What Does History Say About The Phillies’ 2nd Time Getting No Hit This Season?
Last night was an all-time disheartening game by the Philadelphia Phillies, as they became the 3rd team in baseball history to get no hit in the playoffs at the hands of the Houston Astros and mainly Cristian Javier. Aaron Nola did not get the job done remotely for the Phils in the biggest start of his life, and the offense completely disappeared following a huge performance. I am very sad this morning, and I don’t feel good about the Phillies right now. My feeling isn’t that this series is over, it’s still very much tied at 2-2, but Philadelphia had control after Game 3 and simply handed it right back in Game 4. Sometimes, though, when your team puts up a historically bad night, you have to turn to history to make you feel better.
If you’ll remember, this is the 2nd time the Philadelphia Phillies have been no hit this season. Back on April 29th, the Phillies were combined no hit by the New York Mets in a Tylor Megill start. To get no hit in today’s game is rare, to get no hit twice in a season feels like one in a million. It’s not one in a million, though. Actually, there have officially been 18 teams in MLB history to get no hit twice in a season. Here’s the full list:
2021 Cleveland Indians
2019 Seattle Mariners
2015 New York Mets
2015 Los Angeles Dodgers
2010 Tampa Bay Rays
2001 San Diego Padres
1996 Colorado Rockies
1977 California Angels
1973 Detroit Tigers
1971 Cincinnati Reds
1967 Detroit Tigers
1965 Chicago Cubs
1960 Philadelphia Phillies
1923 Philadelphia Athletics
1917 Chicago White Sox
1898 Boston Beaneaters
1885 Providence Grays
1884 Pittsburgh Alleghenys
And now, your 2022 Philadelphia Phillies. The immediate assumption when you hear about a team getting no hit twice in a season, you think “that team stinks!” Not necessarily. 8 of the previous 18 teams to get no hit twice in a season finished their year with a record over .500, and 2 won 100+ games, the 1898 Beaneaters and the 1917 White Sox. In addition, 4 of those teams made the playoffs, and 5 won their division. It doesn’t seem that historically getting no hit twice is a death sentence; in fact, it seems there is no real correlation with team success in general.
That being said, though, the Phillies are already in the World Series. We’re no longer focused on playoffs, or divisions, or even league pennants. Is it historically possible to get no hit TWO TIMES in a year and still win a World Series? Yes. There’s only one instance, but the 1917 Chicago White Sox ended up with a world championship, despite the unlikely blemish on their season. To bastardize a quote from the great Lou Brown of Major League “It has happened before, it can happen again”. He actually said “will”, but clearly there are no guarantees in this series. The 2nd no hitter in World Series history throws everything out the window, except for maybe the only other time it happened. That team that got no hit, the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, won the next game. Here’s hoping history repeats itself.
