Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 5: A 41-Year Wait

Game 1, 1995 ALDS: Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Indians

October 3, 1995, Jacobs Field, Cleveland, Ohio 

The first pitch came at 8:44 at night, a late start in Cleveland because of a rain shower that passed over Jacobs Field. That didn't matter much to the sellout crowd, though; it had been 41 years and one day since postseason baseball had been played in Cleveland. Fans that had been waiting that long could surely wait another hour or so.

Before the 1995 season, the last postseason baseball game played Cleveland had been Game 4 of the 1954 World Series, when the New York Giants completed a stunning World Series sweep at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. In the years that followed, not only did Cleveland never get back to the playoffs, but they never came particularly close. After spending most of the 1950s as the American League team most likely to challenge the Yankees, Cleveland eventually became synonymous with losing. They were so bad in the 70s and 80s that they became the "stars" of a movie about a bad baseball team that miraculously became good. 

There was nothing miraculous about Cleveland in 1995, though. They were simply dominant. They were robbed of a postseason berth the previous year, sitting in the Wild Card spot when the postseason was cancelled. But the young stars of 1994 were a year more experienced in 1995, and the American League didn't have a chance. Cleveland won 100 games in a shortened season, their first time winning 100 games since the aforementioned 1954 team won 111. They were the best hitting team in baseball, one of the best pitching teams, and they, quite simply, seemed unstoppable.

So a little rain wasn't going to dampen the fans' mood. Forty-one years is a long time to wait, and the fans were already buzzing when Dennis Martinez's first pitch was delivered at 8:44. 

But Cleveland fans were decidedly less quiet after John Valentin homered off Martinez in the top of the 3rd to give Boston a 2-0 lead. And they stayed quiet as Red Sox ace Roger Clemens shut down the Cleveland lineup through five innings. (It's a testament to Clemens' longevity that he pitched in two other games in this countdown, one in 1986 and one in 2005.) The Cleveland fans certainly didn't wait 41 years just to watch their team get shut out.

Clemens started the top of the 6th with two quick outs before walking Omar Vizquel. Sensing their opportunity, Cleveland pounced. Carlos Baerga made contact on a hit-and-run play, and his hit bled through the hole vacated by the shortstop going to cover the steal attempt. Now Cleveland had runners on the corners, and Albert Belle walked to the plate. 

Belle probably should have won MVP in 1995 after his 50-homer, 52-double season, but he likely lost some voters because of his corked bat incident the previous season, and he ended up losing the race by one vote to Boston's Mo Vaughn. As he stepped into the box with two outs in the 6th, though, the people watching yet didn't know the results of the MVP vote and assumed Belle would win. He reinforced that belief with a towering double to left that scored both runners, the second one scoring when Boston catcher Mike Macfarlane dropped the throw. Before Cleveland fans had a chance to come down from their delirium, Eddie Murray singled on the next pitch to drive in Belle and give Cleveland the lead. 

It was the first time Cleveland had the lead in a home playoff game since 1948. The fans were ecstatic. It was just like Major League, including Bob Uecker in the broadcast booth. They finally had a winning team.

The party ended in the top of the 8th, when  Luis Alicea lead off the inning with a game-tying home run. Now instead of a celebration, the game turned into the kind of endless tension that's unique to baseball, where every pitch has the potential to be world-changing, every baserunner bringing hope or dispair, depending on which jersey he was wearing. Cleveland hadn't seen much in the way of joy in the previous 41 years, but this might have been more than the fans had bargained for.

The clock changed to midnight, then blew past it. The innings charged along, each team threatening to score then seeing the rallies fizzle out. But then Tim Naehring swung at a bad 0-2 curveball in the op of the 11th and knocked it over the big wall in left, and suddenly the Red Sox had the lead. 

If Cleveland fans were nervous, they didn't show it when the bottom of the inning rolled around. After all, the heart of the order was due up, starting with Belle. Belle's double in the 6th had hit off the very top of the left field wall; his blast in the bottom of the 11th was hit just a little bit higher. Tie game. Again. This time, remembering his suspension from the previous year, the Red Sox asked the umpires to confiscate his bat. There was no real reason to do it, since there was no way the bat could be checked in time to annul the home run. All it really did was fire up Cleveland and its fans; two more runners reached base in the bottom of the 11th before the inning finally ended, and Cleveland's offense continued to hum in the 12th. With two runners on and one out, Boston intentionally walked Belle - they weren't going to let him hit anymore. Eddie Murray then hit a weak grounder to third that Naehring had to make a good play on to get the runner at home. Jim Thome then grounded to first, and the inning was over.

The clock edged past 1:00 and started approaching 2:00. Bob Uecker and Bob Costas joked that instead of tuning in to Game 2 later that day, viewers might be still watching this one. They entered that stage of broadcast delirium where they kept talking but nothing made sense anymore. In the bottom of the 13th, in the middle of a monologue about emergency catchers, Cleveland's backup catcher Tony Pena worked the count to 3-0. Bob Costas made yet another joke about Uecker's playing career. Uecker was about to deliver the punchline.  

Then came a grooved fastball, an explosive swing, an emphatic bat flip. Then came Bob Costas yelling "Oh man, oh man!" Then came Pena running around the bases, both arms in the air, a big grin on his face. Then came the fireworks going off in centerfield, the crowd jumping and screaming. Then came the beginning of a celebration that would last the rest of the night.

A celebration 41 years in the making.

 

Game 1, 1995 American League Division Series Overall Rank: 5 Top 10 Swing: 276 Top play: Pena's winning home run (WPA of 46% for Cleveland) Loser's largest WE: 80 Top of the 11th, 1 out, right after Naehring's home run Average LI: 1.94 Highest leverage moment: 6.39 (B12, 2 outs, bases loaded, tied 4-4, Jim Thome batting for Cleveland)

1995 World Series: Awesome Atlanta

The Teams
National League: Atlanta Braves (90-54) - Third World Series
American League: Cleveland Indians (100-44) - Fourth World Series (Won in 1920, 1948)

What Happened
All game long, they were one swing away. Both teams were. With the Braves up 3-2 in the World Series, one win away from their first championship, Tom Glavine took the ball and raised the already-high bar for pitching even higher, completely shutting down the powerful Cleveland lineup throughout Game 6. Cleveland's Dennis Martinez was almost as good, though. He was giving up a few more hits than Glavine, but neither team had scored through five innings. The sixth inning started, and everybody watching knew that the next run would probably win the game and, if it was scored by Atlanta, the World Series.

After losing out on a World Series in 1994 because of a strike, baseball fans were happy to have a World Series of any kind in 1995. What helped the anticipation for the first World Series in the Wild Card era was that the two best teams in baseball met for the championship.

The Braves had been to the series twice in the 1990s and had only gotten better in 1995. Pitcher Greg Maddux was at the top of his game, putting in one of the best individual seasons ever in 1995; his presence as the Braves' ace made them a terrifying opponent for anybody in a playoff series. Cleveland, meanwhile, put together one of the best regular seasons of any team of the 1990s. Their lineup was the best baseball had seen in years, full of powerful, young players the Indians had locked up to long-term contracts.

But while the Indians were making their first postseason appearance in 41 years in 1995, the Braves had been there three times that decade. They knew what they were doing. They knew that pitching won championships, and their pitchers dominated Cleveland's powerful lineup most of the series. They won Game 1 behind sublime pitching by Maddux - Cleveland's only two runs were unearned - and won Game 2 behind a great start by Glavine. The Indians won Game 3 in 11 innings, then were unexpectedly shut down by Steve Avery in Game 5. Maddux couldn't come through with a chance to clinch the title in Game 5, so the series shifted back to Atlanta for Game 6, where Glavine and Martinez were waiting.

Tony Pena broke up Glavine's no-hitter with a leadoff single in the sixth, so Cleveland had a runner on base with the pitcher's spot up next. But instead of pinch-hitting for reliever Jim Poole, who had relieved Martinez for the final out of the fifth, the Indians let him try to bunt. He failed, popping out, and the rally fizzled. Then came the bottom of the sixth, where Justice was leading off for Atlanta against Poole. The Braves were potentially a swing away from the title, and Justice delivered, blasting a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right field.

Atlanta fans started celebrating, and never really stopped. Glavine was in control, after all. Pena's hit in the sixth ended up being Cleveland's only hit of the game, the threat that led to their last serious threat of the series. Glavine finished the seventh and eighth, and closer Mark Wohlers wrapped things up in the ninth to give Atlanta their first World Championship. And despite all the great teams Atlanta would put on the field the rest of the decade, it remains the only World Championship they've ever won.

MVP
It's no surprise that it would be a pitcher who won the MVP the first time the Braves won the World Series. Glavine won it for his two dominating performances, including his one-hitter in the clincher.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	2	3	7 (11)	2	5	0
Atlanta	3	4	6	5	4	1

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

14. 1995 - Atlanta (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-2
15. 1960 - Pittsburgh (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
16. 1952 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
17. 1997 - Florida (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-3
18. 1993 - Toronto (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
19. 1956 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1997 World Series: And Always Thus to Cleveland

The Teams
National League: Florida Marlins (92-70) - First World Series
American League: Cleveland Indians (86-75) - Fifth World Series (Won in 1920, 1948)

What Happened
When the Florida Marlins took batting practice before Game 3 of the 1997 World Series, they were wearing stocking hats and parkas, and there were space heaters on top of the dugouts. It wasn't a matter of the warm-weather Floridians not being able to handle autumn in Cleveland, either. It was cold. A bone-chilling, snow-flurries-falling kind of cold, the coldest weather anybody had ever seen for a World Series, a cold that was certainly too cold for baseball. And for those people who might say something like "football players play in the snow, baseball players should be able to too," just look to the middle three games of the '97 series for reason why baseball is a warm-weather sport.

See, when it's cold and wet, pitchers can't get a proper grip on the baseball. When pitchers can't get a proper grip on the baseball, they can't control where the ball is going. And when pitchers can't control where the ball is going, well, the sport becomes one of luck more than one of skill. And so the Marlins won Game 3 14-11, with 11 total runs scored in the ninth inning as temperatures plummeted. Cleveland scored early and often in the snow flurries to win Game 4 10-3, and the Marlins held off a late Cleveland charge -helped by two Florida errors in the ninth - to win Game 5 8-7.

After the chaos of Cleveland, the teams traveled back to Florida for Games 6 and 7, and as the temperatures rose, the scoring dropped. After Cleveland won Game 6 4-1, they settled in for Game 7. And soon after Game 7 started, everybody forgot about the farce that was the middle three games in Cleveland and instead focused on the great theater in front of them.

For the longest time in Game 7, the biggest question was when the other shoe would drop. The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, and then their fans spent the rest of the game counting down of the number of outs needed until they won their first championship since 1948. Meanwhile, the rest of the country spent the next few innings going "really? It's going to be that easy for them?"

No. It wasn't gonna be that easy. It was Cleveland. Bobby Bonilla led off the seventh with a home run to make it 2-1, and that's where the score stayed until the bottom of the ninth. Then Cleveland brought in closer Jose Mesa to wrap up their first championship since 1948 and the first professional championship of any kind for the city since 1964. But you know, no pressure.

Moises Alou led off the ninth for Florida with a single, just the latest in a series of clutch hits for him during the series. After Bonilla struck out, Charles Johnson singles to right to send Alou to third. Next up was skinny utility infielder Craig Counsell, who hit a line drive to right field that was deep enough to score Alou. And just like that, the coundown ended. The Indians went from being two outs from a title to being 270 feet from elimination.

Florida didn't score again in the ninth, but they weren't done threatening. While the shell-shocked Indians didn't do much of anything in extra innings, the Marlins threatened in the 10th - with normal starter Charles Nagy relieving Mesa to get out of the threat - and then again in the 11th. Bonilla led off the 11th with a single. After a failed bunt for the first out, Counsell hit a ball that should have been an inning-ending double play, but Cleveland's Tony Fernandez let it go right between his legs to put runners on first and third. Cleveland intentionally walked the next batter to set up a force play at home, which they promptly got in the next at bat.

Up came Edgar Rentaria, the Marlins' 20-year-old shortstop. He didn't hit it hard, but he didn't have to. His grounder was perfectly placed right up the middle, over the second base bag, to bring in Counsell with the World Series-winning run.

The Marlins and their fans celebrated like mad, but it was short-lived. Owner Wayne Huisinga claimed his team lost money, despite their championship, and it took less than a week for the first piece of the Marlins' championship team to be traded away. Soon, virtually all the stars were gone, and the Marlins were on their way to a 108-loss season. It was as if their championship had never happened.

But to Cleveland fans, it happened. It happened, and it was painful.


Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	4	6	11	10	7	4	2
Florida	7	1	14	3	8	1	3 (11)

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

17. 1997 - Florida (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-3
18. 1993 - Toronto (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
19. 1956 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
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:

5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

1948 World Series: Cleveland Rocks!

The Teams
American League: Cleveland Indians (97-58) - Second World Series (won in 1920)
National League: Boston Braves (91-62) - Second World Series (won in 1914)

What Happened
The refrain around Braves Field during the 1948 season was "Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain." In Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, the Boston Braves had a pair of aces almost unmatched in baseball, but they had very little else. Luckily for them, Spahn and Sain were good enough for the Braves to win just their second National League pennant in the World Series.

Another team with a pair of aces was the Cleveland Indians, who were led by future Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon. The Indians had a very good offense, as well, with future Hall of Famers Larry Doby, Joe Gordon, and Lou Boudreau, and they were able to storm past the Yankees late in the season to tie the Red Sox for the American League title. Rookie knuckleballer Gene Bearden ruined Boston's dream of a crosstown World Series by shutting down the Red Sox in the playoff game, and the Indians stayed in Boston to take on the Braves for the title.

Game 1 was the first battle of aces, with Feller and Sain keeping the game scoreless into the 8th inning. In the bottom of that inning, Feller walked Boston's Bill Salkeld. After a sacrifice moved pinch-runner Phil Masi to second, Boudreau, the Cleveland shortstop and manager, called for a pickoff play. It worked to perfection, as Feller fired a strike to Boudreau's glove in a perfect spot for him to make the tag ... only the umpire called Masi safe. Stunned, Feller gave up a hit on the very next pitch - only his second hit allowed in the game - and the Braves had a surprising 1-0 victory.

The pitching continued to dominate as Cleveland won the next three games, beating Spahn in Game 2 and Sain in Game 4. They had a fully rested Feller and homefield advantage for Game 5, hoping to clinch their first championship since 1920. Instead, the Braves offense came alive; Bob Elliott hit two home runs off Feller, and the Braves scored six runs in the seventh to blow the game open. Spahn gave up only 1 hit in nearly 6 innings of relief and the Braves sent the series back to Boston.

That just delayed the inevitable. With Spahn and Sain unavailable, the Braves had to pray for rain for Game 6. When the clouds didn't cooperate, they sent Bill Voiselle out to the mound to face off against a well-rested Lemon. Cleveland took a 4-1 lead into the 8th inning, and though Boston got two runs off a tiring Lemon, Bearden came in to shut the door and save the game. Cleveland had its first title since 1920; they haven't won one since.

Defining Game
With Game 6 tied 1-1 after 5, the Indians finally started making progress against Voiselle. Gordon led off the sixth with a home run, then Cleveland added another run when catcher Jim Hegan beat the relay on a potential inning-ending double play. The biggest run came in the 8th, though, when the Indians got three straight singles off Spahn - pitching in relief - to add a 4th run. That run turned out huge when the Braves started to rally in the bottom of the inning. They loaded the bases on Lemon with one out when Boudreau called for Bearden in relief. Bearden traded an out for a run on a sacrifice fly, then watched Masi drill a two-out double to left. One run scored easily for Boston, but Elliott couldn't score from first on Masi's double. The next batter hit one back to Bearden, and the Indians escaped with a 4-3 lead. After getting through the ninth, the Indians were champions.

MVP
The choice comes down to Lemon - who won both games he started, with an ERA of 1.65 - or Bearden - who threw a complete game shutout in his only start, then saved the clincher for Lemon. I'm gonna go with Lemon here, simply because he pitched more innings in the series.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	0	4	2	2	5	4
Boston	1	1	0	1	11	3

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

50. 1948 - Cleveland (A) def. Boston (N) 4-2
51. 1917 - Chicago (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
52. 1903 - Boston (A) def. Pittsburgh (N) 5-3
53. 1916 - Boston (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-1 
54. 1949 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-1
55. 1942 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-1
56. 1974 - Oakland (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-1
57. 1955 - Brooklyn (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
58. 1979 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
59. 1987 - Minnesota (A) def. St. Louis (N) 4-3
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1954 World Series: Rhodes, ph

The Team
National League: New York Giants (97-57) - 13th World Series (Won in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933)
American League: Cleveland Indians (111-43) - Third World Series (Won in 1920, 1948)

What Happened
There is a common phrase to describe a great baseball player: a "five-tool" player. What that means, simply, is that a player can run, field, throw, hit, and hit for power. Willie Mays was the perfect definition of the five-tool player, a player capable of affecting a game any number of ways. Dusty Rhodes, meanwhile, was a one-tool player. He could hit the ball a mile, but not much else. Five-tool players are hard to find; it's just as hard to find a one-tool player who sticks around the majors long enough to make a difference.

Mays and Rhodes were teammates for the 1954 Giants, with Mays playing nearly every game in center field, and Rhodes being used primarily as a pinch-hitter - when he was sober enough to be trusted at the plate. The powerful, 111-win Indians probably had pages and pages of scouting reports on how to try to stop Mays in the World Series; they likely didn't pay nearly enough attention to that Rhodes guy at the end of the bench.

Mays and Rhodes each played a major part in the Giants' stunning upset of Cleveland in the World Series, beginning with Game 1. With the game tied at 2 and two runners on base, Cleveland's Vic Wertz crushed the ball to the deepest part of center field. Wertz had already made a big impact on the game, sitting on a 3-for-3 day and having driven in the two Indian runs with a first-inning triple. This blast in the 8th was his farthest one yet. Unfortunately, the Polo Grounds had the deepest center field of its time, and the ball that would have been a home run in any other ballpark then standing ended up in Mays' glove.

Mays' back-to-the-infield, over-the-shoulder catch quickly became the most well-known defensive play in baseball history, the first truly great catch televised coast-to-coast. It forever became known as The Catch, and it saved the Giants. A ball that should have scored two runs, if not three, instead scored none, and when the Indians left the bases loaded that inning, the play looked even bigger.

But Mays wasn't done. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, he reached on a walk, then stole second to put himself in scoring position. After an intentional walk, Giants manager Leo Durocher summoned Rhodes from the end of the bench. Rhodes responded with a shallow popup to right field. But it was enough. See, although the Polo Grounds had the deepest center field in the game, it also had the shallowest measurements down the lines in the outfield. So while Wertz's great drive became The Catch, Rhodes' shallow popup became a game-winning three-run home run.

Rhodes and Mays weren't done, either. With the Giants trailing Game 2 1-0 in the fifth, Mays again drew a walk. Two batters later, Rhodes again was summoned to pinch hit, and he delivered again, driving in Mays with a single to tie the game. The Giants took the lead later that inning, and then Rhodes' seventh-inning home run clinched the game, letting New York go to Cleveland with a stunning 2-0 series lead.

The Indians won 111 games during the regular season, then an American League record. But after the two devastating losses in New York, they were cooked. In Game 3, Mays drove in a run in the first, and Rhodes drove in two more with yet another pinch hit in the third, leaving him with a perfect batting average for the series. Cleveland had had enough, and they intentionally walked him in his next at bat. By the time they finally got Rhodes out, on a seventh-inning strikeout, they were down 6-0 and the series was essentially over. A 6-2 Giant win was followed by a 7-3 win in Game 4, completing the most surprising sweep in World Series history.

Defining Game
Game 1 was one of the quirkiest games in World Series history, starring the stadium with the strangest dimensions and two players on opposite ends of baseball's historical spectrum. Rather than rehash what I've written here or elsewhere, I'll instead link to my previous post about that game.

MVP
This was the last year with no official World Series MVP, but Dusty Rhodes won the unofficial MVP that was handed out that year. It may seem a bit odd to give the award to someone who was only a pinch hitter, but with four game- and series-changing hits in the first three games, his selection was really a no-doubter.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	2	1	2	3
New York	5 (10)	3	6	7

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

67. 1954 - New York (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-0
68. 1978 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
69. 2006 - St. Louis (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-1
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

1920 World Series: Two pitches, four runs, three outs

The Teams
American League: Cleveland Indians (98-56) - First World Series
National League: Brooklyn Robins (93-61) - Second World Series

What Happened
The Indians entered the 1920 World Series with heavy hearts. In late August, their starting shortstop, Ray Chapman, died after being hit by a pitch in a game. The loss devastated the Indians, for obvious reasons. They eventually replaced Chapman with 21-year-old Joe Sewell, who made his Major League debut that September. Lucky for Cleveland, Sewell was playing the first games of what would turn into a Hall of Fame career, and putting him in the middle of a lineup that already featured living legend Tris Speaker gave them the spark they needed to eke out their first American League pennant.

The World Series had a different flavor to it in 1920 with first-timer Cleveland playing the Brooklyn Robins. It was the first series since 1907 where neither team had won the title previously, so having somebody new to root for must have felt refreshing for fans still reeling from the fixed series of the year before.

What they got was a lot of low scoring games. In the final season before the juiced ball entered the league to capitalize on the popularity of the home run, many of the series games were over early. Brooklyn won two of the first three games in Ebbets Field, and all three games were won by starters throwing complete games backed up by just a couple early runs. No drama. When the series moved to Cleveland, the offense picked up a little bit, with the Indians getting five runs to back up Stan Coveleski's complete game to tie the series.

Then came Game 5, one of the most fascinating games in World Series history. If you look only at the score - Cleveland 8, Brooklyn 1 - you'd think it was the least exciting game the series. But look again. In the first inning, Cleveland's Elmer Smith hit the first grand slam in World Series history. Given the way the series had been going, it seemed like the game was already over. That was especially true when pitcher Jim Bagby added a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. Brooklyn started a rally in the top of the fifth, getting the first two guys on base. Then, Brooklyn pitcher Clarence Mitchell hit a soft line drive up the middle that Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss caught near the bag. After touching second and tagging a very surprised Otto Miller running from first, Wambsganss had completed the first unassisted triple play in World Series history. So because of two pitches - Smith's grand slam and Mitchell's soft line drive - Game 5 went down in World Series lore.

It also turned the series. Brooklyn salvaged one run late in Game 5, but then they were done scoring for the series. The clincher was won by Coveleski, finishing his third complete game of the series. In fact, the winning pitcher in all seven games threw a complete game.

Defining Game
Game 5. A grand slam and an unassisted triple play in the same game. Yah, I think that's the one.

MVP
Coveleski. Three complete games, three victories, two runs allowed. Easy choice.

Random Fact

The first four World Series all featured two teams that had never won the series before. After a long break, the 1920 one was the fifth such series. There wouldn't be another one until 1980.

Scores:
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	3	0	1	5	8	1	3
Brooklyn	1	3	2	1	1	0	0

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

75. 1920 - Cleveland (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 5-2
76. 1945 -  Detroit (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-3
77. 1940 - Cincinnati (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-3
78. 2009 - New York (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
79. 1984 - Detroit (A) def. San Diego (N) 4-1
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. This one doesn't count, though, because although it had a seventh game, it didn't have a Game 7 as we know it, in which the entire season has come down to one game. So it doesn't get on this list.

The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
29. 1965: Los Angeles 2, Minnesota 0 
45. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago 3

2007 ALCS: Another Cleveland collapse

How They Got Here
After a two-year World Series hangover, the Red Sox reloaded for the 2007 season. Curt Schilling was still on the pitching staff, but he was 40, so Boston added former World Series MVP Josh Beckett and Japanese sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka to the rotation. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were still power threats in the order, but they were getting long in tooth, so they added Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew to the order.

The additions got the desired result as Boston won the AL East by two games, the first time since 1997 that a team besides the Yankees won that division. It's not like the Yankees slipped either - New York was the Wild Card team that year. Boston was just that much better.

Another team that made the right moves was Cleveland, though most of their good moves came from drafting and promoting the right players. Led by 19-game winners C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona and a lineup seemingly filled with players who batted .270 and hit 24 home runs, Cleveland won the AL Central by 8 games over Detroit.

After both had fairly stress-free trips through the ALDS, Cleveland took a 3-games-to-1 lead in the ALCS. Not only did they have the lead, but they had Sabathia and Carmona lined up to pitch the next two games of the series. Boston looked sunk.

But Beckett and Boston won Game 5 in Cleveland, using a late offensive spurt to win 7-1. Game 6, back in Boston, also went to the Red Sox in a laugher, with Schilling keying a 12-2 win over Carmona. Their lead blown, Cleveland sent Jake Westbrook to the mound for Game 7, while Boston countered with Matsuzaka.

The Game
Matsuzaka had been an expensive disappointment for the Red Sox, putting up numbers you'd expect from a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher for a Cy Young-caliber salary. They would have preferred Beckett or Schilling in this spot, but they burned those two pitchers just getting to this game. Instead, they focused on scoring early and often on Westbrook.

They did just that, scoring a single run in each of the first three innings. But Cleveland started to chip away at the lead, adding single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and driving up Matsuzaka's pitch count.

It was another Japanese pitcher, Hideki Okajima, who was on the mound for the biggest at bat of the series. With two runners on base and one out, Okajima got Casey Blake to ground into a double play to end the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Dustin Pedroia hit a one-out home run to make it 5-2.

That home run was the clinching blow, but Boston wasn't done. With Cleveland completely unraveled, the Red Sox piled on with six runs in the bottom of the eighth. The end result was an 11-2 Boston win that wasn't as much of a blowout as the score indicated. Regardless, Boston was back in the World Series for the second time in four seasons.

Aftermath
Heading into the World Series, everybody was quick to point out that Colorado had a huge advantage over the Red Sox. While Boston was playing a grueling seven-game series, Colorado swept Arizona in the NLCS and had time to wait and get healthy. In fact, with their seven straight postseason wins added in to the end of the regular season, the Rockies entered the World Series as winners of 21 of their previous 22 games.

But baseball is not a game designed for long breaks. By the time the World Series started on October 24, Colorado hadn't played a game in 13 days. The delay showed. The rusty Rockies never had a chance, falling to Boston on four anticlimactic games.

The Rundown
What I'm doing.

The list so far:
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
1972 ALCS: Detroit vs. Oakland
1973 ALCS: Baltimore vs. Oakland
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
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1985 ALCS: Kansas City vs. Toronto
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 NLCS: Chicago vs. Florida
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2004 NLCS: Houston vs. St. Louis
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

1999 ALDS: Pedro

Pregame
The Indians and Red Sox didn't have much difficulty getting to the playoffs in 1999. Cleveland eased to the Central Division crown by 21 games, ending up as the only team in the division with a winning record. Boston didn't have things quite so easy, what with the Yankees in their division and all, but with Nomar Garciaparra leading the offense and Pedro Martinez at the absolute height of his powers in the rotation, the wild card was practically a given for Boston.

When the two teams met in the ALDS that year, the question seemed to be whether Cleveland could win games 2, 3, and 4, since the belief was that they wouldn't be beating Martinez in games 1 or 5. That question became moot, though, when Martinez came out of Game 1 after five innings with an injury. Trailing 2-0 at that point, Cleveland quickly pounced on Boston's bullpen to tie the game, then won it in the bottom of the ninth.

With the biggest single advantage either team had now sidelined, the series turned into something of a farce. Cleveland won a laugher in Game 2, scoring 11 runs in the third and fourth innings to win 11-1 and put Boston on the brink. Back in friendly Fenway Park, though, Boston's offense came alive. They used a six-run seventh to win Game 3 9-3, then switched the game to football for a 23-7 win in Game 4.

As the series went back to Cleveland for Game 5, the series was a mess. The pitching staffs were decimated. The offensive players hit everything thrown at them. It had gotten to the point that regardless of who won this game, they wouldn't be beating the Yankees in the next round. Game 5 seemed pointless. But they had to determine a winner, so on they played.

And on and on went the offenses. If the bullpens were a wreck before this game, things were getting worse, as each team had knocked the others' starter out by the fourth inning. After four and a half innings, it was 8-8, and it was starting to look like the first team to 20 was going to win.

But then Boston's bullpen doors opened...

The Game
Pedro Martinez had many sublime performances during his career. As the dominant pitcher during the steroid era, he confounded batters year after year with his pinpoint control and four devastating pitches. He was at times unhittable, and when he started, Boston often had the game won before it even began.

But he was probably never better than he was during Game 5 of the 1999 ALDS. Nursing an injury that was supposed to keep him out of the game altogether, Martinez shut the door on Cleveland's vaunted offense. In six sensational innings of relief, Martinez didn't give up a hit, keeping Cleveland's offensive juggernaut completely silenced. After struggling to find himself in his first inning of work, Martinez got the breaking ball working, striking out eight in his final five innings.

But for all of Martinez's brilliance, it wouldn't mean anything if Boston couldn't get to Cleveland's vulnerable bullpen. Somewhat surprisingly, it took them three innings to break through, but Troy O'Leary's seventh-inning home run made it 11-8. With a three-run lead and vintage Pedro on the mound, the Red Sox could finally relax and concentrate on beating the Yankees.

Postgame
They didn't beat the Yankees, of course. Not with the state their bullpen was in entering the series. The only game the Red Sox won in the 1999 ALCS was Game 3, started by Martinez. Of course, the Red Sox picked that game to score 13 runs, about 11 more than necessary with Pedro on the mound. So the postseason didn't end well, but every Red Sox fan - and really, everybody who enjoys great pitching - got a gift with Pedro's Game 5 relief performance. It was the defining moment in a career of dominance.

The Rundown

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

1997 ALDS: Another comeback thwarted

Pregame
The matchup seemed a little bit too good for a first-round meeting. The New York Yankees, defending World Series champions, against the Cleveland Indians, American League champions two seasons ago. This was a series that really should have been for the American League championship. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

The Indians appeared to be in control in Game 1, scoring five first-inning runs, but the Yankees started chipping away. Finally, they got tired of chipping away and scored five sixth-inning runs to claim an 8-6 victory.

In Game 2, it was the Yankees' turn to score big in the first, putting up three runs in the first frame. Then, it was Cleveland's turn to come from behind, and they did to take Game 2 7-5 and take a tied series back home to Cleveland.

After a fairly easy win in Game 3, the Yankees were six outs away from a series victory in Game 4 when they brought in Mariano Rivera. Though not yet viewed as untouchable as he would be in later years, Rivera was still considered a valuable and clutch closer. Cleveland didn't care, though, as Sandy Alomar tied the game with a home run in the eighth. The postseason blown save would the last for Rivera until the 2001 World Series. Cleveland then won in the ninth as Marquis Grissom scored from second on an infield single.

The Game
Having already survived elimination with the great Rivera on the mound, Cleveland went into Game 5 with nothing to lose. They had been to the World Series just two seasons before, so nerves wouldn't be a problem, and they were in the familiar confines of Jacobs Field.

So really, it shouldn't have been a surprise when Manny Ramirez's two-out laser beam in the third inning turned into a two-run ground-rule double for the first runs of the game. Cleveland eventually made the lead 4-0 entering the top of the fifth.

This was a series of comebacks, though, so the defending champion Yankees started making a comeback of their own. A two-out fifth-inning single by Bernie Williams made the score 4-1; an error by Ramirez on the play brought home a second run. One inning later, Wade Boggs singled to center to cut Cleveland's lead to 4-3 and knock starter Jaret Wright out of the game.

Cleveland still had the lead, but with the game heading to their bullpen, there had to be some apprehension. In the Indians' case, they had three good relievers and a handful of dreadful ones. If they could coax 11 outs out of the three good relievers, they'd be golden.

So in came first Mike Jackson, then Paul Assenmacher, then Jose Mesa to try to hold off the Yankees. And they did so in rather impressive fashion. Jackson and Assenmacher combined for six outs, giving up only one baserunner between them, before closer Mesa came in for the last five outs. After a hiccup in the eighth left the Yankees with runners on the corners and two outs, Mesa got Jorge Posada to weakly ground out, then got Bernie Williams to fly out to end the game with the tying run on second base.

Postgame
Awaiting the Indians after the ALDS were the Baltimore Orioles. Though the Orioles had the best record in the American League that year and dispatched the Mariners rather easily in the ALDS, many people still thought the Cleveland-New York series was the true ALCS. In reality, it took six tight games for Cleveland to beat Baltimore and advance to the World Series.

Once there, Cleveland and Florida played six rather boring, barely remembered games before meeting in Game 7. The Indians took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning and were two outs from a championship before Mesa gave up a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Two innings later, the Marlins were celebrating a World Championship, while Cleveland was left with a now- 49-year World Championship drought.

The Rundown

15. Cleveland 4, N.Y. Yankees (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. N.Y. Yankees 7, Milwaukee 3 (1981 AL East Division Series)
26. Seattle 9, California 1 (1995 AL West tiebreaker)
27. Chicago 5, Atlanta 1 (2003 NLDS)
28. Houston 12, Atlanta 3 (2004 NLDS)
29. N.Y. Mets 5, Cincinnati 0 (1999 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
30. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 AL tiebreaker)
31. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)

2001 ALDS: The juggernaut slips by

Pregame
The 2001 Seattle Mariners were a juggernaut. Plain and simple. Some teams have spikes in their victory totals in expansion years, as the diluted talent around the league makes the good teams seem that much better. That wasn't the case in 2001; the effects of the 1998 expansion had settled down by then. No, the Mariners were simply great, following the lead of rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki and cruising to a record-tying 116 wins.

When the 2001 playoffs began, the question didn't seem to be whether the Mariners would win the title, but if anybody could challenge them along the way. But something funny happened along the way: the Cleveland Indians gave them everything they could handle.

In 2001, Cleveland was on the tail end of a dynasty that had started in 1995. Thought not nearly as good as their World Series teams of 1995 and 1997, the Indians still had several holdovers from those teams in 2001 and were in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years. Though they weren't expected to give the Mariners much of a fight, their ace, Bartolo Colon, shut the Mariners out in Game 1 to give Cleveland the series lead.

Four first-inning runs helped Seattle to a 5-1 victory in Game 2, but then Cleveland pounded four Seattle pitchers for a 17-2 win in Game 3. Suddenly, the 116-game winners were one loss away from a shocking elimination.

The Game 1 starters returned for Game 4, and Colon again held the Mariners scoreless for the first six innings. Seattle finally got to their nemesis for three seventh-inning runs and pulled away for a 6-2 win, sending the series back to Seattle for Game 5.

The Game
The deciding game was one of those where the score looked closer than it actually was. Seattle kept getting baserunner after baserunner, but they had trouble getting that clutch hit to put the game away.

In the bottom of the second, Cleveland's Chuck Finley walked the first two batters, then hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out. He struck out the next two hitters before Mark McLemore hit a first-pitch single to score two runs. The Mariners still had two runners on base with the great Ichiro at bat, but Mike Cameron was fooled by the old "pitcher steps toward one base and throws to the base behind him" play and was picked off to end the inning.

Cleveland came right back to score a run in the top of the third and loaded the bases with one out and future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar batting. The speedy Alomar grounded into a double play to end the threat. Little did they know it at the time, but that was Cleveland's last chance; they never got a runner past first base the rest of the game.

Meanwhile, Seattle kept doing its best to keep Cleveland in the game. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out in the fifth but couldn't bring a run home, then left two runners on in the sixth. They finally broke through in the seventh when Mr. Mariner himself, Edgar Martinez, drove home his team's third run with a single. Even still, the Mariners left two more runners on base that inning.

Though Cleveland was technically still in the game - the score was only 3-1, after all - the Indians would have to come back against Seattle's vaunted bullpen. Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes, and Kaz Sazaki had been phenomenal at the ends of games for Seattle all season, and this game was no exception, as they swept through the final three innings while giving up only one hit between them. Seattle held on to win 3-1.

Postgame
Perhaps they were worn down by the five-game epic against Cleveland, or perhaps Cleveland simply exposed them and their lofty record as fraudulant. Either way, Seattle didn't fare well in the ALCS. Though heavy favorites against the three-time defending champion Yankees, the Mariners lost the first two games at home on their way to a surprisingly meek five-game defeat. Seattle only batted .211 as a team in the series, a number that was inflated by the Mariners' 14-run outburst in their only win in Game 3.

It was a disappointing end to a magical season, and it marked the beginning of a dry spell for the Mariners. Though they won 93 games each of the next two seasons, they missed the playoffs in the tough AL West. In fact, the Mariners haven't been back to the postseason since their 116-victory season.

The Rundown

19. Seattle 3, Cleveland 1 (2001 ALDS)
20. Chicago 5, San Francisco 3 (1998 NL Wild Card tiebreaker)
21. N.Y. Yankees 7, Oakland 5 (2000 ALDS)
22. Los Angeles 4, Houston 0 (1981 NL West Division Series)
23. Montreal 3, Philadelphia 0 (1981 NL East Division Series)
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)

1948 American League: Sweet Lou

Pregame
In the first half of the 1948 season, Cleveland, New York, and the surprising Philadelphia A's were battling for the top spot in the American League. Boston started the season scuffling around in the middle of the standings before a hot streak in July helped them shoot up the standings. It was a four-team race until mid-August, when Philadelphia finally ran out of steam and dropped back. The Indians, who were 4.5 games back on Labor Day, went 20-6 in September to take the lead entering the final weekend. They went into the final day of the season one game in front, with their ace, Bob Feller, on the mound. But Cleveland struggled against Detroit's ace, Hal Newhouser, losing 7-1, and that, coupled with Boston's 10-5 win over New York, forced a one-game tiebreaker game after the season, the first such playoff game in American League history.

The Indians were playing for their first World Series berth since 1920. While the Red Sox had just gone in 1946, they were playing for city pride; the Boston Braves had already clinched the National League pennant, so the Red Sox were hoping to make it an all-Boston World Series.

The Game
Boston was the home team for the playoff game, and they had the advantage that Cleveland's ace had been used the day before. Cleveland was forced to use Gene Bearden, a rookie knuckleballer, to start the tiebreaker game, while the Red Sox had their top pitchers rested and ready to go. Curiously, though, Boston manager Joe McCarthy went with journeyman pitcher Denny Galehouse to start the deciding game rather than one of his other top pitchers.

A Lou Boudreau home run gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead in the first; Boston countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the fourth, Cleveland threatened again. Singles by Boudreau and Joe Gordon brought up power hitter Ken Keltner. With the Red Sox playing up in anticipation of a bunt, Keltner instead belted his 31st home run of the season to make it 4-1. Exit Galehouse, enter Ellis Kinder, who many people felt should have been starting for Boston anyway. Cleveland scored once more on Kinder to make it 5-1 after 4.

In the top of the fifth, Boudreau struck again, hitting his second home run of the game to make it 6-1. The Indians' player-manager was now 3-for-3 in the biggest game the Indians had seen in 28 years. Boston got two runs back in the sixth, but that was all they would get off Bearden. Cleveland added sole runs in the eighth and ninth to breeze to an 8-3 victory.

Postgame
Cleveland stayed in Boston to start the World Series two days later. The Indians lost Game 1 - despite Bob Feller's complete-game 2-hitter - but won the next three. Their party was delayed by a Boston win in Game 5, but the Indians took Game 6 to claim their first World Series title since 1920. Bearden, the hero of the playoff game, threw a shutout to win Game 3 and, perhaps more importantly, came out of the bullpen to quell a Boston rally in the 8th inning of Game 6, staying on the mound for the final out of the season.

The Indians stayed near the top of the American League standings for most of the next decade, getting to another World Series in 1954, but their championship in 1948 remains their most recent one. Their drought is the longest among active American League teams. Boston, meanwhile, knew nothing but heartache in this era. After losing the 1946 World Series in seven games and then this playoff, the Red Sox missed out on a pennant with final-weekend losses in both the 1949 and 1950 seasons. It would take until 2004 for the Red Sox to finally end their championship drought.

The Rundown

29. Cleveland 8, Boston 3 (1948 AL tiebreaker)
30. Houston 7, Los Angeles 1 (1980 NL West tiebreaker)

October 28, 1995: Dancing in Dixie

ATLANTA - The ball was crushed, a no-doubter to deep right. After five and a half tense, scoreless innings, Atlanta's David Justice had opened the scoring with authority, crushing a 1-1 pitch deep into the Atlanta night to give the Braves the lead in game 6 of the World Series. They needed nine more outs.

Normally, as well as Tom Glavine was pitching - he had just given up his first hit of the game the previous half-inning - a person could have reasonably thought the World Series was over when Justice hit that home run. This was Cleveland, after all - a team with a powerful, deep lineup that ran roughshod through the American League. Sure, Atlanta's pitchers had done a great job against Cleveland so far in the series, but there was no way one run was going to beat the Indians, right?

But on this night, with the championship in sight, Glavine wasn't giving in. Cleveland went down meekly in the top of the seventh. No threat at all. The threat came from the Braves, who loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh but failed to score. No worries, though. Cleveland went down in order in the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Glavine's turn to bat was approaching. It was the ultimate tough decision: do you let the unhittable pitcher bat for himself, knowing it would be unlikely he would help the cause but hoping he had enough left for the ninth? Or do you hit for him, try for the extra run, then bring in your closer? Ultimately, Glavine was replaced. Whether he was wearing down or Atlanta just wanted to try for an extra run, it didn't matter. He was out. Atlanta didn't score, though, taking a 1-0 lead into the top of the ninth.

In the 1991 series, the Braves' first series while based in Atlanta, they lost in seven games, including three one-run games. All four of their losses in the 1992 World Series were also one-run affairs, and three of their four losses in the 1993 NLCS were by a single run. Even in ths series, the two losses they had suffered thus far were by one. So for the Braves, a one-run game was something they were used to, and their fans, knowing their recent history, couldn't have been too comfortable.

They didn't need to worry, though. With closer Mark Wohlers on the mound, the Indians hit the ball in the air three times, each one further from home plate than the last, but each one settling into an Atlanta player's glove. Centerfielder Marquis Grissom got the honor of closing his glove on the last out that gave the Braves their first title in Dixie.

..................

The Braves were in the middle of a dynasty in 1995, and the World Series victory was supposed to be both the icing on the cake and the final break in the dam that allowed them to run off several championships in a row. But the 1995 series was the top of the mountain for Atlanta. Despite making the playoffs each of the next 10 seasons, Atlanta never won another title.

October 11, 1999: Pedro from the 'pen

CLEVELAND - It was desperation time in Cleveland. Game 5 of the ALDS was tied 8-8, and it was only the fourth inning. The previous three games had been slugfests, with both teams pitching staffs getting pounded around mercilessly. With six innings (at least) left in the deciding game of the series and both starters long gone, the teams were faced with needing exhausted pitching staffs to get them through to the next round.

But the Red Sox had the ultimate ace in the hole, and they took the ultimate gamble to try to win the series. Boston manager Jimy Williams made the call before the bottom of the fourth. The bullpen doors opened, and Pedro Martinez jogged toward the mound.

Martinez was the best pitcher alive in 1999. Pitching in the height of the steroids era, he had gone 23-4 with a 2.04 ERA that year. Considering the offensive explosion going on all around him, his season ranks among the best any pitcher had ever had. He was the rare pitcher dominating in a hitters' era.

But Martinez was hurt. He came out of game 1 after only four innings with an injury and wasn't expected to pitch the rest of the series. Boston's ultimate advantage, the one area where they were definitively better than Cleveland, was suddenly taken away from them. And game 5 should have been his to pitch, taking a lot of the stress away from the series. The game sure wouldn't have been tied 8-8 in the fourth inning if Pedro had been on the mound.

But there he was now. Still hurt, he came out to pitch anyway, the idea being that he could hold off Cleveland's offensive attack for long enough for Boston to take the lead, then give way for the final two innings. The Red Sox were hoping to get just two or three quality innings from their star.

What they got was vintage Pedro.

The first four batters Martinez faced were out, but with no strike outs. Maybe he didn't have his best stuff, so he'd have to beat them with finesse instead of power. But when Manny Ramirez walked, Pedro beared down, striking out the next two hitters to end the inning. It was on now.

There were two more strikeouts in the sixth, as Pedro had clearly found his groove. Then, in the top of the seventh, Boston seemingly snapped out of their admiration for their pitcher and realized they'd have to score if his performance were to mean anything. Troy O'Leary's three-run home run took care of that problem nicely. Suddenly, after opening the game scoring eight runs in the first three innings, the Indians were faced with the daunting task of coming back from three runs down against Pedro Martinez and only having three innings to do it.

Pedro wasn't having it. What was supposed to be a caretaking relief appearance, lasting just long enough to help the Red Sox take the lead, turned into a masterpiece. He breezed through the seventh and eighth innings while allowing only one baserunner, and after the Red Sox added one in the ninth, Martinez went out for the ninth to finish the job. It didn't take long. When he struck out Omar Vizquel for the final out, everybody was able to realize exactly what he had done: in a game in which he wasn't supposed to pitch at all because of an injury, Martinez had thrown six shutout innings in relief without giving up a hit. He struck out eight and walked three, completely dominating the American League's best offense.

The Red Sox lost the ALCS to the Yankees, with their only win in the series coming in game 3 with Martinez on the mound. He pitched brilliantly, striking out 12 and giving up only two hits in seven innings. It was a fitting cap to a brilliant season.

Pedro Martinez's 31 starts during the 1999 season were something to behold, truly pitching at its finest. But he may have never been better than those six innings in Cleveland, when he stepped out of the bullpen door and saved Boston's season.

September 29, 1954: The Catch

NEW YORK - Baseball history is full of iconic home runs and legendary hits, great offensive feats that decided a championship and are remembered forever. It is full of great pitching performances that are talked about for generations afterwards, games where one man was so thoroughly dominant that he won a game by himself.

But there are few iconic defensive plays in baseball history. Part of this might be because fans looking back through past box scores and play-by-plays of game played before the television era can't look at a fielding play and tell if it was routine or remarkable, and part of it might be because, quite simply, great offensive plays are more exciting than great defensive plays.

Whatever the reason, the defensive gems stand out more because of their rarity. And none stand out more than the play that has become known forever as The Catch.

Players who played with and against Willie Mays swore he made better defensive plays than the catch he made in the top of the 8th inning in game 1 of the 1954 World Series. In fact, some players on the Indians' bench claim they knew the ball was an out the moment it was hit. But the fact that the play came late in a tied World Series game - plus that it occurred in one of the first nationally televised games - allowed it to be transformed from a nice catch to The Catch.

With runners on first and second and nobody out in the top of the 8th inning and the Indians and Giants tied 2-2, Cleveland slugger Vic Wertz came to the plate. Wertz had already gone 3-for-3 in the game, and his triple had driven home the Indians' two runs in the first inning. This time, he belted a ball to the deepest part of center field. It was a monumental blast, about as hard as a ball could be hit, but the Polo Grounds contained the deepest center field in all of baseball. As soon as the ball was hit, Mays turned his back to the infield and took off on a dead sprint. He reached up over his shoulder and hauled the ball in, catching the ball about 450 feet from home plate.

Everybody remembers the catch, but what Mays did afterward may have been most impressive. While still gathering the ball, he stopped, spun, and fired a bullet back to the infield, a throw that allowed only one of the baserunners to advance. While the catch was brilliant, it was the throw that might have saved the game for the Giants, as they escaped the inning without giving up a run.

But the game was still tied, and the Giants needed somebody to be a hero with the bat. Their hero came in the bottom of the 10th when, with two men on base, pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes lifted a short flyball to right field that the Cleveland second baseman started to drift back on. But see, while the Polo Grounds had an incredibly deep center field, it was also very shallow down the lines, including a cozy 254 feet to the right field corner. So Rhodes' hit, which would have been a lazy, harmless fly ball in any other park, nestled nicely into the first row of the right field bleachers to give the Giants the game 1 victory.

In most cases, it would have been Rhodes who was celebrated as the hero, as it was his hit that decided the game. But Rhodes home run was a matter of luck more than anything else, while Mays' catch was the ultimate display of athleticism. Plus, Rhodes was a journeyman outfielder who did more pinch-hitting than anything else in his career, and Mays is on the short list of greatest all-around players of all time. It's fairly easy to see why The Catch has lived on in the memories far longer than Rhodes' home run.

In any case, the heroics of their outfielders gave the Giants the kick-start they needed. Though Cleveland won 111 games in 1954, they didn't win any in the World Series, as the Giants swept the series.

August 17, 1920: Hit by pitch

NEW YORK - If the game had been played today, you might have seen something like this on ESPN's website: "Chapman (CLE) hit by pitch. Lunte pinch-running for Chapman." That entry, though, doesn't begin to tell the story of what happened in the top of the fifth inning that mid-August day in 1920 in the Polo Grounds.

It doesn't talk about the fading light, the skies already hazy in the fifth inning, or how the baseball had faded to a dull brown by that point in the game. It doesn't tell how Carl Mays, the Yankees pitcher, threw with such a low submarine-style delivery that it looked like the ball was coming up from the mound, making it blend in nicely with the dirt. It doesn't say how Ray Chapman, Cleveland's speedy shortstop, never flinched, most likely never seeing the ball that hit him in the temple. And it doesn't tell how the sound of the ball hitting Chapman's forehead was so loud, that the ricochet was so fast, that Mays fielded the ball and threw it to first, thinking it had hit Chapman's bat.

Chapman collapsed to the ground. He tried to get up to walk to the clubhouse, but he collapsed again. He never regained consciousness, dying the next day, August 17. He is one of only two players to die as a result of injuries suffered during a Major League game, the only one to die as a result of being hit by a pitch.

Chapman's death had instant ramifications. Before, a baseball would be kept in play until it was hit into the stands, and only then would a new one be thrown in. Then, the fielders would toss the ball around the infield, just like they do to this day after every out, only in 1920, the fielders were spitting tobacco juice and rubbing dirt on the ball as it came by. Batters rarely, if ever, got to hit a perfectly white baseball. That changed with Chapman's death. Now, umpires had to put a new ball in play whenever the previous one became unplayable, and pitches such as the spitball became outlawed. There was also a renewed call for batters to be allowed to wear batting helmets, but that change didn't come into effect for more than 30 years.

Mays received instant backlash, with some people going so far as calling for him to be charged with murder. He pitched for nine more years, but never got over the stigma of being the pitcher that killed a batter. Many people think that one single pitch is the only thing that has kept him out of the Hall of Fame.

For Cleveland, which had just taken the lead in the pennant race a few days before Chapman's death, the loss was devastating, both from a personal standpoint of having a teammate die in front of their eyes, but also from a competitive standpoint, as they had lost their starting shortstop and leadoff hitter. But they recovered, partly with the help of the suspension of the eight Black Sox near the end of the season that crippled Chicago, and partly with the help of Joe Sewell, the future hall-of-fame shortstop who got his start in the Majors when he was called on to replace Chapman. The Indians held on to the pennant that year, winning the World Series over Brooklyn and dedicating the championship to Chapman.

April 24, 1901: The American way

CHICAGO - It was pure coincidence that there was only one American League game played on April 24, 1901. There was a full slate of games scheduled, but the other three were rained out, giving the Chicago White Stockings and Cleveland Blues the right to open the season alone. The final of Chicago 8, Cleveland 2 wasn't very earth-shattering; if anything, it was prophetic, as Chicago won the inaugural American League pennant that year, while Cleveland finished 7th of the 8 teams.

The game was a milestone in that it was the first one in the history of the American League, but at the time it didn't seem that important. After a few years as a minor league, the Western League changed its name and declared itself a major league in direct competition with the National League. But owners and other officials from the National League weren't too worried about this new league; they assumed the American League would either fold or return to minor league status within a few years, just like all the other challengers to the NL did in the past.

The NL should have seen, though, that this time was different. The AL had placed teams in major cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston, giving the NL teams direct competition. Also, unlike past failed leagues like the American Association, Players League, and Union Association, the AL had already established itself as a successful minor league before moving up to challenge the NL.

Instead of fading into oblivion like past failed leagues, the AL prospered. Within two years, it had placed teams in St. Louis and New York to provide additional competition to the NL, it had convinced the NL to send its champion to compete in a season-ending championship series, then it had won that series. Despite the NL's best efforts, including trying to steal the AL's best players and the New York Giants refusing to play in the 1904 World Series, the AL held firm. It wasn't long before the two leagues were seen as equals, and they began working in harmony as one unit rather than as two separate entities.

Of the eight original AL teams, four remain in their original cities: Chicago, Cleveland (now called the Indians), Detroit, and Boston. The Philadelphia Athletics moved first to Kansas City then Oakland; the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota; the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York to become the Yankees; and the Milwaukee Brewers moved first to St. Louis to become the Browns, then to Baltimore to become the (new) Orioles.

April 16, 1940: Rapid Robert

CHICAGO - If anybody has lived the All-American life, it's Bob Feller. If there was a checklist of things to be used to give somebody the stereotypical old-time Americana life, it would probably be based on Feller's life.

Did he come from humble beginnings?

• Feller grew up a farm boy in Van Meter, Iowa

Did his talent come through dedication and hard work?

• He says he developed a strong throwing arm from doing various chores around the farm, including baling hay.

Did he meet all expectations at an early age?

• He was signed by a Cleveland Indians scout at age 16 for $1, and he pitched in his first Major League game at age 17.

Did he have a catchy nickname?

• Pick one: The Heater from Van Meter, Rapid Robert, or Bullet Bob

Did he put others before himself?

• Feller enlisted in the Navy on December 8, 1941, the first Major Leaguer to do so. He stayed in the military until the end of the war. To this day, he says he has no regrets about doing it, and refuses to be called a hero. "The heroes are the ones who died."

Feller left quite a legacy. He's in the Hall of Fame, and he returns to attend the ceremonies every year despite being 91 years old. He pitched in two World Series, winning one, and is one of two players in history who has struck out his age in a game, striking out 17 batters at the age of 17.

Perhaps his most famous moment came on April 16, 1940, when he threw the first of his three no-hitters. This one against the White Sox stands out because it remains the only one ever thrown on Opening Day. With help from his own decision to walk future hall-of-famer Luke Appling in the eighth - "I had a feeling he was going to get a hit" - and a diving stop by second baseman Ray Mack for the final out, he accomplished a feat that had never happened before. And, considering how careful baseball teams are with their pitchers' pitch counts early in the season, he might always be the only man with an Opening Day no-hitter.