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No, Familia is far from the first pitcher to blow a ninth-inning lead in the World Series, and for Arizona fans, that probably counts as "stating the bleeding obvious". Because, you will hardly need reminding that the 2001 World Series saw no fewer than three such events. Frst, Byung-Hyum Kim coughed up the lead in both Game 4 and Game 5, on successive, delirious nights in New York. But then, on that insane night in Phoenix, the unthinkable happened, with Mariano Rivera doing the same in Game 7. But I figured it might be fun to take a look at the history of such things over the past 110 years of the World Series.
It is kinda uncertain, because the save statistic was only invented in 1960. While it's possible to go back before that, and retroactively apply it to earlier games, this is by no means certain. For example, the first ninth-inning blown save [and we'll take the "ninth-inning" part as read for the rest of the article] I found was in 1924, when Tom Zachary of the Senators allowed two runs in the top of the ninth to the Giants, tying the game up, before being replaced by Firpo Marberry. The Senators then walked it off in the bottom of the ninth, but the official record credits Zachary with a W, and Marberry with a Sv. Modern rules would give Zachary a BS, and Marberry the W., so I'm going with that.
Here's the list of all 29 cases I found.
| Rk | Player | Date | Gm# | Tm | Opp | Rslt | Series |
IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | WPA |
| 1 | Jeurys Familia | 2015-10-27 | 1 | NYM | KCR | L 4-5 | ??? | 1.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.157 |
| 2 |
Neftali Feliz | 2011-10-27 | 6 | TEX | STL | L 9-10 | STL in 7 | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | -0.420 |
| 3 |
Scott Feldman | 2011-10-27 | 6 | TEX | STL | L 9-10 | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -0.228 | |
| 4 |
Arthur Rhodes | 2011-10-20 | 2 | STL | TEX | L 1-2 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.072 | |
| 5 |
Bobby Jenks | 2005-10-23 | 2 | CHW | HOU | W 7-6 | CHW in 4 | 0.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -0.381 |
| 6 |
Ugueth Urbina | 2003-10-22 | 4 | FLA | NYY | W 4-3 | FLA in 6 | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -0.286 |
| 7 |
Mariano Rivera | 2001-11-04 | 7 | NYY | ARI | L 2-3 | ARI in 7 | 1.1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -0.625 |
| 8 |
Byung-Hyun Kim | 2001-11-01 | 5 | ARI | NYY | L 2-3 | 0.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -0.436 | |
| 9 |
Byung-Hyun Kim | 2001-10-31 | 4 | ARI | NYY | L 3-4 | 2.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | -0.652 | |
| 10 |
Armando Benitez | 2000-10-21 | 1 | NYM | NYY | L 3-4 | NYY in 5 | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -0.269 |
| 11 |
Jose Mesa | 1997-10-26 | 7 | CLE | FLA | L 2-3 | FLA in 7 | 1.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -0.280 |
| 12 |
Mitch Williams | 1993-10-23 | 6 | PHI | TOR | L 6-8 | TOR in 6 | 0.1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | -0.789 |
| 13 |
Tom Henke | 1992-10-24 | 6 | TOR | ATL | W 4-3 | TOR in 6 | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -0.258 |
| 14 |
Jeff Reardon | 1992-10-18 | 2 | ATL | TOR | L 4-5 | 1.1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -0.541 | |
| 15 |
Dennis Eckersley | 1988-10-15 | 1 | OAK | LAD | L 4-5 | LAD in 5 | 0.2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -0.828 |
| 16 |
Bob Stanley | 1986-10-25 | 6 | BOS | NYM | L 5-6 | NYM in 7 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.810 |
| 17 |
Todd Worrell | 1985-10-26 | 6 | STL | KCR | L 1-2 | KCR in 7 | 0.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -0.798 |
| 18 |
Dan Quisenberry | 1980-10-19 | 5 | KCR | PHI | L 3-4 | PHI in 6 | 2.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.346 |
| 19 |
Sparky Lyle | 1977-10-11 | 1 | NYY | LAD | W 4-3 | NYY in 6 | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.331 |
| 20 |
Rawly Eastwick | 1975-10-14 | 3 | CIN | BOS | W 6-5 | CIN in 7 | 1.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.158 |
| 21 |
Dick Drago | 1975-10-12 | 2 | BOS | CIN | L 2-3 | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -0.429 | |
| 22 |
Tug McGraw | 1973-10-14 | 2 | NYM | OAK | W 10-7 | OAK in 7 | 6.0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -0.123 |
| 23 |
Clay Carroll | 1972-10-19 | 4 | CIN | OAK | L 2-3 | OAK in 7 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.831 |
| 24 |
Harvey Haddix | 1960-10-13 | 7 | PIT | NYY | W 10-9 | PIT in 7 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.102 |
| 25 |
Bob Grim | 1957-10-06 | 4 | NYY | MLN | L 5-7 | MLN in 7 | 0.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.685 |
| 26 |
Allie Reynolds | 1953-10-05 | 6 | NYY | BRO | W 4-3 | NYY in 7 | 2.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -0.225 |
| 27 |
Bucky Walters | 1939-10-08 | 4 | CIN | NYY | L 4-7 | NYY in 4 | 3.0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -0.622 |
| 28 |
Schoolboy Rowe | 1935-10-04 | 3 | DET | CHC | W 6-5 | DET in 6 | 4.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0.050 |
| 29 |
Tom Zachary |
1924-10-05 | 2 | WSH | NYG | W 4-3 | WSH in 7 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.107 |
Random notes
- Familia was the first blown save in Game 1 since 2000, when it was another Mets closer, Armando Benitez, who did it. The Yankees won that series in five.
- The team blowing the save went 10-18 in those games, There was one game - #6 in the 2011 World Series - where there were TWO blown saves, both by the Texas Rangers. as they allowed two in the ninth and two in the tenth to allow the Cardinals to tie the game. St. Louis walked it off in the 11th and won the series in seven.
- Overall, there are 18 series before this year with one blown save; two had a pair (both with one for each side) and two had a trio (2001 and 2011). In the 18 single BS cases, the side blowing the save went on to lose the series 11 times.
- The 2001 Diamondbacks are the only side ever to have two blown saves and still win the World Series.
- The worst in terms of Win Probability was Clay Carroll in 1972. He came in with one out in the ninth, a one-run lead and a runner on first, but gave up three straight singles to end the game and net a WP of -83.1%