Without further ado, the Batter's Box Salute to the Postseason gets underway with the ten most exciting games in Division Series History.
Other than the extra round of playoffs designed to address the effects of the 1981 labour dispute, the Division Series has only been around since 1995. As such, most Box readers, young and old, can recall most of these games. What follows is one fan's rankings; I open the floor for debate.
*Note, October 7: I’ve rewritten this thing enough times, for crying out loud! Last night’s classic Game 5 in Oakland wasn’t considered. Is it Top Ten material? I’d probably put it around #9.
Here we go...
Five Honourable Mentions
Florida 7, San Francisco 6 (Game 4, 2003)
Boston 6, Oakland 5 (Game 4, 2003)
Houston 3, Los Angeles 1 (Game 1, 1981)
Florida 2, San Francisco 1 (Game 1, 1997)
Boston 3, Oakland 1 (Game 3, 2003)
#10. Game 3, Safeco Field, 2000
At the time, it seemed like 2000 might be the year when the Yankees lost their death grip on the American League. At an uninspiring 87-74, the Yankees limped into the playoffs, vulnerable despite their soaring payroll. Meanwhile, with an impressive 95 wins, the White Sox seemed to be the class of the Junior Circuit. Chicago had an 8-4 record against the Bombers during the regular season, including a humiliating four-game thrashing of the pinstripers at Yankee Stadium, during which they put up an incredible 42 runs.
But the Mariners, winners of the wild card, shocked the Sox with rallies in games 1 and 2. With the scene shifted to the Pacific Northwest, James Baldwin and Aaron Sele engaged in a surprising pitching duel in the Game 3 matinee. Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the two clubs had combined for just two runs and seven hits, and the tie game was in the hands of the clubs' respective bullpens.
With John Olerud leading off, Jerry Manuel gave the ball to sidearming southpaw Kelly Wunsch in the last of the ninth. Johnny O promptly ripped a line drive right into the gut of the slightly built pitcher. Staggered with pain, Wunsch grabbed the ball and promptly threw it away, as Olerud advanced to second. Unable to go any further, Wunsch departed.
Manuel called on ace reliever Keith Foulke to pitch to Stan Javier, while Lou Piniella pinch-ran for Olerud with merely the greatest baserunner of all time, Rickey Henderson. Javier sacrificed Rickey to third for the first out of the inning. Manuel called both the infield and outfield in for David Bell's at-bat, but Bell worked Foulke for the walk. With runners on the corners, Lou called for Carlos Guillen to pinch-hit for Joe Oliver, presumably for two reasons: to avoid a strikeout, and to have a batter that could beat out a potential double play ball.
But Lou's real reason for turning to Guillen was quickly revealed. Rickey Henderson suddenly bolted for the plate on a suicide squeeze attempt, and Guillen's bunt was pushed perfectly up the first base line. Henderson easily slid home, and the M's completed the stunning sweep with a 2-1 victory. With the White Sox out of the way, the Mariners were soon dispatched by the Yankees, who would go on to win the Subway Series.
#9. Game 3, Pro Player Stadium, 2003
Was Friday's matinee really one of the ten best DS games in history? Yes, it was.
Game 3 featured a matchup of crafty lefties Kirk Rueter and Mark Redman, and they left the game in the hands of their respective bullpens with the score 2-2 in the seventh. Florida scored its pair on Pudge Rodriguez's drive to left, as the longtime Ranger continued to build a Marlins legacy in just his first season with the club. San Francisco tied the game in the sixth on a clutch pinch-hit by Pedro Feliz.
As the game went on and on, the Giants relief corps of Herges, Eyre, Nathan, Rodriguez and Worrell flirted with disaster, but held the Marlins at bay. Their efforts were rewarded in the top of the 11th, as Edgardo Alfonzo ripped a single to right, scoring Rich Aurilia with the go-ahead run.
Tim Worrell remained in the game in the bottom of the 11th, and got Jeff Conine to loft a lazy fly ball to right -- only to see it dropped by old friend Jose Cruz Jr., who had been fighting the ball in right the entire series. After an Alex Gonzalez walk, a Miguel Cabrera sacrifice and a Juan Pierre intentional walk, Worrell faced pesky Luis Castillo with the bases loaded, one out, and a one-run lead with the series momentum hanging in the balance.
Castillo ripped a sharp grounder up the middle. Worrell, whose momentum had taken him to the first-base side of the mound, reached back with his bare hand to snag the ground ball, regrouped, and fired to the plate to force Conine. Suddenly, the Giants were one out away from seizing back home field advantage.
But it wasn't to be. Ivan Rodriguez battled back from an 0-2 count to line a single to right. Gonzalez scored, and a flying Pierre easily beat Cruz's desperate throw to the plate. The Marlins would complete the upset the next day, when Pudge would win an offensive plate collision in the eighth -- and a defensive plate collision in the ninth -- to win yet another stellar 2003 playoff game.
#8. Game 2, Yankee Stadium, 1995
After a see-saw Game 1, Seattle and New York hooked up again the next night, with a pair of Andys matched up -- Benes and Pettitte. Seattle was playing its first-ever playoff series, and still didn’t have Randy Johnson available after he dominated the California Angels in a one-game playoff for the AL West. The ALDS against New York would do no less than transform the Mariners franchise.
Vince Coleman (!) started the scoring with a home run (!) that snuck around the left field foul pole. Back-to-back jacks by Ruben Sierra and Don Mattingly -- who was appearing in the playoffs for the first time in his last season -- gave New York a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth. In the seventh, the little guys at the top of the Mariners order scratched out two runs, and Paul O'Neill went deep in the bottom half to knot the score at 4-4.
In the ninth, ex-Expo John Wetteland entered in a one-out, man-on-second situation, which he easily resolved with two K's. Playing the hot hand, Torre let Wetteland pitch...and pitch, sending the usual short man out in the 10th, 11th and again in the 12th inning. After two quick outs, Ken Griffey Jr. launched an absolute bomb to right, giving the Mariners a shocking 5-4 lead. Finally, Torre called for a rookie by the name of Mariano Rivera, but his hook obviously came too late.
In the bottom of the twelfth, Wade Boggs drew a one-out walk, and Torre pinch-ran a 24-year-old September callup named Jorge Posada for him. Lou Piniella went to Tim Belcher to relieve a struggling Jeff Nelson, and Belcher walked Bernie Williams before coaxing a fly out from O'Neill. With the game on the line, Sierra lashed a double to left, scoring Posada -- but utilityman Alex Diaz gunned Bernie out at the plate, prolonging the game.
Finally, in the bottom of the fifteenth, with one out and one on, Jim Leyritz launched a game-winning home run into the pandemonium of the Bronx Zoo, and launched his career as a notoriously dangerous postseason hitter. Yankees win 7-5...but as we shall see, the series was far from over.
#7. Game 4, Jacobs Field, 1997
After David Wells stymied the Tribe with a complete-game five-hitter in Game 3, the defending world champs needed just one more win to earn a date with the awaiting Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS. The starters on this night were aging National League superstars, pitching in an American League playoff game: Dwight Gooden and Orel Hershiser.
Gooden carried a razor-thin 2-1 edge into the sixth, and he got picked up by Lloyd, Nelson and Stanton -- all of whom would sport a 0.00 ERA in a combined nine appearances in the series. Mariano Rivera, having made the successful transition from dominant setup man to dominant closer, got the call to earn a five-out save with the dangerous Matt Williams coming up in the eighth. Sure enough, Williams flied out meekly to right.
But the next batter, oft-injured Sandy Alomar, lofted a 2-0 fastball deep to right. Given the irregular fence heights at the Jake, had the ball veered just a couple of feet toward the foul line, it would have struck the top of the fence for a likely double. But the ball managed to sneak over the lower fence for a home run. Rivera, who would not cough up another postseason lead for over four years, had failed the Yankees.
In the ninth, Ramiro Mendoza took the hill. After a single by Marquis Grissom and a Bip Roberts sacrifice, Omar Vizquel ripped one up the middle that ricocheted off of Mendoza. As the ball trickled away, Grissom scored all the way from second. Cleveland would go on to win a tense Game 5, and would then knock off the Orioles and come tantalizingly close to winning their first world championship since 1948 before dropping Game 7 in Miami.
#6. Game 1, Jacobs Field, 1995
The problem with this classic is that nobody who was in Toronto at the time saw it. As part of the ill-fated "Baseball Network," MLB decided that it would be a great idea to have all playoff games subject to regional coverage, and therefore played at exactly the same time. Thus, the Cleveland/Boston series was played entirely simultaneously with the Seattle/New York classic. Even the ALCS and NLCS were subject to regional coverage!
To kick off this series, Boston sent Roger Clemens to the mound, and he squared off against "El Presidente," Dennis Martinez. A John Valentin homer gave the Sox a 2-0 lead, but Cleveland got three back on a two-run double by Albert Belle and an RBI single by Eddie Murray. Martinez left with a 3-2 lead in the seventh.
But in the eighth, usually reliable set-up man Julian Tavarez served up a gopher ball to Luis Alicea (!), who dramatically tied the game. Red Sox Nation got its hopes up even higher in the bottom half of the inning, when Stan Belinda coaxed a popup from Albert Belle with two on, one out, and New Brunswick's Rheal Cormier got Eddie Murray to harmlessly fly out and end the threat. The ninth and tenth were uneventful.
In the eleventh inning, Jim Poole relieved Jose Mesa, who had been automatic all season, and ex-Beantowner Tony Pena entered defensively after Sandy Alomar was lifted for a pinch-runner. Poole surrendered a long home run to Tim Naehring, and it was 4-3 Red Sox. With Mike Stanton -- yes, he was on the Red Sox then -- having logged nearly three excellent innings, Kevin Kennedy turned to Proven Closer Rick Aguilera. No dice, as Belle went yard to lead off the inning.
With no end to this game in sight, Kennedy turned the ball over to starter Zane Smith in the 12th. After getting two quick outs in the 13th, Smith fell behind the light-hitting Pena 3-0. Shockingly unencumbered by a red light, Pena turned on the obligatory fastball down the middle and launched it into the left field bleachers. Cleveland went on to sweep the series and capture the AL flag.
#5. Game 2, Pacific Bell Park, 2000
I watched this classic with my buddy Jeff, surrounded by enthusiastic (yet not terribly obnoxious) Mets fans at the Barrow Street Ale House in Greenwich Village. The Giants entered this Quest For Barry’s Ring, Part V, with a 1-0 series lead after Livan Hernandez silenced the Met bats in Game 1.
Shawn Estes couldn’t locate his curve and was quickly lifted on this chilly evening by the Bay, but Al Leiter was razor-sharp and led 2-1 after eight sparkling innings. In the top of the ninth, Bobby Valentine let Leiter hit for himself, and although he struck out, Edgardo Alfonzo blasted a two-out, two-run homer to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. A split going back to Queens, especially with Leiter on to finish what he started, seemed assured.
But in the ninth, Barry Bonds ripped a double to lead off the inning. With the crowd buzzing, Jeff Kent came to the plate. To play it safe, Valentine turned the game over to closer Armando Benitez. Kent promptly singled, and Ellis Burks flied out harmlessly to right. Two on, one out.
Ramon Martinez was due up next, the starting second baseman against a tough lefty as Kent played first. But with a flamethrowing righty now on the hill, J.T. Snow came in to pinch-hit. A first baseman known more for his slick glove, Snow blasted a 2-1 pitch down the right field line. Although he lacked Carlton Fisk’s body English, Snow had the same results: Just fair, and gone! Pandemonium at Pac Bell, as the score was tied at 4. The game went on to extra innings.
Strangely, Dusty Baker decided against using feared reliever Robb Nen – in favour of leaving Felix Rodriguez in, who was lit up in the ninth. Rodriguez appeared to justify his skipper’s faith by getting two quick outs. But Darryl Hamilton, in a seemingly innocuous pinch-hitting appearance for Joe McEwing, belted a double to deep centre. Then Jay Payton, who would have a huge postseason, lined a single up the middle to score the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the tenth, pinch-hitter Armando Rios singled, and was bunted to second by Marvin Benard. Bill Mueller bounced a grounder to short, and Rios – forgetting the eternal “hold on balls in front of you” baseball wisdom – was nailed at third by Mike Bordick. Barry came to the plate representing the winning run, but ageless Johnny Franco froze him for a called strike three. The Mets would take the series in four, and go on to the World Series.
#4. Game 1, Network Associates Coliseum, 2003
I don’t think I’m overrating this game with “recent memory” bias. This was simply an outstanding game, featuring a little bit of everything.
Tim Hudson and Pedro Martinez squared off, and although neither was dominant, both battled through some incredibly tough at-bats by their determined opponents. The Red Sox struck first on a Todd Walker home run, while the A’s got a two-run double from Erubiel Durazo, followed by an RBI single by Miguel Tejada. Jason Varitek, one of the best #9 hitters in postseason history, went deep off Hudson in the fifth to pull the Sox to within 3-2.
In the seventh, Ken Macha summoned lefty specialist Ricardo Rincon to pitch to the surprising Walker, who was 3 for 3 at the time. Walker made it an emphatic 4 for 4 with a long two-run home run to right centre to vault the Bosox into a 4-3 lead.
In the ninth, the latest in a long line of relievers on whom the postseason gods have not smiled got the call from Grady Little: Enter stage right, Byung-Hyun Kim. With one out, BK walked pinch-hitter Billy McMillon, and coaxed Chris Singleton to offer at a devastating “Frisbee” slider – only to see him awarded first base as the ball tailed in and hit him. Kim struck out Mark Ellis in a nervous at-bat, and unable to bear the tension, Little called in southpaw Alan Embree to face the righty-destroying Durazo. With pinch-runner Eric Byrnes surprisingly in motion, Durazo lashed a line drive into left centre, easily scoring Byrnes from second an tying the score at 4, as the Oakland crowd howled. Eric Chavez’s groundout with runners on the corners meant the contest would go to extra innings.
With young Canadian Rich Harden on the mound, the Red Sox mounted a serious threat in the top of the 12th inning that was only snuffed out when Eric Chavez made a sensational diving stab at a screaming Gabe Kapler grounder down the line, and Chavez regrouped in time to force the third out with a head-first dive into third base. The play saved one run, and possibly two. More importantly, it set the stage for the remarkable bottom half of the inning.
Durazo, long coveted by Billy Beane for his ability to get on base, drew a leadoff walk off of usual starter Derek Lowe, whose presence in the game underscored the perceived importance of the series opener. Durazo was forced at second on a Chavez fielder’s choice, and Chavez advanced to second on a Tejada groundout. After Scott Hatteberg drew a walk, Chavez shocked the Red Sox by stealing third with Terrence Long at bat and two outs; he didn’t even draw a throw. Hatteberg cruised into second a pitch later on defensive indifference, so Grady Little put Long on intentionally to preserve the force at every base.
Two outs, bases loaded, catcher Ramon Hernandez at the plate. Boston’s infield couldn’t have been any further back, with two outs and the assumption that Beane’s Athletics would eschew “small ball.” Macha reminded Boston of what can happen when one assumes, as Hernandez laid down a perfect bunt, catching the Red Sox completely off guard and sending Chavez merrily across the plate. The A’s would fall to Boston in five heartbreaking games, but the exceptional Game 1 set the stage for a wildly entertaining series.
#3. Game 4, Shea Stadium, 1999
In just their second season, the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise reached the playoffs, thanks to a shopping spree for pricey pitching in the offseason, including Randy Johnson. Opposing them was a Mets club that was making its first postseason appearance in eleven years, and required a one-game playoff victory at Cinergy Field in Cincinnati to earn the wild card. New York earned a split in the desert, thanks to a ninth-inning go-ahead Edgardo Alfonzo grand slam in Game 1. The Mets then won Game 3 at home, setting up an opportunity to clinch on a chilly Saturday afternoon in Queens.
Brian Anderson locked horns with Al Leiter, and the first five innings yielded only solo shots by Alfonzo and Greg Colbrunn. In the bottom of the sixth, Benny Agbayani ripped a two-out double, which scored speedy Rickey Henderson but not un-speedy John Olerud. Leiter worked into the eighth with a 2-1 lead.
Cruising along with two quick outs, Leiter faced pinch-hitter Turner Ward (!), as Buck Showalter decided to lift Anderson. Ward worked his former Jays teammate for a walk, and Tony Womack reached on an infield single. Bobby Valentine went to always-unpredictable (or is it predictable?) Armando Benitez to face Jay Bell, and the bespectacled veteran lined a double to left, clearing the bases and giving the D-backs a 3-2 advantage. Womack gave the run back in the bottom of the eighth by booting an Alfonzo grounder, which eventually led to a run. The Mets could have had a much bigger eighth if Matt Mantei hadn’t come in and wriggled out of a two-on, one-out jam.
Fast forward to the tenth inning, with Mantei still on the hill. After Robin Ventura flied out, Todd Pratt came to the plate. Getting the start only to allow an achy Mike Piazza to rest, Pratt blasted a deep fly ball to straightaway centre. As the ball cleared the 410-foot sign, the Shea crowd actually paused for a beat in disbelief before erupting with the realization that the Mets were moving on to the NLCS.
#2. Game 5, Bank One Ballpark, 2001
In a generally well-pitched, well-played and evenly matched series, St. Louis traveled to Phoenix to face Arizona in a deciding fifth game. Both managers set up their rotations effectively, as Matt Morris and Curt Schilling each made starts on four days’ rest. Neither would disappoint.
Schilling got off to what could have been a rocky start, as the Cardinals got two men on base with one out and the scary Albert Pujols at bat in the first. But Pujols’ sharp grounder up the middle was speared by a diving Craig Counsell for a harmless fielder’s choice, and Schilling whiffed Jim Edmonds with the heat to end the inning. Matt Morris dodged a bullet of his own in the third, as he coaxed a meek popup from Steve Finley with the bases loaded.
Reggie Sanders kicked off the scoring in the fourth with a solo home run. As the innings and zeroes mounted, Cardinals fans experienced an uncomfortable déjà vu; in Game 1, Schilling edged Morris 1-0 in a brilliant three-hit shutout. But with two outs in the eighth inning and after 16 2/3 scoreless frames in the series, J.D. Drew took Schilling deep for a game-tying home run that suddenly put the entire series very much in play.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the series hung in the balance as the clubs had eerily similar line score totals of 1/6/1 and 1/7/1. Tony La Russa, seeking a fresher arm, lifted Morris for Dave Veres, who immediately surrendered an opposite-field double to Matt Williams. Damian Miller, an excellent bunter, sacrificed pinch-runner Midre Cummings to third. Declining a matchup of pinch-hitter David Dellucci and Veres, La Russa opted for Steve Kline to come in and intentionally walk Greg Colbrunn in Schilling’s spot. The next batter was Tony Womack.
Ever the hunch-player, Bob Brenly called a suicide squeeze with the sure-handed Womack, and Cummings bolted for home. Unfortunately, Kline’s fastball was too far down and away for Womack to reach, and Cummings was dead on arrival at the plate. Colbrunn, to his credit, alertly took second base, and Brenly pinch-ran Danny Bautista for the lumbering veteran. On the very next pitch, Womack found the redemption that postseason baseball occasionally provides, ripping a single to left. Bautista slid home with the winning run, and the D-backs were one step closer to their stunning championship.
#1. Game 5, Kingdome, 1995
In this furiously played series, the home team had rallied with the bats in each of the first four games. Game 5 was no exception, as this was exactly the kind of call-your-friends, can-you-believe-this game that you’d expect from the top-ranked Division Series game.
Andy Benes faced a sharp David Cone in this Sunday affair. Joey Cora homered (!) in the third to give the Mariners a short-lived lead, as Paul O’Neill replied with a two-run shot in the fourth to give New York a 2-1 advantage. In the sixth, with the score at 2-2, Don Mattingly wrote what he thought would be an intermediate chapter in a fairy-tale final season, by delivering a bases-loaded double that cashed in a pair.
With one out in the eighth and a 4-2 lead, Cone was cruising until he left a pitch over the plate to Ken Griffey Jr., who blasted his fifth homer of the five-game series and reignited the Seattle crowd. With two outs, the bases loaded and Mariano Rivera warmed and ready in the bullpen, Yankees manager Buck Showalter committed the timeless “just one more batter” sin with Cone. Pinch-hitter Doug Strange drew a walk, and trotting home with the tying run was a relatively obscure pinch-runner named Alex Rodriguez. Rivera entered and blew away Mike Blowers to stop the bleeding.
In the top of the ninth, Norm Charlton gave up a Tony Fernandez double and a Randy Velarde walk, and Lou Piniella could wait no longer: In came Randy Johnson, to the roar of the Seattle faithful. Johnson would be awarded the Cy Young after the season, thanks to his 18-2 record, 2.48 ERA and 294 strikeouts in a strike-shortened season that likely cost him five starts. That was the upside; the downside was that Johnson had worked seven innings in a tough Game 3 battle less than 48 hours earlier. No fatigue was immediately evident, as Johnson whiffed Wade Boggs before getting O’Neill and Bernie Williams to pop up.
In the ninth, Rivera gave up a leadoff single to Vince Coleman, who was promptly bunted over to second by Cora. Showalter wisely put Griffey on, and signaled the bullpen for…the Yankees’ ace, Jack McDowell, who had faced the Big Unit on Friday night. Black Jack fanned Edgar Martinez – who would finish the series with a .571 average – and got 20-year-old A-Rod to bounce into a fielder’s choice.
The two veterans swapped tenth-inning goose eggs, setting the stage for the dramatic eleventh. In the visitor’s half, Johnson committed the cardinal sin of walking the leadoff man, in this case Mike Stanley. Fernandez bunted pinch-runner Pat Kelly to second, and the popular Randy Velarde got to Johnson for a looping single to left. Kelly beat Vince Coleman’s desperate throw to the plate and the Yankees took the lead, 5-4. Showalter then pinch-hit Jim Leyritz for Boggs, but the Unit fanned the dangerous pinch-hitter.
In the bottom of the eleventh, Showalter elected not to go to high-priced closer John Wetteland, who had been bombed the night before in Game 4. Instead, McDowell soldiered on.
Cora, who blasted a rare home run some eight innings earlier, was the leadoff man. With the count at 2-1. he surprised the Yankees by laying a perfect drag bunt down on the Kingdome carpet, beating out an infield hit. Griffey followed with a base hit up the middle, and Cora scooted to third with the potential tying run. Once again, Showalter said “just one more batter” to Black Jack, perhaps remembering his clutch strikeout of the next man up, Edgar Martinez. History did not repeat itself, as Martinez lined a ball to left that bounced into the left field corner.
Cora scored easily. Meanwhile, fans both at the game and watching from home began to realize that Griffey might actually score the winning run from first. Gerald Williams retrieved the ball, and Tony Fernandez got off a good relay, but it was too late. Junior joyfully slid home with the winning run as the Mariners celebrated their amazing series victory. Although the M’s would (in Cora’s case) tearfully drop the ALCS to Cleveland, it is difficult to overstate the importance of this game to the Mariners franchise. By the end of October, Seattle taxpayers would approve over $300 million toward the construction of Safeco Field.
It was a fitting end to an outstanding series that both teams desperately wanted to win – and it was the greatest Division Series game of all time.
Next up: Vote on the greatest LCS ever!
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