10 greatest pennant chases in Major League Baseball history
10. 1956 National League: Dodgers, Braves and Reds
The 1956 season was one of the most dramatic in history, and not just because the World Series was decided in seven games. The New York Yankees ran away with the American League and finished the season 97-57 with a nine-game lead over second place Cleveland in the standings, but the National League was a three-team dogfight until the final day of the season.
The Milwaukee Braves led the NL for most of the season, and even built a 5.5-game lead in the standings in late July. However, the powerful squad could never shake the Cincinnati Redlegs or the Brooklyn Dodgers.
With a 3.5-game cushion in early September, the Braves dropped three of four games to Cincinnati, which began a five-game slide that allowed Brooklyn to cut the lead to just one game. When the Dodgers beat Milwaukee on September 11 to claim a share of first place, it was the first time in two months that anyone other than the Braves sat atop the standings.
Milwaukee continued to struggle, and with a 9-5 record over the last 14 games of the season, including a three-game season ending series sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Dodgers secured the pennant and a spot in the World Series against the Yankees. Brooklyn led the National League for exactly ten days in 1956, and by never more than 1.5 games.
The heartbreak would not deter the Braves; Milwaukee would win the World Series the following season and lose in seven games in 1958. It was the most successful three-year stint in franchise history until the club’s reign of division dominance in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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