I have been saying it for decades. If you don't keep your foot on the gas all the way to the end of the season, you will lose in the playoffs. This is on the managers of these teams. It is why I think Bobby Cox was overrated as a manager.
You mean just because he...
- blew a 3-1 lead over KC with probably the best team in baseball in 1985?
- blew a 3-2 Series lead over the Twins and lost both games in extra innings in 1991?
- blew a 3-1 lead over the Pirates only to get bailed out by the Sid slide in 1992?
- blew the 1993 playoffs against a mediocre Philly team?
- blew a 2-0 in games lead along with a 6-0 fifth inning lead in game 4 against the 96 Yanks?
- fell behind an overmatched San Diego team, 3-0, in 1998 and lost the series?
- blew a 2-1 series lead over the eventual NL champion Giants in 2002?
- lost in the LDS to an 88-win Cubs team despite MLB best record in 2003?
What manager hasn't managed to blow seven post-season series when his team was the best in the league?
Sadly, it's why I agree with you.
Cox was fantastic at spotting talent and putting together a team that could play together with minimal adversarial interactions (publicly at least).
He was a moron at knowing he needed a closer who could do the job or maintaining momentum.