Dramatically cruel

That's the baseball playoffs in a nutshell. A six-month 162-game season can be over in three nights. That's the reality that the Cubs and Phils face, and which the Angels and/or Yanks will face with a loss tonight. History says the Cubs and Phils are sunk: in the NL, only the 1984 Padres and 1981 Dodgers have won a best-of-five series after losing games one and two. And both those teams closed with three at home after games 1 and 2 on the road.

In the AL, the big turnaround is more common, but not a regular occurrence. The Brewhahas first did it in the 1982 ALCS, but had the advantage of games 3-5 at home. Ditto the Mariners in 1995 against the Yanks.

In 1999, the RedSawx became the first team to have to win three straight in two venues -- losing games 1 and 2 in Cleveland, winning twice in the Ratden, and then winning a shootout in Cleveland. Two years later, the Yanks became the only team to go down 2-0 at home and win a five-game series by winning games 3 and 4 on the road (Oakland). In '03 the A's choked another 2-0 lead -- this time to the RedStiffs.

So the Cubs have some hope after falling down 0-2 on the road; the Phils have nearly none as they travel to Denver down 0-2. After their late season runs, the likelihood is that those two will be out before the weekend ends.

A quick end after a long season.

And a ratings nightmare NLCS for TBS -- Arizona v. Colorado. That's worse than the worst possible ALCS ratings matchup of Indians/Angels.