There is nothing quite so emphatic as a playoff sweep. A 4-0 series triumph leaves no doubt about the better team and feels like it underlines the winner’s greatness.
With their victory over the Cubs on Wednesday night, the Mets became the eighth team to sweep a league championship series since the L.C.S. expanded to seven games in 1985.
Those sweeps — 13 percent of all series — were accomplished with little trouble. The winning teams all scored 18 to 22 runs in the four games; the losers never managed more than 12.
The most tightly contested sweep came last year, when the Royals whitewashed the Orioles but only outscored them by 18-12.