2010 Decade Worst in New York Sports

On February 5, 2012, Eli Manning threw an amazing 38 yard pass to Mario Manningham starting off the Giants game winning drive in Super Bowl XLVI. After Ahmad Bradshaw stumbled into the end zone with the latest rushing TD in Super Bowl history, and a Tom Brady Hail Mary falling harmlessly to the ground, the New York Giants won their fourth Super Bowl in team history.

With the World Series now completed and the 2019 baseball season officially over, that Giants Super Bowl now stands as the only championship won by a New York sports team. That officially makes this the worst ever decade in New York sports history. In fact, prior to this decade, New York had not seen fewer than three championships in any decade:

Decade Champions Teams
1920s 6 New York Giants (1920 – 1921), New York Yankees (1927 – 1928), New York Giants (1927), New York Rangers (1928)
1930s 8 New York Yankees (1932, 1936 – 1939), New York Rangers (1933), New York Giants (1934, 1938)
1940s 5 New York Rangers (1940), New York Yankees (1941, 1943, 1947, 1949)
1950s 9 New York Yankees (1950 – 1953, 1956, 1958), New York Giants (1954), Brooklyn Dodgers (1955), New York Giants (1956)
1960s 4 New York Yankees (1961 – 1962), New York Mets (1969), New York Jets (1969)
1970s 4 New York Knicks (1970, 1973) New York Yankees (1977 – 1978)
1980s 6 New York Islanders (1980 – 1983) New York Mets (1986), New York Giants (1987)
1990s 4 New York Giants (1991), New York Yankees (1996, 1998-1999)
2000s 3 New York Yankees (2000, 2009), New York Giants (2008)
2010s 1 New York Giants (2012)

Looking at it, this is the first decade since the 1910s where New York did not have at least three championships. In that decade, there were none as the New York Giants lost four World Series and the Brooklyn Robins lost one themselves.

But that was really it. The NHL was established towards the end of the decade in 1917. The NFL wasn’t established until 1920, and the NBA was not founded until 1947.

As has been noted many times over, this was also the first decade since those 1910s where the New York Yankees did not make a World Series. This decade’s team didn’t make it there largely because of Justin Verlander with the Yankees losing in the ALCS to his teams in 2012, 2017, and 2019.

The only teams who would make it to the championship series were the 2014 New York Rangers and the 2015 Mets. The Rangers lost in five to the Los Angels Kings in a very questionably officiated series. As for the Mets, they blew it with Terry Collins mismanaging and crucial errors from Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda leading to two of Jeurys Familia‘s three blown saves.

In the ensuing season, the Mets would lose the Wild Card game as Madison Bumgarner outlasted Noah Syndergaard. The Rangers had a run with three Conference Finals in four years. The New York Jets had their second AFC Championship Game at the beginning of a decade which has largely been associated with the Butt Fumble.

The New York Knicks, New York Islanders, and Brooklyn Nets never got out of the second round. On the topic of the Nets, even if we incorporate the New Jersey teams, the New Jersey Devils lost the 2012 Stanley Cup to the Los Angeles Kings.

Thankfully, this decade of relative New York ineptitude has come to an end, and there is some hope on the horizon. The Mets have an impressive core with Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, Edwin Diaz, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, and Syndergaard.

The Yankees have been in the ALCS in two out of the last three years, and they have an even more impressive core with Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres.

The New York Rangers are properly rebuilding, and they are a year or two away from real contention. The New York Islanders leadership with Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz is as good as there is in all of sports. The New York Giants and New York Jets have potential franchise QBs in Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold.

The Brooklyn Nets have Kyrie Irving, and next year, a healthy Kevin Durant. The New York Knicks are well, they’re the Knicks. Even with them being the Knicks, we see some hope at the end of the tunnel for New York sports in the ensuing decade, and you could actually foresee a chance where they surpass the nine championships of the 1950s.

2 Replies to “2010 Decade Worst in New York Sports”

  1. Tim Alberry says:

    Did you hear about who the Giants are about to hire for their head coach? From what I understand they are getting the New England Patriots coach Joe Judge. Do you think that was a good choice for them? I’m not so sure.

    1. metsdaddy says:

      I think it was worth the risk, especially when they were considering McDaniels and Garrett.

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