk-off win in game 1 of that World Series changed its complexion in a hurry.
• Arizona 2007 – The Snakes scored first in games 1 and 4, but held the lead for less than 2 innings total. Arizona pitchers had a 3.00 ERA for the series, but untimely errors led to 5 unearned runs of the 18 allowed to Colorado.

So, the Yankees have achieved an LCS first by never leading at any point in the series.

What about World Series sweeps?

So, there have been 20 sweeps in 107 World Series, all best-of-seven affairs except for best-of-nine series in 1903 and 1919-21. The sweep frequency of ~2 every 11 series is almost double the LCS frequency of one every 9 series. Any ideas why?

The Yankees do have some company in World Series losers who never held the lead. Those four teams are indicated in red above.

• St. Louis 2004 – After coming back from an 0-3 series deficit to beat the Yankees in the ALCS, the Red Sox kept right on rolling, never trailing in their sweep of the Cardinals. Including games 6 and 7 of that ALCS, Boston went 6 straight games always tied or in the lead.
• San Francisco 1989 – The Giants could manage only one run total in games 1 and 2, before the earthquake struck just prior to the start of game 3. The ensuing 12 day layoff took its toll on both pitching staffs, as the Giants scored 13 times in the final two games but still never held the lead.
• Los Angeles 1966 – The Dodgers scored only two runs in the series, the last coming in the 3rd inning of game 1. Thirty-three scoreless innings later, the Orioles were the victors, having never trailed.
• New York 1963 – Even worse than this year’s squad, these Yankees managed just 4 runs in the series, and stayed even with the Dodgers for a total of only 6 innings in the 4 games.