Curses! Postseason losses continue for long-suffering teams

It was not a good start to the Major League Baseball postseason for those who don’t believe in curses.

The Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics extended their string of postseason futility on Tuesday with losses in the openers of their respective best-of-three, wild-card series. If they don't win Game 2 on Wednesday, it's another quick trip home for two franchises that have been consistently great in the regular season, only to fall apart when the postseason arrives.

Count the Cleveland Indians, too. Losers of seven straight playoff games, they're hoping to fight off elimination against the New York Yankees.

Also up: The Atlanta Braves, who have lost in 10 straight postseason rounds dating to 2001. They'll host their opener against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

Braves manager Brian Snitker turned to humor when discussing fall futility.

“I’d love to win this series," he said. "I’m not going to sacrifice a child to get it done, but I guess it just depends on what you want to make of it.”

The 64-year-old Snitker has been with the Braves’ organization since 1977, so he’s well aware of the club's recent postseason failures. He also doesn’t believe it has much bearing on what’s about to happen over the next two to three days.

“I don't think those guys in there feel that at all,” Snitker said. “They weren't around here for all those ones that everyone is talking about.”

Of course, the same could be said for the Twins and A's, and both those teams still lost on Tuesday. Minnesota extended its all-time postseason record losing streak to 17 games by falling 4-1 to Houston. The Astros scored three runs in the ninth inning after a two-out error by Jorge Polanco.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli also said he doesn't feel the need to address the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Curses-Postseason-losses-continue-for-15607972.php