100 WIN TEAMS BOUNCED IN THE DIVISION SERIES – Updated for 2017 Indians

Gus Chan, The Plain Dealer

 It doesn’t seem fair.

A team wins 100 games or more in the regular season and a 3 game slide in October basically invalidates it.

Domination for months equals an eternity of infamy.

There have been several 100 win teams that failed to make it past the Division Series. The 2017 Cleveland Indians are just the latest addition to this frustrating fraternity.

So here we are… updated for 2017.

1998 HOUSTON ASTROS
102-60 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to San Diego Padres. (98-64).Manager:
LARRY DIERKER

Ringless Veterans Include:
BRAD AUSMUS
JEFF BAGWELL
CRAIG BIGGIO
MIKE HAMPTON
DOUG HENRY
RICHARD HIDALGO
JOSE LIMA
SHANE REYNOLDS
BILLY WAGNER

1999 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
100-62 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to New York Mets. (97-66)Manager:
BUCK SHOWALTER

Ringless Veterans Include:
OMAR DAAL
BERNARD GILKEY
GREGG OLSON

2001 OAKLAND A’S
102-60 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to New York Yankees (95-65)Manager:
ART HOWE

Ringless Veterans Include:
CHAD BRADFORD
ERIC BYRNES
ERIC CHAVEZ
RON GANT
JASON GIAMBI
TIM HUDSON
TERRENCE LONG
MARK MULDER
F. P. SANTANGELO
MIGUEL TEJADA
BARRY ZITO

2002 ATLANTA BRAVES
101-59 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to San Francisco Giants (95-66)Manager:
BOBBY COX (Won Ring as manager in 1995)

Ringless Veterans Include:
HENRY BLANCO
DARREN BRAGG
VINNY CASTILLA
JULIO FRANCO
MATT FRANCO
RAFAEL FURCAL
CHRIS HAMMOND
ANDRUW JONES
KEVIN MILLWOOD
B. J. SURHOFF

2002 NEW YORK YANKEES
103-58 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Anaheim Angels (99-53)Manager:
JOE TORRE (Won Rings as manager in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000)

Ringless Veterans Include:
RON COOMER
JASON GIAMBI
NICK JOHNSON
STEVE KARSAY
RAUL MONDESI
MIKE MUSSINA
JUAN RIVERA
ALFONSO SORIANO
ROBIN VENTURA

2002 OAKLAND A’S
103-59 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to Minnesota Twins (94-67)Manager:
ART HOWE

Ringless Veterans Include:
CHAD BRADFORD
ERIC BYRNES
ERIC CHAVEZ
RAY DURAM
MARK ELLIS
SCOTT HATTEBERG
RAMON HERNANDEZ
TIM HUDSON
BILLY KOCH
TED LILLY
JOHN MABRY
MARK MULDER
MIGUEL TEJADA
RANDY VELARDE
BARRY ZITO

2003 ATLANTA BRAVES
101-61 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to Chicago Cubs (88-74)Manager:
BOBBY COX (Won Ring as manager in 1995)

Ringless Veterans Include:
DARREN BRAGG
VINNY CASTILLA
ROBERT FICK
JULIO FRANCO
MATT FRANCO
RAFAEL FURCAL
MIKE HAMPTON
ROBERTO HERNANDEZ
ANDRUW JONES
RUSS ORTIZ
JARET WRIGHT

2003 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
100-61 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Florida Marlins (91-71)Manager
FELIPE ALOU

Ringless Veterans Include:
EDGARDO ALFONZO
RICH AURILIA
BARRY BONDS
JOSE CRUZ, Jr.
RAY DURHAM
ANDRES GALARRAGA
JEFFRYE HAMMONDS
JOE NATHAN
SIDNEY PONSON
KIRK RUETER
BENITO SANTIAGO
JASON SCHMIDT
J. T. SNOW
TIM WORRELL

2008 LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
100-62 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Boston Red Sox (95-67)Manager:
MIKE SCIOSCIA (Won Ring as manager in 2002)

Ringless Veterans Include:
VLADIMIR GUERRERO
TORII HUNTER
HOWIE KENDRICK
GARY MATTHEWS, Jr.
KENDRY MORALES
DARREN OLIVER
ERVIN SANTANA
JERED WEAVER

2011 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
102-60 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to St. Louis Cardinals. (90-72).Manager:
CHARLIE MANUEL

Ringless Veterans Include:
BEN FRANCISCO
ROY HALLADAY
RAUL IBANEZ
CLIFF LEE
ROY OSWALT
HUNTER PENCE
PLACIDO POLANCO

2015 ST LOUIS CARDINALS
100-62 regular season record
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Chicago Cubs (97-65)
Manager: MIKE MATHENY

Ringless Veterans Include:
MATT CARPENTER
CARLOS MARTINEZ
BRANDON MOSS
JHONNY PERALTA
MICHAEL WACHA

2017 CLEVELAND INDIANS
102-60 regular season record
Lost Division Series 3-2 to New York Yankees (91-71)
Manager: TERRY FRANCONA

Ringless Veterans Include:
MICHAEL BRANTLEY
JAY BRUCE
CARLOS CARRASCO
LONNIE CHISENHALL
EDWIN ENCARNACION
AUSTIN JACKSON
JASON KIPNIS
FRANCISCO LINDOR
JOSE RAMIREZ
DANNY SALAZAR
CARLOS SANTANA
JOE SMITH

Of course in the Indians win NEXT year, this would all be build up to a great finish. But MAN… if it wasn’t THIS team, then what else could they have done right?

Ahhh cruel October.

Tom Trebelhorn 1989 Topps – Sully Baseball Card of the Day for October 14, 2017

Tom Trebelhorn is, in my recollection, a generic place holder manager. I remember he was a manager for the Brewers and briefly the Cubs. He was a minor league manager and a big league coach.

Baseball is filled with Trebelhorns, guys with tons of baseball wisdom and the misfortune of never being the manager of a team when all the pieces are in place.

And along the way, Trebelhorn coached and managed many players and imparted wisdom and guidance.

How do I know that?

Rickey Henderson mentioned him in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

Trebelhorn coached Rickey in the instructional league about the basics of base stealing. He must have known SOMETHING as his student became the greatest base stealer of them all.

The playing career of Trebelhorn, a native of Oregon, was not on par with Rickey Henderson. He played 5 years in the minor leagues but never got to the show. Instead he became a lifelong coach and manager.

He bounced between the minor league systems of the Pirates, A’s and Indians. He managed in Boise in 1975 and 1976, where he was Henderson’s manager.

In 1977, he managed in Modesto where he had Henderson again along with future Giants pitcher Ernie Camacho.

In 1979, he managed at Batvia in the Indians system. Future big leaguer Carmello Castillo was on that team.

In 1982, he went home to Portland to manage the Pirates farm team there. He managed a combination of young future big leaguers, like Brian Harper, Junior Ortiz and Jose DeLeon, as well as veterans hanging on, like Odell Jones, Willie Horton and Paul Dade.

When the Pirates moved their Triple A team from Portland to Hawaii, Trebelhorn went with them in 1983. Once again he had a mix of older and younger players including Don Stanhouse and Joe Orsulak.

After managing in Vancouver for the Brewers in 1985, he was promoted to manage the major league squad to finish the 1986 season.

In 1987, things looked like they might be going Tom Trebelhorn’s way. The Brewers started the season by winning their first 13 games and they stayed in contention for the AL East for much of the season.

They finished with 91 wins but far behind the AL East champion Tigers and the runner up Blue Jays. But his first season in the bigs as a manager was quite an accomplishment.

He would never come close to duplicating it. He would have a few more winning seasons but he was let go after the 1991 season.

Trebelhorn’s final big league managerial job was during the 1994 strike year with the Cubs. The team did not fare well and Trebelhorn’s lone highlight was following through on a dare that he would take questions from fans after the game at a firestation if the Cubs lost.

He spent years in the Orioles system, both in the front office and as a third base coach and bench coach. Eventually, he would return to managing in the Pacific Northwest, managing the Salem Volcanoes in Oregon.

The Giants affiliate had Trebelhorn manage such players as Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, Gary Brown, Joe Panik and Matt Duffy. All of them won World Series titles and played in those Octobers for San Francisco.

The manager, like Bruce Bochy, gets the lionshare of the credit for developing those players. But they all had managers who molded them before they got to the bigs.

Sometimes it is the Tom Trebelhorns of the world who help turn minor leaguers into Major Leaguers.

Just ask Rickey Henderson.