FACTBOX: Notable major league collapses

(Reuters) - The New York Mets became the first major league team to squander a seven-game lead with 17 games left in the season, when they were overtaken on Sunday by the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League East title.

Here are some of other notable collapses over the years in Major League Baseball:

* The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies led by 6.5 games over the St Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds with 12 games left in the season. The Phillies, whose manager Gene Mauch pitched his top starters, Jim Bunning and Chris Short, as much as he could down the stretch, lost 10 in a row and ended up one game behind eventual World Series champion Cardinals.

* The 1978 Boston Red Sox led by 14 games in July and by 7.5 games with 32 left before being caught by the New York Yankees, who went on to beat them in a one-game playoff at Fenway Park on their way to winning the World Series.

* The 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers held a 13.5-game lead on August 11 but were caught by the red-hot New York Giants who won 16 in a row and 37 of their final 44 games and tied the Dodgers on the last day. The Giants won a three-game playoff on Bobby Thomson's homer known as the "Shot Heard Round the World".

* The 1995 California Angels led the by 11.5 games on August 9 but went 12-27 over their last 39 games and lost a one-game playoff to the Seattle Mariners.

* The 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers blew a four-game lead in the final seven games, losing 10 of their final 13 and the last four games. The Dodgers lost a best-of-three playoff once again to the Giants.

* The 1934 New York Giants were the first to squander a seven-game lead in September, losing their last five games as the Cardinals charged to the pennant by winning 11 of their last 13.