Phillies... Playoffs???

I know, I know, it's sacrosanct to utter the "p-word" when talking about the Phillies until they actually clinch the right to go to the p-word, but I just had to delve into a little bit of history, to discover some trivia gems. To wit:

-Should the Phillies make the postseason in 2008, it will be the first time since the Wild Card system was enacted they made it in back-to-back years.

-The last time the Phillies made the playoffs in back-to-back years, it was 1980 and 1981. And yep, we all know what happened in 1980... Tug McGraw jumped off the mound to celebrate the team's World Series victory.

-Prior to that, in the team's 125 year history, the Phils had back-to-back playoff appearances only one other time, and that was in 1976, '77, and '78.

-Interestingly, the Chicago Cubs, the NL Central winner last year and this year (they clinched already), also hadn't been in the Major League playoffs in back to back years since the Wild Card system was implemented, and the last time that they earned playoff rights in consecutive years was in 1906, '07, and '08. And guess what? They won the World Series in 1907 and 1908.

Little eerie, huh?

Thanks to baseballreference.com for allowing me to do some playoff research.