Three of this year’s division series seem all but over.
The Yankees, Phillies, and Rangers lead their best of five division series by two games to none. Only a late inning rally by the Atlanta Braves prevented all four baseball series from being two games to none affairs and feeling all but over.
Baseball has been playing five game series since 1969. In that year baseball added four new teams and expanded each league to two divisions.
From 1969 to 1984 the winners of the Eastern and Western divisions in each league faced of against each other in a five game set to determine who would go to the World Series.
Starting in 1985, baseball changed the five-game format of the league championship to the current best-of-seven.
When the Wild Card was introduced in 1994 and four teams from each league began to make the playoffs, baseball again used the five-game series to determine the two winners in the divisional round.
In all there have exactly 100 best-of-five playoff series in baseball since 1969. In seven of them, a team has trailed two games to none and come back to win the series.
This slide show is a look at the seven ball clubs who accomplished the feat.
For those in Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Tampa Bay, this is a reminder that there is still hope.