Yeah, it does not sound quite right, does it? But, it's true. The Colorado Rockies will play in their first World Series whenever baseball gets around to letting them play again. What is it eight days? Blimey!

You've already heard that they are the first team since Big Red Machine to sweep their first two series. Back in 1976, however, that would net you a World Series crown. Today all it gets you is a ticket to Palookaville or rather Cleveland in eight days.

Here are all the playoff teams that have sweep their way through the postseason:

Note that the average winning percentage for these teams .659 which translates into 107 wins in a 162-game schedule, 17.5 games better than the Rockies.

But as you know the Rockies are having an historically unusual season. They are just one of 18 teams who have won 21 of 22 games. Here are the rest:

Should they win game one even after such a long layoff they would become just one of 11 teams to win 22 of 23 and just the third since 1936:

Let's say the Rockies roll over whomever should represent the AL (Cleveland), not only would they become the first team to sweep three straight playoff series, they would be the first team since 1916 to win 25 of 26. Here are the only teams to do it:

One might expect the Rockies to fold in their first World Series, but what have other teams done in their first try? Here is the year that each franchise first made the Series, what their record was that season, and what the outcome of the series was:

Franchise	First Yr	W	L	PCT	Won Div?	Won WC?	Won Lg?	Won WS?	# Rounds	PO W	PO L	PO T
Houston Astros	2005	89	73	.549	N	Y	Y	N	3	7	7	0
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	2002	99	63	.611	N	Y	Y	Y	3	11	5	0
Arizona Diamondbacks	2001	92	70	.568	Y	N	Y	Y	3	11	6	0
Florida Marlins	1997	92	70	.568	N	Y	Y	Y	3	11	5	0
Toronto Blue Jays	1992	96	66	.593	Y		Y	Y	2	8	4	0
San Diego Padres	1984	92	70	.568	Y		Y	N	2	4	6	0
Milwaukee Brewers	1982	95	67	.586	Y		Y	N	2	6	6	0
Kansas City Royals	1980	97	65	.599	Y		Y	N	2	5	4	0
New York Mets	1969	100	62	.617	Y		Y	Y	2	7	1	0
Baltimore Orioles	1944	89	65	.578			Y	N	1	2	4	0
St. Louis Cardinals	1926	89	65	.578			Y	Y	1	4	3	0
Minnesota Twins	1924	92	62	.597			Y	Y	1	4	3	0
New York Yankees	1921	98	55	.641			Y	N	1	3	5	0
Cleveland Indians	1920	98	56	.636			Y	Y	1	5	2	0
Cincinnati Reds	1919	96	44	.686			Y	Y	1	5	3	0
Los Angeles Dodgers	1916	94	60	.610			Y	N	1	1	4	0
Philadelphia Phillies	1915	90	62	.592			Y	N	1	1	4	0
Atlanta Braves	1914	94	59	.614			Y	Y	1	4	0	0
Detroit Tigers	1907	92	58	.613			Y	N	1	0	4	1
Chicago White Sox	1906	93	58	.616			Y	Y	1	4	2	0
Chicago Cubs	1906	116	36	.763			Y	N	1	2	4	0
San Francisco Giants	1905	105	48	.686			Y	Y	1	4	1	0
Oakland Athletics	1905	92	56	.622			Y	N	1	1	4	0
Pittsburgh Pirates	1903	91	49	.650			Y	N	1	3	5	0
Boston Red Sox	1903	91	47	.659			Y	Y	1	5	3	0
Colorado Rockies	2007	90	73	.552	N	Y	Y	?
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	NA
Washington Nationals	NA
Texas Rangers	NA
Seattle Mariners	NA
Total		100	62	.616				52%	1.5	4.7	3.8

Note that newbies were on a roll. They had won four straight from 1992 to 2002 and then the Astros went pfft in the 2005 classic. Overall, teams win in their first World Series 52% of the time, and win 4.7 games to their opponents' 3.8. So the Rockies may still be longshots to sweep but there is no reason to think that their first time in the Fall Classic will leave them starstruck.