1982 World Series: Budweiser vs. Miller

The Teams
National League: St. Louis Cardinals (92-70) - 13th World Series (won in 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967)
American League: Milwaukee Brewers (95-67) - First World Series

What Happened
It was power against speed. Harvey's Wallbangers against Whiteyball. The Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals certainly took different approaches to winning in 1982. The Brewers were offense at its finest, with 8 players reaching double figures in home runs and 6 getting to 20. The Cardinals, meanwhile, did it with speed, finishing last in the National League in home runs but stealing a league-high 200 bases and hitting almost as many triples as home runs.

One thing they had in common was a Hall of Fame closer, but while Bruce Sutter was ready and able to close games out for the Cardinals, Rollie Fingers was not able to answer the bell for the Brewers. After getting injured in September of that year, Fingers was unavailable for the entire playoffs, and a team that desperately needed veteran postseason leadership would have to find it elsewhere.

I had a longtime Brewer fan tell me once that Milwaukee would have won the 1982 World Series if Fingers had been healthy. Not knowing any better, I took his word for it at the time, but now I'm not so sure. No closers were needed in Game 1 - a 10-0 Brewers win - or Game 6 - a 13-1 win for the Cardinals. But what about the others?

The two best bets for games where Fingers would have made a difference were Games 2 and 7. First, Game 2. With the Brewers up 4-2, St. Louis catcher Darrell Porter hit a 2-run double in the sixth inning to tie the game. The Cardinals then got two runners on against starter-turned-reliever Bob McClure in the 7th before McClure got out of it, then got two more on in the 8th before manager Harvey Kuenn pulled the plug. In came de facto closer Pete Ladd, who walked the next two hitters to force home the eventual winning run. Brewer fans might say Fingers would have made a difference there, but would he have even been in the game? Before getting hurt, he only entered the game 10 times when the Brewers didn't have the lead in 1982, and while he was asked to pitch multiple innings many times in his time with the Athletics, Fingers was rarely asked to do so with the Brewers in 1982, especially late in the season. It's much more likely that, since it was a road game, he would have been saved with the hope the Brewers took the lead. And even if he came in to clean up McClure's mess in the 8th and succeeded, there's no guarantee the Brewers would have scored off Sutter to get the win.

So then to look at Game 7. Again, the Brewers lead in the late innings, taking a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 6th. Then, starter Pete Vuckovich gave up two straight one out hits before giving way to McClure, who promptly walked his first batter before giving up a devastating - and, as it turned out, series-turning - bases-loaded single to Keith Hernandez. George Hendrick followed with a go-ahead single, and the Cardinals held on from there. So would Fingers had made a difference? Again, it's unlikely he would have been in the game so early. At no point during the season did Fingers enter a game before the 7th inning, and while Kuenn would have been well within his right to bring in his Hall of Famer at that point, he would have been playing with fire by asking his 35-year-old closer to get 11 outs in a Game 7.

There's no doubt Fingers would have pitched better than the relievers Milwaukee threw out there in the 1982 World Series, but there's a lot of doubt that he would have been able to have much influence in the outcomes of the games. Milwaukee didn't lose the 1982 World Series because Fingers was hurt. They lost because they didn't have enough quality pitchers to go with their sterling offensive players.

Defining Game
Sometimes, all a team needs is the smallest opening, and they burst through. One small misstep, one little mistake, and you pay for it big time. That happened to St. Louis in Game 4, and it almost cost them the series. The Cardinals were up 5-1 in the 8th inning, five outs away from a 3-games-to-1 series lead. Then Ben Ogilvie hit a grounder to Hernandez at first, and Hernandez flipped it towards Cardinals starter Dave LaPoint, and LaPoint dropped the ball. It was a small opening, and Milwaukee took full advantage. After four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch, Milwaukee had scored six unearned runs. They retied the series, and it took the Cardinals two games to recover.

MVP
Cardinals catcher Darrell Porter won the award under the always possible "somebody's gotta win it" theory. Sure, he had a fine series, with 8 hits and 5 runs batted in, none bigger than his sixth inning two-out, two-strike, two-run double to tie Game 2. But it's not the type of resume that jumps out at you. Joaquin Andujar probably should have won the award, since he won both his starts, including Game 7. But the fact that it was only two starts might have hurt him. In truth, the best player in the series was Milwaukee's Robin Yount, who had 12 hits for a .414 average, but nobody's going to vote for someone from the losing team any more.   

Scores(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Milwaukee	10	4	2	7	6	1	3
St. Louis	0	5	6	5	4	13	6

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

47. 1982 - St. Louis (N) def. Milwaukee (A) 4-3
48. 1923 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
49. 1944 - St. Louis (N) def. St. Louis (A) 4-2
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York 0
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 2
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
28. 1965: Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 0 
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0 

1982 ALCS: Brewer breakthrough

How they got here
The 1982 ALCS featured two teams who had never won a playoff series before. The Brewers made their first playoff appearance in the strike-shortened 1981 season, losing in five games to the Yankees.

With the majority of their team returning in 1982, they were expected to replace the Yankees atop the AL East. Instead, though, they struggled at the start of the season, leading to Harvey Kuenn taking over as manager. With a new manager, the Brewers became Harvey's Wallbangers, crushing the ball all over the park. They ended up leading the league in home runs and runs scored and finished with the second-highest batting average. It almost wasn't enough, though, as the Brewers let a four-game lead slip away in the final week before winning game 163 against the Orioles.

Joining them in the playoffs were the California Angels; after making their first playoff appearance in 1979, the Angels had two bad seasons before returning to prominence in 1982. They spent most of the season in a tight battle with Kansas City for the AL West lead, finally pulling away with a three-game sweep of the Royals in late September.

With Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew playing for the Angels and Paul Molitor and Robin Yount leading the Brewers, four future hall of famers were playing in this series; if Brewers closer Rollie Fingers hadn't been injured, it would have been five. However, it was Don Baylor and Fred Lynn, two other who have received Hall of Fame votes, who led the Angels in the first two games. Baylor had five runs batted in, while Lynn had a home run among his three hits to lead to an 8-2 win for the Angels in Game 1. Jackson's home run sparked California in Game 2, and the Angels went to Milwaukee one win away from the World Series.

Yount and Molitor sparked the Brewers the next two games, as Milwaukee evened the series, overcoming a Baylor grand slam in Game 4. The deciding Game 5 would be a rematch of the Game 2 pitching matchup between AL Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich and World Series veteran Bruce Kison.

The Game
You'd think Luis Sanchez would have known enough not to relax, but you couldn't blame him if he had, if only for a moment. Facing Robin Yount with two outs and two on in the seventh, the Angel reliever had thrown eight tense pitches to Yount before walking him. It wasn't the preferred outcome, of course, but considering what Yount was capable of, a walk was almost like a win for the Angels.

Plus, following Yount was Cecil Cooper, normally a reliable hitter but one who had struggled terribly in the ALCS. Cooper had somehow only driven in two runs in the series at that point despite having Molitor and Yount batting directly in front of him. Now, he was given one more chance, batting with the bases loaded and the Brewers trailing 3-2.

The Angels had gotten there with a lot of help from Lynn. The former Boston star continued his red-hot series with a run batted in in the first and third. The Brewers had fought back, and the score had been 3-2 since the bottom of the fourth. By the time Cooper came to the plate in the seventh, both starters had been knocked out of the game.

Sanchez had been reliable for the Angels in these situations during the year, but he couldn't work out of the mess he created for himself on this day. Cooper drilled a single to left to score two, and the Brewers had a 4-3 lead.

Normally in this situation, the Brewers would turn to the dominant Fingers to shut the door, but Fingers was out for the season with an injury. Instead, they went first to Bob McClure, who was normally a starter, and then to Pete Ladd, who had thrown only 18 innings all season. Between the two of them, the Brewers got it done, advancing to their first World Series.

Aftermath
After getting past the Angels, the Brewers faced the Cardinals in the all-beer World Series, losing in seven games. Despite the power in their lineup, Milwaukee didn't get back into the playoffs until long after Yount and Molitor had retired and been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

For the Angels, it was the start of heartache. After losing three straight elimination games to the Brewers, California lost three more in 1986. They didn't win their first playoff series until winning the World Series in 2002.

What I'm doing.

The list so far:
9. 1982 ALCS: Milwaukee 4, California 3
10. 2008 ALCS: Tampa Bay 3, Boston 1
11. 1984 NLCS: San Diego 6, Chicago 3
12. 2003 NLCS: Florida 9, Chicago 6
13. 2004 NLCS: St. Louis 5, Houston 2
14. 1972 ALCS: Oakland 2, Detroit 1
15. 1973 ALCS: Oakland 3, Baltimore 0
16. 1985 ALCS: Kansas City 6, Toronto 2
17. 2007 ALCS: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

Still to come:
1972 NLCS: Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh
1976 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1977 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1981 NLCS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis

Elimination games in 2011

Carlos Gomez flying around third and sliding into home. Chris Carpenter completely shutting down the heavily favored Phillies. Detroit being completely unimpressed by Yankee mystique. The 2011 postseason was, from start to finish, one of the best in many years. What helped that was that three of the four first-round series went the full five games.

I recently finished a countdown of the best early playoff elimination games, and I feel a divine obligation to add this year's three ALDS Game 5s to the list. Specifically, Milwaukee over Arizona, Detroit over New York, and St. Louis over Philadelphia. The problem is, where? How do I shoehorn three games into a list that's already 31 games long?

First, I ranked the three teams against each other, which was pretty easy to do. Milwaukee beating Arizona was a great game, easily the best of the three. Carpenter's masterpiece over Philadelphia was pretty easy to rank ahead of Detroit's win over the Yankees. So there's the ranking:

1. Milwaukee 3, Arizona 2
2. St. Louis 1, Philadelphia 0
3. Detroit 3, New York 2

Now, where to put them in the list? I decided to answer this question by simply comparing the Milwaukee game against all the top games, in order, until I found a spot where it fit.

Like, the number 1 game, the Shot Heard Round the World. Since Milwaukee's win over Arizona was not the single most memorable game in Major League history, it has to rank below that one. Minnesota-Detroit game 163? Nope, sorry. They both ended the same way - with Gomez flying around third to score the winning run in extra innings - but that Twins game featured so many twists and turns and changes in momentum that the Milwaukee game just doesn't compare.

The Brewers win doesn't quite add up to the Seattle-New York game of '95 or the Colorado-San Diego game of '07, either, again because of the changing fortunes part of it. Sure, there was a blown save in the ninth, but when Arizona didn't take the
lead that inning, it felt - at least to a neutral observer - that it was only a matter of time before Milwaukee finished it off.

But then? I think we found our spot for the Brewers. Sure, Bucky Dent's home run was a famous moment in baseball history, the fact that it happened in the seventh inning gives the Brewers their opening here. The Red Sox had three innings to recover from that disaster, and they almost did. But since the '78 game didn't have the added drama of a sudden death, it wasn't as good as the Brewers win. So the Brewers get ranked fifth. Not too shabby.

So next, Carpenter's 1-0 victory over his good buddy Roy Halladay. On the surface, it looks like it should have been a great game, as 1-0 games have the potential to be. But ... it wasn't. Rafael Furcal led off the game with a triple, scored one batter later, and that was it. The Phillies only challenged once, when Raul Ibanez flew out to deep right with two on in the 4th. After that, nothing. It's telling that if you look at the Win Probability Chart for that game, the biggest play of the game was Furcal's hit. When the game's biggest momentum shift comes on the fourth pitch thrown, you kind of have a dud.

But still, it was 1-0, so those always have a bit of tension. So I decided to rank this one right behind another 1-0 game, the White Sox-Twins Game 163 of 2008. That one actually had big plays that occurred after the first inning, allowing it to stay just barely ahead of the Carpenter-Halladay duel.

So then came the Detroit-Yankees game. After the Tigers took a 3-0 lead, the drama became about whether the Yankees would have enough time to get those runs back. There was plenty of drama in this one, with the Yankees leading the bases loaded twice, including in the seventh when they had cut the score to 3-2.

But, the Yankees never took the lead. In fact, there was never a lead change in this game, as Detroit took the lead in the top of the first. That fact hurts it in these rankings. I decided to rank it 12th, nestled between the Arizona-St. Louis game of 2001 and the Merkle's Boner Cubs-Giants game of 1908.

So, the final list (at least until next year):

1. N.Y. Giants 5, Brooklyn 4 (1951 National League playoff)
2. Minnesota 6, Detroit 5 (2009 AL Central tiebreaker)
3. Seattle 6, N.Y. Yankees 5 (1995 ALDS)
4. Colorado 9, San Diego 8 (2007 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
5. Milwaukee 3, Arizona 2 (2011 NLDS)
6. N.Y. Yankees 5, Boston 4 (1978 AL East tiebreaker)
7. San Francisco 6, Los Angeles 4 (1962 National League playoff)
8. Chicago 1, Minnesota 0 (2008 AL Central tiebreaker)
9. St. Louis 1, Philadelphia 0 (2011 NLDS)
10. N.Y. Yankees 5, Boston 3 (1949 American League)
11. Arizona 2, St. Louis 1 (2001 NLDS)
12. Detroit 3, New York 2 (2011 ALDS)
13. Chicago 4, New York 2 (1908 National League makeup game)
14. Boston 12, Cleveland 8 (1999 ALDS)
15. Boston 5, Minnesota 3 (1967 American League)
16. Minnesota 5, Oakland 4 (2002 ALDS)
17. Boston 4, Oakland 3 (2003 ALDS)
18. Cleveland 4, N.Y. Yankees 3 (1997 ALDS)
19. L.A. Angels 5, N.Y. Yankees 3 (2005 ALDS)
20. Texas 5, Tampa Bay 1 (2010 ALDS)
21. San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1 (2002 NLDS)
22. N.Y. Yankees 5, Oakland 3 (2001 ALDS)
23. Seattle 3, Cleveland 1 (2001 ALDS)
24. Chicago 5, San Francisco 3 (1998 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
25. N.Y. Yankees 7, Oakland 5 (2000 ALDS)
26. Los Angeles 4, Houston 0 (1981 NL West Division Series)
27. Montreal 3, Philadelphia 0 (1981 NL East Division Series)
28. N.Y. Yankees 7, Milwaukee 3 (1981 AL East Division Series)
29. Seattle 9, California 1 (1995 AL West tiebreaker)
30. Chicago 5, Atlanta 1 (2003 NLDS)
31. Houston 12, Atlanta 3 (2004 NLDS)
32. N.Y. Mets 5, Cincinnati 0 (1999 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
33. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 American League tiebreaker)
34. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)

Forgetting Harvey's Wallbangers

My bad, folks. My bad. Remember the old countdown I did, where I ranked the best early-postseason elimination games (Division series games, tiebreaker games, regular season-ending games that happened to decide the pennant)? Yah, I missed one.

See, in 1982, the Brewers won the AL East. Good for them, right? They beat the Orioles by 1 game. Thing is, that one game was the last game of the season, at Baltimore. Absolutely fits my definition for this list. And I left it out.

See, what happened was that Milwaukee went into Baltimore for a season-ending four-game series needing only one win to clinch their first division championship. It took them a while to get it, though. The Orioles swept a doubleheader on Friday, then won again on Saturday to tie for the title. The last game was Sunday, and was actually Game 163 for both teams since they had played to a tie earlier in the year. It was Don Sutton for the Brewers against Jim Palmer for the Orioles.

After blowing a chance to clinch early and rest up, the Brewers didn't feel like blowing the winner-take-all game. Robin Yount homered in the first and third innings, then tripled in the sixth. Milwaukee took a 5-2 lead into the ninth inning, when they scored five more runs to put the game away. They won 10-2, Yount won the MVP award, and all was good in Milwaukee, at least until Game 7 of that year's World Series.

So I'll place this game where I think it ranks in the list below and renumber everything below it. There are three more games from this postseason to add to it, but I won't rank those until the season's over and I've had appropriate time to consider how good they really were. So stay tuned for that.

And now, I'm pretty sure I got them all. Mostly sure. Mildly sure. Maybe I should just double-check...

1. N.Y. Giants 5, Brooklyn 4 (1951 National League playoff)
2. Minnesota 6, Detroit 5 (2009 AL Central tiebreaker)
3. Seattle 6, N.Y. Yankees 5 (1995 ALDS)
4. Colorado 9, San Diego 8 (2007 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
5. N.Y. Yankees 5, Boston 4 (1978 AL East tiebreaker)
6. San Francisco 6, Los Angeles 4 (1962 National League playoff)
7. Chicago 1, Minnesota 0 (2008 AL Central tiebreaker)
8. N.Y. Yankees 5, Boston 3 (1949 American League)
9. Arizona 2, St. Louis 1 (2001 NLDS)
10. Chicago 4, New York 2 (1908 National League makeup game)
11. Boston 12, Cleveland 8 (1999 ALDS)
12. Boston 5, Minnesota 3 (1967 American League)
13. Minnesota 5, Oakland 4 (2002 ALDS)
14. Boston 4, Oakland 3 (2003 ALDS)
15. Cleveland 4, N.Y. Yankees 3 (1997 ALDS)
16. L.A. Angels 5, N.Y. Yankees 3 (2005 ALDS)
17. Texas 5, Tampa Bay 1 (2010 ALDS)
18. San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1 (2002 NLDS)
19. N.Y. Yankees 5, Oakland 3 (2001 ALDS)
20. Seattle 3, Cleveland 1 (2001 ALDS)
21. Chicago 5, San Francisco 3 (1998 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
22. N.Y. Yankees 7, Oakland 5 (2000 ALDS)
23. Los Angeles 4, Houston 0 (1981 NL West Division Series)
24. Montreal 3, Philadelphia 0 (1981 NL East Division Series)
25. Milwaukee 10, Baltimore 2 (1982 AL East)
26. N.Y. Yankees 7, Milwaukee 3 (1981 AL East Division Series)
27. Seattle 9, California 1 (1995 AL West tiebreaker)
28. Chicago 5, Atlanta 1 (2003 NLDS)
29. Houston 12, Atlanta 3 (2004 NLDS)
30. N.Y. Mets 5, Cincinnati 0 (1999 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
31. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 American League tiebreaker)
32. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)

1981 ALDS: The Yankees brew up a victory

Pregame

The players' strike threw a major wrench in the 1981 baseball season. When the players walked away from June 11, few people anticipated they'd stay away for two months. When they finally did come back on August 10, Major League Baseball decided to essentially start the season over. The teams that were in first place when the strike occurred earned a playoff berth, and the standings were reset for the start of the second half.

The Yankees benefitted from this format more than any other team. In first place in the AL East at the time of the strike, the Yankees had nothing to play for when the season restarted. They slacked off, finishing sixth in the seven-team AL East in the second half. If teams' total records had been taken into account for the playoffs, the Yankees would have finished fourth. As it was, they were in the playoffs, against the second-half champion Milwaukee Brewers.

The Brewers were the more deserving playoff team, as they had the best overall record in the AL East that year. Milwaukee finished in the top five in most major hitting stats in the American League that year, and their pitching staff was anchored by closer Rollie Fingers, who won the MVP award in that goofy season.

Still, the Brewers were the neophytes, appearing in their first ever postseason series after three years of coming just short, while the Yankees were, well, the Yankees, the postseason veterans.

New York won the first two games of the series in Milwaukee, including a Game 2 shutout by Rookie of the Year Dave Righetti. Coming back home needing only one win to clinch the series, the Yankees lost the next two games, with Fingers getting a win and a save for the Brewers. That set up a series-deciding Game 5 in Yankee Stadium.

The Game
Game 5 featured a rematch of the Game 1 pitching matchup, with Milwaukee's Moose Haas going up against New York's Ron Guidry. Just like in Game 1, the Brewers scored a single run in both the second and the third inning against Guidry. Just like Game 1, the Yankees scored four runs off Haas in the fourth inning. In this one, back-to-back home runs by Reggie Jackson and Oscar Gamble gave the Yankees the lead.

After the fourth, the game became a matchup of bullpens, a strength of each team. Milwaukee brought in a string of relievers, bringing a new pitcher in every inning to try to hold off the Yankees while tried to come back. They would have to mount their comeback against Righetti, who relieved Guidry in the top of the fifth.

After a couple of scoreless innings, the Brewers gained some ground, as a single by Cecil Cooper drove in Robin Yount to cut the deficit to 4-3. The Yankees responded right away, with Rick Cerone hitting a home run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-3.

Holding a two-run lead, the Yankees brought in their closer, Goose Gossage, for the final two innings. The Brewers immediately mounted a rally without swinging the bat, drawing two walks off Gossage in the eighth to get runners on second and third with two outs. Don Money's flyout to left ended that threat and, as it turned out, the Brewers' season. The Yankees pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, and Gossage shut the Brewers down in order in the ninth to advance to the ALCS.

Postgame
Riding the momentum of surviving against the Brewers, the Yankees swept the Athletics in the ALCS, earning a World Series berth against the Dodgers. There, the Yankees fell victim to Fernandomania, as sensational rookie Fernando Valenzuela and the rest of the Dodgers pitchers shut the Yankees down in a six-game victory. The loss marked the end of an era for the Yankees, as they didn't make it back to the World Series until 1996, the franchise's longest drought since before they bought Babe Ruth.

The Brewers were disappointed in their 1981 LDS loss, but they bounced back to return to postseason play in 1982. After winning the ALCS, the Brewers moved on to the World Series, where they lost to the Cardinals in seven games. After the 1982 World Series, it would take the Brewers 26 years - and a shift in leagues - to make it back to the playoffs.

The Rundown

24. N.Y. Yankees 7, Milwaukee 3 (1981 AL East Division Series)
25. Seattle 9, California 1 (1995 AL West tiebreaker)
26. Chicago 5, Atlanta 1 (2003 NLDS)
27. Houston 12, Atlanta 3 (2004 NLDS)
28. N.Y. Mets 5, Cincinnati 0 (1999 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
29. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 AL tiebreaker)
30. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)