The Tulsa Drillers have qualified for the Texas League playoffs in six of 11 seasons as a Colorado Rockies farm team.
That's a slightly above average ratio. But the bad news is the Drillers have lost all six playoff series as a Rockies affiliate.
Even worse is how they have lost those series. Four of those six series have been sweeps, after Arkansas eliminated Tulsa in three straight games, capped by the Travelers' 5-2 win on Friday at North Little Rock.
Tulsa has a 3-18 playoff record with the Rockies. That's incredible.
It also does not bode well at the major league level for the Rockies because you don't want to develop postseason losers in the minors. The Drillers are 1-10 at home in the playoffs as a Rockies affiluate.
I love Drillers first-year manager Kevin Riggs' comments that he made to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports writer Troy Schulte about the disappointment of another playoff failure.
"I'm not about a reward for getting into the playoffs, it's about winning
in the playoffs, Riggs said, "creating championship players and the only way
to do that is by winning. There's a lot undone for me."
It's one thing to lose a playoff series, but to go down with a great effort. That was the case last year when the Drillers went the distance against Springfield, losing in five games. The difference there was a blown 6-0 lead in the opener.
But there have been too many weak efforts in the postseason, as was the case this year. Drillers first-year manager Kevin Riggs thought after Game 2 that his team was playing scared and was tentative. The Drillers were outscored 17-6 in the series.
The Drillers' September swoons with the Rockies started in the first year, 2003, when they needed only one win the final three-game series at Wichita to make the playoffs. Of course, they lost all three in much the same fashion as they lost all three this week to Arkansas.
Tulsa has the longest pennant drought in the TL, dating back to 1998. The Drillers are the only TL franchise not to win a pennant in this century.
The Drillers have won one league championship since 1988. That's the same number the Tulsa Fast Breakers have won since then and they have been out of business for more than 20 years. At least their pro basketball successor in Tulsa, the 66ers, have won several playoff series the past few years, even though they have not won a title.
And the postseason futility also extends to hockey. The Tulsa Oilers have not won a title since 1993, and they have won only won one playoff series since 1994.
At least the Drillers front office and fans delivered a winning postseason effort as Thursday's crowd of 4,036 was the second-largest in team history and largest since 1988.
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