7 Best Game 7 Battles in World Series History
By Chris Pyo
The 2019 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals has come down to a winner-take-all Game 7. From the first day of Spring Training, this is what baseball fans crave, as the stakes legitimately couldn't be higher. To whet your appetite, here are the seven best deciding games that have ever been played in World Series history. Will 2019's edition eventually make the list?
7. 1975, Cincinnati Reds vs Boston Red Sox
The Cincinnati Reds had their Big Red Machine in full power mode for the 1975 World Series against the Red Sox. The Red Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead one game after Carlton Fisk waved his historic homer fair, but the Reds kept on chipping away until the game was tied. None other than Hall of Famer Joe Morgan hit an RBI single to give the Reds that extra run they needed to win their first championship since 1940.
6. 1997, Florida Marlins vs Cleveland Indians
Just four years after their inception in 1993, the Florida Marlins snuck into the playoffs as a Wild Card team and went all the way to upset the Cleveland Indians, who were trying to end their own World Series drought (lasting since 1948, and still ongoing). Edgar Renteria hit a bloop single up the middle in the bottom of the 11th to win the game and give the Marlins their first World Series title.
5. 1962, New York Yankees vs San Francisco Giants
The New York Yankees faced off against the San Francisco Giants and their lethal one-two punch of Willies in Mays and McCovey. Well, all starter Ralph Terry did was throw a shutout and preserve the 1-0 win for the Yankees, although he needed some help from second baseman Bobby Richardson to snare a screamer from McCovey with two outs in the ninth and runners in scoring position.
4. 2001, Arizona Diamondbacks vs New York Yankees
Yankees fans, cover your eyes. This may be one of the only times where you have a legitimate reason for being mad at Mariano Rivera. The Yanks were potentially heading to their fifth championship in six years, and with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, it looked improbable that the Diamondbacks would find a way to win. One Tony Womack RBI double and a Luis Gonzalez bloop single later, and Mariano was walking off the mound, wondering what could've been.
3. 1991, Atlanta Braves vs Minnesota Twins
This game featured one of the greatest World Series pitching performances in history, not just for a Game 7. Jack Morris twirled 10 full innings of shutout baseball against the Atlanta Braves to almost single-handedly win the series for the Twins, beating a young John Smoltz in the process. To throw 10 shutout innings in a single game is amazing enough. To have it come during a World Series Game 7 is masterful.
2. 1960, New York Yankees vs Pittsburgh Pirates
The only Game 7-winning walk-off home run comes in at second on a list of the greatest MLB Game 7s in history? Close, but no cigar to the top spot. Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run against the seemingly indestructible Yankees has been well-chronicled as one of history's greatest singular feats. After all, it's essentially what got the light-hitting Mazeroski elected to the Hall of Fame, albeit with eight Gold Gloves for his stellar defense in tow. That 1960 series was one for the ages, but in no way does it beat out the number one pick for best World Series Game 7.
1. 2016, Chicago Cubs vs Cleveland Indians
C'mon, now. A Game 7 that featured home runs from the likes of old man David Ross and light-hitting Rajai Davis off of the previously unhittable Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman, respectively? A Game 7 with a 108-year World Series win drought hanging over the Cubbies' heads? And then the Cubs somehow find a way to win the game in extra innings after a rain delay? This is, without a doubt, the best World Series Game 7 in the history of the MLB.