Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 6: I'll Tell a Story

Game 4, 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets

October 9, 1988, Shea Stadium, Queens, New York

Mets lead 2-1 

As Game 4 of the NLCS was finally over and everybody watching was finally able to let out their breath, Al Michaels asked "When you write the story of this game, where do you begin?" But unlike his slightly more famous question, Michaels didn't answer this one for his viewers.

So where do you begin to tell the story of Game 4?

Maybe you begin with Orel Hershiser, the Dodgers ace who ended the 1988 season with a Major League record 59 consecutive scoreless innings. He pitched six times in September and didn't give up a run, five complete games and one 10-inning game where he finally had to be pulled to rest for the playoffs. Riding a record-breaking hot streak, Hershiser shut out the Mets through 8 innings of Game 1. But Hershiser then gave up his first run since August on a ninth-inning double by Darryl Strawberry, then he watched from the bench as the Dodgers bullpen blew the rest of the game to give the Mets a 1-0 series lead.

Or perhaps you begin to tell the story by talking about a key member of that Dodgers bullpen. Jay Howell was the Dodgers' closer in 1988, the anchor of what was (during the regular season at least) a very good group of relievers. A rainout pushed Game 3 back a day and allowed Hershiser to start again, and while a probably tired Hershiser wasn't nearly as sharp, he pitched well enough to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead entering the 8th. Howell came in to relieve at that point, threw five pitches, then watched as Mets manager Davey Johnson walked toward home plate umpire Joe West. Johnson asked West to check Howell's glove; West did exactly that, discovered the secret stash of pine tar Howell had on the inside of his glove, then tossed Howell from the game. The Dodgers melted down and lost the game, then lost Howell for the next three games as his automatic suspension took effect.

I was going to write something else about Gibson
here, but I just noticed this - does he have two
batting gloves in his hands and one in his pocket? 
Or am I crazy?

Or I suppose you begin to tell the story by talking about Kirk Gibson. After a decade as the Tigers' physical and emotional leader, Gibson joined the Dodgers as a free agent in 1988. His signing paid immediate dividends, as he won the National League MVP award by being essentially the only Dodger who could hit. But Gibson stopped hitting in the NLCS, going 1-for-11 in the first three games as he was fighting a leg injury. If the Dodgers were going to come from behind in the series, Gibson would have to turn things around.

Or maybe you begin to tell the story in the 12th inning, when all those storylines converged.

But to tell about the 12th inning, you have to get through the first 11 first.

In 1988, Doc Gooden had taken a step back from his career peak - cocaine suspensions will do that to you - but he was still a feared pitcher as he took the mound in Game 4 for his second start of the series. It was a little surprising when the Dodgers scored two runs off Gooden in the first, but then Gooden bared down, as aces tend to do, and started shutting down the Dodgers. The Mets scored three in the 4th and one in the 6th, and Gooden did the rest. The Mets took a 4-2 lead entering the 9th, and the Dodgers looked cooked: They were trailing 2-1 in the series, Hershiser had been used twice already, their closer was suspended, and their best hitter wasn't hitting. It looked like the series was about to be 3-1.

So now you can start to tell the story.

Maybe Gooden was tired to start the 9th. He had already thrown more than 120 pitches, just four days after throwing 101 in Game 1. Or maybe he was a bit too relaxed, knowing a two-run lead was probably enough. Whatever the reason, he walked centerfielder John Shelby to lead off the 9th. And right as the announcers were trying to figure out the best way to talk about the dangers of walking the leadoff batter, Mike Scioscia drilled the first pitch over the wall in right to tie the game.

Now it was a battle of the bullpens, and the Dodgers were missing one of the key parts of theirs. So they handed the ball to Alejandro Pena and said "good luck." Pena gave them three shutout innings; he walked two in the bottom of the 11th, but escaped without giving up the winning run. 

So it was on to the 12th. After two quick outs, Gibson came up. Now 1-for-16 in the series and noticeably struggling to walk, this was his chance to atone for his bad series and show the Dodgers why they signed him. And after one strike, he delivered, hitting his biggest home run as a Dodger - to that point, anyway.

The Dodgers, improbably, had the lead. But now they had to deal with the minor problem: their closer was in a hotel room, suspended, and they were almost out of pitchers. 

They first tried Tim Leary as a closer. Leary was normally a starter, but lost his turn to start when Game 3 got delayed, so he was making his first appearance of the series. And maybe because he wasn't normally a reliever, he allowed the first two Mets to reach base. Leary got a break when Gregg Jefferies tried to bunt, failed, and flied to left instead.

So there was one out, and two lefties coming up, so the Dodgers turned to Jesse Orosco. Two years earlier, Orosco had been on the mound to close out the 1986 World Series for the Mets. Now he was essentially a lefty specialist, so this should have been in his wheelhouse. But he walked lefty Keith Hernandez to load the bases, then threw a first-pitch ball to the lefty Darryl Strawberry. At this point, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda jumped out of the dugout, jogged to the mound, asked Orosco what the hell he was doing, then walked back to the dugout. Orosco must have said something like "I'm just setting Strawberry up so I can get him to pop out to second," because that's what he did.

So now there were two outs, but a righty was up next, and Lasorda didn't want Orosco to face a righty. He was out of relievers. His closer was in a hotel room. But if you looked again, you saw there was one man in the Dodgers bullpen.

Hershiser certainly didn't expect to pitch in Game 4 after starting Game 3. He absolutely wasn't in condition to - even the best pitchers need some rest. But there he came, jogging in from the bullpen to try to get the final out. Any hit by Kevin McReynolds wins the game for the Mets and essentially puts the series to bed. Any out wins the game for the Dodgers and ties the series.

Hershiser jammed McReynolds. McReynolds hit a soft fly ball to center, shallow enough that Shelby was running in and the infielders were running out. Then Shelby got there, closing his glove on the ball, and Al Michaels was asking questions.

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

Howell came back to the active roster for Game 7, but he wasn't needed. Hershiser found his late-season groove again and threw a complete game shutout to send the Dodgers to the World Series. 

Gibson got (even more) hurt running the bases in Game 7 and had to leave early. He only had one more at bat in 1988. You may have heard of it.

Howell finally got to pitch again in Game 3 of the World Series, when he gave up a walk-off home run to Mark McGwire. He recovered to get the save in Game 4, though.

So it was Gibson giving them the win in Game 1, Howell saving Game 4. The other two games belonged to Hershiser, who threw complete games in Games 2 and 5 to give the Dodgers the title.

 

Game 4, 1988 National League Championship Series Overall Rank: 6 Top 10 Swing: 245 Top play: Gibson's winning home run (WPA of 43% for Los Angeles) Loser's largest WE: 95 Middle of the 8th, Mets up 4-2 Average LI: 1.74 Highest leverage moment: 10.73 (B12, 2 outs, bases loaded, Los Angeles up 5-4, Kevin McReynolds batting for New York)

Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 14: A New Kind of Subway Series

Game 1, 2000 World Series: New York Mets at New York Yankees

October 21, 2000, Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Some teams are happy to have a stretch of a couple years at the top of their sport. Other teams get lucky to have a good decade. But only one team can claim they had a good century.

That team, of course, was the New York Yankees, who spent most of the 20th Century either dominating baseball. After struggling to compete with the Giants for their first 17 seasons, the Yankees acquired Babe Ruth, and that was that. Over the rest of the 1900s, they won 36 American League pennants and 26 championships. 

Almost as common as the Yankees winning the pennant was the Yankees meeting one of their New York neighbors in the World Series. Of those 36 World Series appearances, 13 were against either the Giants or the Dodgers.

The Giants and Dodgers left New York in 1958, of course, and were replaced by the Mets in 1962. And the Mets spent the rest of the century trying to escape the shadow cast by their neighbors to the northwest. Despite the Yankees' continued success - and a couple of seasons of greatness for the Mets - the Subway Series didn't return to New York in the 1900s

But then the calendar switch to 2000. New century, new traditions. Sure the Yankees were back in the World Series, looking for their third straight title, but now the Mets were there, too. After 38 years as a team, they'd get their crack at the Yankees.

Anyway, we looked at a century's worth of back story because the first five innings of Game 1 were scoreless and we needed something to talk about, right? Lefties Al Leiter and Andy Pettitte were dealing and the hitters were flailing. That is until Todd Zeile blasted a two-out double off the very top of the wall in the top of the 6th. Had the ball been hit literally one inch farther, it would have been a two-run home run. Timo Perez thought it was gone and ran at less-than-full speed to second; once he realized it stayed in the park, he turned up the speed, but it was too late. He was thrown out at home, and the Mets got nothing. 

And like any good team, the Yankees took advantage of an opponents' mistake. Give them an inch, they'll take a mile. David Justice was the one who took advantage, blasting a two-run double to the deepest part of the ballpark in the bottom of the 6th.

The Mets got it right back in the top of the 7th. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Bubba Trammell with one out, and Trammell tied it with a single. One batter later, facing reliever Jeff Nelson, Edgardo Alfonzo beat out a slow roller by a half-step to give the Mets the lead.

Skip ahead to the 9th, and the Mets had a chance to extend the lead against Mariano Rivera, getting two on with only one out. They failed to get the job done, and naturally the Yankees made them pay, with Chuck Knoblauch hitting a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.

The Mets didn't do anything in the top of the 10th, and the Yankees did everything they could to end things in the bottom of the 10th. The first two batters reached, moving to second and third on a wild pitch. Tino Martinez hit a ball so shallow that left fielder Joe McEwing caught the ball just a couple of steps away from the infield dirt. After an intentional walk, Paul O'Neill had a chance to finish things off, but his double play ball sent the game to the 11th.

The Mets didn't do anything in the top of the 11th, while the Yankees put together another rally that fell just short. The Mets also didn't do anything in the top of the 12th. It's like they were waiting for the Yankees to finish things off for them.

An example of the face you might make if
you get the game-winning hit in a World
Series game.

And the Yankees were happy to oblige. After three innings of coming up just short, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 12th. Luis Sojo didn't get the job done, popping out to the catcher. But Jose Vizcaino ended things on the first pitch of his at bat, hitting a single to left and cueing up "New York, New York," which seems weird, since New York lost.

Anyway, the Yankees won Game 2, as well, and ended up winning the World Series 4 games to 1, their third straight title. New century, same old champions, right? Well, maybe not. The Yankees have only one won other championship since; most teams would take two championships in 21 years, but for the Yankees, that qualifies as a dry spell. 

Game 1, 2000 World Series Overall Rank: 14 Top 10 Swing: 209 Top play: Paul O'Neill grounds into a double play with the bases loaded and one out, B10 (WPA of 34% for the Mets)* Loser's largest WE: 89 T9, 1 out, runners on second and third, Mets up 3-2 Average LI: 2.01 Highest leverage moment: 8.46 (Mets up 3-2, B9, bases loaded, 1 out, Chuck Knoblauch up) *Yes, the top play was one that benefitted the loser. That happens sometimes. The Yankees' top play was the game-winning single (WPA of 33%)

Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 25: A Little Roller Up Along First

Game 6, 1986 World Series: Boston Red Sox at New York Mets

October 25, 1986, Shea Stadium, Queens, New York

Red Sox lead series 3-2

It was finally within their grasp. Finally, 67 years after selling Babe Ruth, 68 years after last climbing to the top of the baseball world, the Red Sox were one out away from winning the World Series. It naturally didn't come easy - what championship ever did? - as Boston had twice blown leads in Game 6. But now here they were, leading 5-3 in the top of the 10th thanks to a Dave Henderson home run, one out from an elusive title.

At that exact moment - leading by two with two outs - the Red Sox had a 99% chance to win Game 6 and with it, the World Series. At that exact moment, only one postseason team had ever turned a 99% chance to win into a loss. Clubhouse attendants had already covered Boston's locker room in tarps so that the upcoming champagne celebration wouldn't ruin their clothes. Bruce Hurst had already been voted World Series MVP. Game 6 starter Roger Clemens had gone to the locker room to shave so he could look better for post-game interviews.

The first Mets hit wasn't a big deal. Gary Carter's two-out single only decreased Boston's chances of winning to 96%. The Mets would need more than that. Kevin Mitchell's single wasn't a big deal, either. Carter only got to second, so there was no guarantee he'd score on a single. Plus, it was Mitchell's run that mattered, not Carter's.

Ray Knight fell behind 0-2. Now the Red Sox were one strike away. But Knight hit another single, deep enough for Carter to score and Mitchell to go to third. It was 5-4. The tying run was on third, and the winning run was now on base. Now it was time to worry.

Now it was time for questions. Bob Stanley replaced Calvin Schiraldi on the mound, but why wasn't Stanley on the mound to start the 10th? Why have Schiraldi bat in the top of the 10th when he had already pitched the 9th, and Stanley had pitched better in the World Series anyway? And while we're asking questions, why was Bill Buckner still at first? He had been replaced defensively late in all three Boston wins this series. Why keep him in now?

It might not have mattered anyway. Stanley worked Mookie Wilson to a 2-2 count, then Wilson fouled off two pitches that might have ended the series, swinging weekly and barely making contact but fouling them off nonetheless.

Oops.

Then, another ball, but this one to the backstop. Mitchell scored, Knight went to second, and a 99% chance to win suddenly turned into a 60% chance to lose. Shea Stadium was delirious. Toilet paper streaming from the rafters and piling behind home plate. The Mets' players out of the dugout and clapping on the field. Mookie Wilson fouling off two more pitches. 

Then came the 10th pitch of the at bat, and a little roller up along first...   

Game 6, 1986 World Series Overall Rank: 25 Top 10 Swing: 202 Top Play: Bob Stanley's wild pitch ties the game (WPA 41% for New York) Loser's largest WE: 99 B10, 2 outs, nobody on, Red Sox lead 5-3 Average LI: 1.67 Highest Leverage Moment: 7.06 (Mookie Wilson's final plate appearance, pre-wild pitch)

2000 World Series: Throwing bat shards

The Teams
American League: New York Yankees (87-74) - 37th World Series (Won 25 previous times)
National League: New York Mets (94-68) - Fourth World Series (Won in 1969, 1986)

What Happened
OK, so you can't really talk about this series without talking about this:



My favorite part of that is reading Roger Clemens' lips after he threw what was essentially a spear at Mike Piazza's feet: "I thought it was the ball." Like that would have made it better? Giving Clemens the benefit of the doubt for a moment - which is pretty hard since, you know, a ball and a bat are two pretty different things - how is it acceptable to field what you think is a ground ball and, instead of throwing to first to get the out, throwing right at the runner who hit the ball? That's normal procedure?

Nobody will really know what happened inside Roger Clemens' brain during that moment in the first inning of Game 2 - well, unless you just assume it's uncontrolled 'roid rage - but it cast a shadow over the entire World Series in 2000. It was supposed to be a rebirth of the great New York baseball dynasty, the 14th Subway Series, but the first involving the Mets. But it was quickly overshadowed by Clemens' moment of insanity, and quickly forgotten.

It's a shame, too, because it was a series that shouldn't have been forgotten that easily. It's true it only went five games, but all five games were decided in the late innings or, in the case of the great Game 1, extra innings. And all the games were still in doubt when the final pitch was thrown, with the tying run - or better - at the plate when the final out was made.

Game 1 might have been the best game of the series, with the Mets scoring three runs in the 7th to take the lead, blowing the lead in the bottom of the ninth, then losing on a two-out, bases-loaded single by Luis Vizcaino. The Yankees won Game 2, too, but had to sweat it out as the Mets scored five ninth-inning runs to turn a laugher into a 6-5 loss.

After a day off for travel - the Triborough Bridge must have just been hellish that day - the teams continued their tight play. The Mets finally got on the board in Game 3, scoring twice in the eighth to claim a 4-2 win. All the scoring in Game 4 came in the first three innings, with the Yankees bullpen preserving a 3-2 victory. The Yankees wrapped it up in Game 5, clinching the title when Piazza flied out to center as the game-tying run to end the game.

The Yankees had won their third straight title, and America yawned. Maybe the fact that it was New York vs. New York. Maybe it was the fact that every game ended after 11:30 eastern time. Maybe it was just that people were sick of the Yankees always winning. Whatever the reason, the only thing people seem to remember about the 2000 Series was Clemens' moment of insanity. It's too bad. There were only five games, but they were five pretty good ones.

MVP
Paul O'Neill batted .474/.545/.789 in the series, just jaw-dropping numbers. But Derek Jeter won the MVP award. Sure, he led off Game 4 with a home run, then hit the game-tying home run in the clincher. But that seems like the voters were picking the Captain, picking Mr. Yankee as a sort of lifetime achievement award more than anything else. But that could be just me.

Scores (Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

N.Y. Mets	3	5	4	2	2
N.Y. Yankees	4 (12)	6	2	3	4

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

10. 2000 - New York (A) def. New York (N) 4-0
11. 1986 - New York (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
12. 1962 - New York (A) def. San Francisco (N) 4-3
13. 1926 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
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

1986 World Series: The Error

The Teams
National League: New York Mets (108-54) - Third World Series (Won in 1969)
American League: Boston Red Sox (95-66) - Ninth World Series (Won in 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918)

What Happened

Everybody remembers the error. And really, it's understandable. It wasn't just an error, after all. It was 68 years of a franchise's pain and torture, the full-fledged belief in a curse wrapped up in one simple slow roller to first.

The entry in the box score is simple enough: M. Wilson reached on E3 (ground ball), Knight scores (unearned). But it meant so much more. The fact that "Knight scores" was the game-winning run of Game 6, so Red Sox fans had that final image of the ground ball going through Bill Buckner's legs to haunt them into the night. Since rain pushed Game 7 back an extra day, that was just more time for Red Sox fans to stew.

And so they did, and when they lost the next day, the 1986 World Series became all about Buckner's error, the details getting lost in the haze. Details like the wild pitch one pitch before Buckner's error, the one that brought home the tying run. Details like the three straight hits the Mets got with two outs in the ninth, including Knight's run-scoring single when he faced an 0-2 count. Details from earlier in the series were forgotten, too, like the two times the Red Sox pounded Mets phenom Dwight Gooden, the 1-0 thriller in Game 1, and so on. All forgotten because of one ground ball.

The Red Sox could have overcome this, of course. They still had a Game 7 to play. But the damage had been done. Immediately before Buckner's error, there was champagne on ice in the Red Sox' clubhouse, where the lockers were covered with tarp. Roger Clemens was shown in the dugout clean-shaven, as he had shaved off his playoff scruff during the game in anticipation of post-game interviews. Hell, even the Shea Stadium scoreboard had flashed, if only for a moment, the words "Congratulations Red Sox." That was a lot to overcome, and it proved to be too much. Boston took a 3-0 lead in Game 7, but that lead was gone in a flash after a three-run sixth. The Mets piled on with three more in the seventh, and that was that. It was just a matter of counting down the outs after that.

There were so many things to remember about the 1986 World Series and postseason in general. Dave Henderson's continuous dramatic home runs, seemingly whenever the Red Sox needed one;  Boston coming back from 3-1 down to beat the Angels; the Mets winning 106 games, then surviving two tense playoff series that took the luster off their "greatest team of the 80s" claim; the Mets-Astros NLCS, which was one of the best postseason series ever played.

None of it mattered. It didn't matter because Bill Buckner couldn't field Mookie Wilson's grounder, and the Red Sox lost a game they should have won, and the Curse lived on.

MVP
It wasn't how many hits Ray Knight got in the series - though he got plenty of them - but when he got them. In Game 6, he got an rbi and scored a run as the Mets scored twice to tie the game in the fifth, and he drove in the first run of the Mets famed 10th inning rally, then scored the winning run on Buckner's error. In Game 7, his home run provided the go-ahead run in the seventh, and he scored the final run of the series in the 8th.
   
Scores (Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Boston	1	9	1	2	4	5	5
New York	0	3	7	6	2	6 (10)	8

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

11. 1986 - New York (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
12. 1962 - New York (A) def. San Francisco (N) 4-3
13. 1926 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
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

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

3. 1960: Pittsburgh 10, New York (A) 9
5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
10. 1926: St. Louis (N) 3, New York (A) 2
11. 1962: New York (A) 1, San Francisco 0
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
14. 1952: New York (A) 4, Brooklyn 2
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
20. 1986: New York (N) 8, Boston 5 
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

1973 World Series: Finley's follies

The Teams
American League: Oakland Athletics (94-68) - Second World Series (Won in 1972)
National League: New York Mets (82-79) - Second World Series (Won in 1969)

What Happened
The 1973 World Series wasn't so much a battle to see who was the best team, but rather one about who was less bad. Sure, the A's were the defending World Series champions, but they didn't exactly set the world on fire defending their championship. With as much time as they spent fighting each other or complaining about team owner Charlie Finley, it's amazing they ended up with a winning record, much less back in the postseason. But they won the AL West, then pushed their issues to the side while the took care of Baltimore to get back to the World Series.

The Mets, meanwhile, were ... well, it's hard to use "mediocre" to describe a National League champion, but that's the best way to describe them. They won only 82 games, the lowest ever for a World Series team. They would have finished fourth in the National League West, but they won the NL East, then beat Cincinnati to advance to the series.

The one thing these two teams had in common was great pitching, and for the most part, that pitching dominated the series. The big exception was Game 2. A four-run sixth gave the Mets a 6-3, which the Athletics cut to 6-4 entering the ninth. Then, with two outs in the 9th, the A's rallied to tie the game. To the 12th, then. With two runners on base, the Mets' Willie Mays, who had shown every one of his 42 years during the season and series, reached down for one more bit of magic, delivering the go-ahead hit. After another single, two straight batters hit balls right at Oakland second baseman Mike Andrews, and he committed an error on both of them. Three more runs came in as a results of the Andrews errors, runs that loomed even bigger when the A's scored once in the bottom of the 12th.

With the series tied at 1-1, Finley was furious. He blamed Andrews for the Game 2 loss. To get his revenge, he forced Andrews to sign a false affidavit saying he was injured so that Finley could replace him on the World Series roster. Outraged, the A's players threatened to boycott the rest of the series if the move were allowed to go through, and Oakland manager Dick Williams resigned, effective at the end of the series. Fortunately, the commissioner's office didn't let the stunt pass, ordering Andrews reinstated.

With all the circus going on, there was still a series to be played. United behind their anger at their owner, the A's won Game 3 in 11 innings to reclaim homefield advantage, then suffered through the wet and cold New York weather for two losses before series headed back to Oakland. From there, the A's great pitchers finally took control. Oakland's Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers outdueled Tom Seaver and Tug McGraw to win Game 6, and a four-run third was all Ken Holtzman and Fingers needed for Game 7. They hated each other, they hated their owner, but somehow, the A's were two-time World Champions.

MVP 
Reggie Jackson was a most curious choice for MVP, as he didn't really get going until the final two games. The future Mr. October his his first career World Series home run in that four-run rally in Game 7, so that might have had something to do with it. It really should have been Fingers, who pitched in six of the seven games and only gave up 1 earned run in a team-high 13 innings.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	1	10 (12)	2	6	2	1	2
Oakland	2	7	3 (11)	1	0	3	5

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

20. 1973 - Oakland (A) def. New York (N) 4-3
21. 2002 - Anaheim (A) def. San Francisco (N) 4-3
22. 1980 - Philadelphia (N) def. Kansas City (A) 4-2
23. 1911 - Philadelphia (A) def. New York (N) 4-2
24. 1915 - Boston (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-1
25. 1971 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
26. 1918 - Boston (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
27. 1988 - Los Angeles (N) def. Oakland (A) 4-1
28. 1946 - St. Louis (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
29. 1925 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Washington (A) 4-3
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:

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 
36. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0

1969 World Series: Simply Amazin'

The Teams
National League: New York Mets (100-62) - First World Series
American League: Baltimore Orioles (109-53) - Second World Series (Won in 1966)

What Happened
The Summer of '69 was the middle of a great sports year for New York sports fans. The Jets had gotten things started, upsetting the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl behind a guarantee by Broadway Joe. That fall, the Knicks started a season that ended with an NBA championship coming to Madison Square. But before all of that could happen, New York had to make room for the Miracle Mets.

For the first seven years of their existence, the only miracle the Mets performed seemed to be whenever they somehow won a game. No expansion team ever started so poorly, and the ineptitude of those early Mets became fodder for baseball jokes for a generation. But something clicked in 1969. They had a great, young pitching staff, anchored by 24-year-old future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. They had an outstanding defense, one that would save countless runs for their young pitchers.

As for the offense, well, manager Gil Hodges did what he could. Making liberal use of the platoon system that former Yankee - and Met - manager Casey Stengel had perfected in the 1950s, Hodges somehow found a way for his team to score enough to stay in the NL East race. In mid-August, it all came together, and the Mets ended the season on a 38-11 run to storm past the Cubs and into the playoffs. After easily beating Atlanta in the NLCS, the former punchlines were suddenly in the World Series.

Though the Mets had won 100 games during the season, they were heavy underdogs against the 109-win Orioles. Don Buford led off the series for the Orioles with a home run off Seaver, and Baltimore cruised to an easy win in Game 1, a game that was supposed to be just the first of four straight Baltimore wins. After all, this team was even better than the one that had swept the Dodgers three years earlier, and these Mets weren't nearly as good as those Dodgers. Right?

Well ... Jerry Koosman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Game 2 before finally giving up two hits that tied the game. But the Mets bounced back, getting three straight two-out singles in the top of the ninth to take the lead, then holding their breath as Ron Taylor got Brooks Robinson to ground out with two on to end the game. Not only did the Mets have their win to avoid the sweep, but they had gotten a road win. They could now win the series without having to go back to Baltimore.

With the series possibly in the balance in Game 3, Mets centerfielder Tommie Agee took over, putting together one of the greatest all-around games in World Series history. His first-inning home run was just the start. With the Mets up 3-0 in the fourth and two runners on, Baltimore's Ellie Hendricks blasted one deep into the left-center gap. Agee ran the ball down just before crashing into the wall to save two runs. Then in the seventh, Gary Gentry walked three straight Orioles with two outs. 24-year-old Nolan Ryan came in to face Paul Blair. Blair hit a low line drive to right center field that looked dangerous, but Agee came out of nowhere to make a diving, sprawling catch. Agee had saved five runs with his glove and added another run with his bat, the major player in New York's 5-0 victory.

After Agee's heroics, the Mets were on cloud nine. Their fans believed, and probably most importantly, they believed in themselves. After winning a 10-inning thriller in Game 4, they fell behind 3-0 in Game 5. Donn Clendenon hit a two-run home run in the sixth to make it 3-2, and Al Weis tied it with a home run in the seventh. Then in the eighth, Ron Swoboda's double gave the Mets the lead. Three outs later, left fielder Cleon Jones closed his glove on the final out, and the Mets started celebrating. The fans were on the field before the Mets could even escape to the clubhouse. Liquor stores around Queens sold out of their supply of champagne within 10 minutes of the final pitch. It was all to celebrate one of the most improbable championships in baseball history.

Defining Game
It wasn't easy to score in Game 4. Clendenon homered in the second inning, but that was all the offense New York could manage off Mike Cuellar. But that single run was enough for Seaver until the ninth inning, when a sacrifice fly by Robinson tied the game. The Mets couldn't push a run across in the bottom of the ninth, and Seaver held back a Baltimore rally in the top of the 10th, bringing the game to the bottom of the 10th. Jerry Grote led off the inning with a short double to left field, and after an intentional walk, J.C. Martin came up with instructions to bunt. He laid down a good one in front of the plate, and reliever Pete Richert had only one play. As he threw to first, his throw hit Martin and sailed off into right field, allowing Grote to score the game-winning run. Baltimore argued - correctly - that Martin was running inside the baseline and should have been called out, but the umpires weren't moved. The call stood, 
 
MVP

There were Mets with betting hitting numbers than Clendenon. There were pitchers who made convincing arguments that they could have been MVP. But Clendenon won the award with three swings of the bat. He homered in Games 2, 4, and 5, but it was more than just the home runs. All three home runs opened the scoring for the Mets, kick-starting their offense just when they needed it.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

New York	1	2	5	2 (10)	5
Baltimore	4	1	0	1	3

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

32. 1969 - New York (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-1
33. 1935 - Detroit (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
34. 1934 - St. Louis (N) def. Detroit (A) 4-3
35. 1964 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
36. 2003 - Florida (N) def. New York (A) 4-2
37. 1977 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
38. 1996 - New York (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
39. 1921 - New York (N) def. New York (A) 5-3
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

2006 NLCS: Mighty Carlos Strikes Out

How they got here
The records of the teams in the 2006 NLCS were a little bit deceiving. The Mets belonged in the series, winning a League-high 97 games and winning the NL East by 12 games, ending Atlanta's 14-year stranglehold on the division in the meantime. Boasting a lineup full of all-stars and a pitching staff full of veterans with postseason experience, the Mets seemed perfectly built for postseason success.

The St. Louis Cardinals, on the other hand, seemed like a fluke. With Albert Pujols their only true hitting star and Chris Carpenter their only reliable starter, the Cardinals squeaked into the postseason despite winning only 83 games that year. That's where the records can be deceiving, though, as St. Louis had a good record most of the season and had the NL Central pretty much wrapped up before a late-season collapse made their final record look pedestrian.

If anybody had any doubt as to whether the Cardinals belonged in the playoffs, St. Louis erased them by easily beating the Padres in the NLDS. After the Mets swept the Dodgers in the other first-round series, the two former East Division rivals squared off for the National League title.

In Game 1, the Mets' pitching experience paid off; while Carlos Beltran's two-run home run was their only offense, former Braves standout Tom Glavine made it hold up by pitching a shutout. In Game 2, unheralded outfielder So Taguchi hit a home run off Mets closer Billy Wagner to give the Cardinals the win. A Game 3 shutout by little-known Jeff Suppan gave the Cardinals the series lead, while the Mets' two Carlos's - Beltran and Delgado - combined for three home runs in a Game 4 win. The teams traded 4-2 wins in the next two games to set up Game 7 in Shea Stadium in Queens.

The Game
There are three defining moments from Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, two of which looked exactly the same. It's the three moments that were replayed over and over, the three moments that were remembered more fondly than the World Series that followed.

The first big moment came in the top of the sixth, with the Cardinals hoping to break a 1-1 tie. With a runner on first, Scott Rolen lifted the first pitch of the at bat from starter Oliver Perez to deep left field. Endy Chavez slowly drifted back, reached out for the wall as he hit the warning track, jumped as high as he could and, timing the jump perfectly, came down with the ball. While the fans were realizing about a second later he had caught the ball, Chavez fired back to the infield, where the Mets were able to double off Jim Edmonds to end the inning still tied.

The catch made Chavez an instant hero in New York. It was one of the greatest catches ever made in a postseason game, one that was sure to make him a baseball legend, if only the Mets could pull it out.

Top of the ninth now. Still tied 1-1. Both starters gone, the teams turning to their strong bullpens. Rolen works a nine-pitch at bat before hitting a one-out single. Up comes Yadier Molina. Like his two brothers, Molina was a great defensive catcher and a relatively poor hitter. But like his brothers, he was capable of hitting one out if he got a hold of one. And he got a hold of one, hitting it deep and high to left field. Endy Chavez slowly drifted back, reached out for the wall as he hit the warning track, jumped as high as he could and, timing the jump just slightly short of perfectly, came down with air. He couldn't believe it. Mets fans couldn't believe it. And, perhaps most telling, Molina couldn't believe it. Of all the candidates to hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of Game 7, Molina would have probably ranked 10th among his own teammates. And yet he had done it, and created his own moment.

To the bottom of the ninth, and another potential Great Moment in Baseball History. See, the Mets managed to load the bases with two outs, and up to bat came Carlos Beltran. He was their best hitter, their team leader, and had been red-hot this entire series. The first two pitches of the at bat were strikes. This was something straight out of "Casey at the Bat," only Casey was Carlos, and Mudville was Flushing, Queens, New York. And in his famous poem, Casey swung and missed at strike three, while in real life Carlos left the bat on his shoulder, watching a curveball drop into the strike zone and leaving the bases loaded. There was no joy in Queens as mighty Carlos struck out.

Aftermath
The 2006 Cardinals may have been the second-worst team to ever make it to the World Series, but they sure looked like the better team against the Tigers. It was really no contest, with the Cardinals winning in five games in a series I have absolutely no memory of, in the process becoming the worst team - at least record-wise - to ever win a World Series.

Despite the heartbreaking loss in the NLCS, the Mets entered the offseason with a lot of promise, hoping they had finally found the right combination to win a World Series. Instead, their veteran pitchers became merely old, with nobody good ready to replace them, and their young offensive stars became injured stars. The Mets haven't been to the playoffs since that loss, and now their owner is broke - thanks to Bernie Madoff - and their franchise is directionless. What might have changed if only Mighty Carlos hadn't struck out?

What I'm doing.

The list so far:
4. 2006 NLCS: St. Louis 3, New York 1
5. 1976 ALCS: New York 7, Kansas City 6
6. 1977 ALCS: New York 5, Kansas City 3
7. 1972 NLCS: Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 3
8. 1981 NLCS: Los Angeles 2, Montreal 1
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:
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York

1973 NLCS: Minor Miracle

How They Got Here
It was the type of season that happens every once in a while, where you take a look around at the playoff teams and ask "are we sure these are the best teams?" The team in question in 1973 was the New York Mets, who somehow snuck into the postseason that year.

On August 5, the Mets were 11.5 games back in the NL East. What's worse, they were 12 games under .500, a mediocre team in a mediocre division. Well, something clicked, and the Mets crawled back to the .500 mark by the end of the year. Most years, this would have been cause for optimism, but in 1973 in the NL East, it made you a contender for the division crown. And so it came to be that, after a win over the Cubs on the final day of the season, the Mets made it to the NLCS with a less-than-stellar record of 82-79.

Meanwhile, the Reds won the West by 3.5 games over the Dodgers. The Reds won 99 games during the regular season, which would have put them 17 games ahead of the Mets had the two teams been in the same division. But they weren't. Instead, they were opponents in the NLCS.

While the Reds had most of the players that would make up the Big Red Machine a few years later, they were a little light in the pitching department. Meanwhile, the Mets had little in the way of hitting, but had a good pitching staff, led by Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who was on the hill for Game 1. Seaver was brilliant, keeping the Reds off-balance all game long. He threw two bad pitches all game; unfortunately, those bad pitches were to Pete Rose in the 8th and Johnny Bench in the 9th, and both became home runs, leading to a 2-1 Reds victory.

Having seized the advantage, the Reds promptly gave it away, losing two straight games as the Mets got two more complete games from their starters. Now, the heavily favored Reds had to win two straight in New York. They got the first win they needed in Game 4, finally getting to New York's bullpen and winning 2-1 in 12 innings. Game 5 featured the Game 1 starters in Seaver and Jack Billingham.

The Game
Despite their disparate records and the relative skills of the teams, both teams knew anything could happen in a do-or-die game. While the Reds were the better team, they were also a team that had never taken the Next Step, losing the World Series in 1970 and 1972. The Mets, meanwhile, had miraculously won the title in 1969, and while they hadn't reached the postseason since, they still had many players from that championship team.

Both teams had their chances in the first inning, loading the bases with less than two outs. But perhaps betraying their experience levels, the Reds went scoreless in the first, while the Mets got two.

The Reds fought back and had tied the game against Seaver by the fifth inning. Then the Mets struck back. They had one run in with the bases loaded when the ageless Willie Mays came to the plate. Well, maybe ageless isn't the right word, as Mays had looked anything but graceful during his triumphant return to New York. But, 22 years after playing in the World Series for the Giants, he helped put the Mets on a track back to a Series appearance with a run-scoring single. The Mets eventually ended up with four runs in the fifth.

That was enough for Seaver. Another Mets run in the 6th made it 7-2, and Seaver stayed in until the Reds loaded the bases in the ninth with one out. Seaver tapped out and Tug McGraw came in for the final two outs to send the Mets back to the World Series.

Aftermath
After surprising the Reds, the Mets continued their surprising play by taking the defending champion Athletics to seven games in the World Series. New York had the tying run at the plate before Wayne Garrett popped out to end the series. Though they came short of a title, the Mets did establish one record that will be tough to break: they are still the worst team to ever make it to the World Series.

The Rundown
What I'm doing.

The list so far:
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 NCLS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1985 ALCS: Kansas City vs. Toronto
1991 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
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
2007 ALCS: Boston vs. Cleveland
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

1988 NLCS: Hershiser's Revenge

How They Got Here
The National League in 1988 belonged to Orel Hershiser. The Dodgers ace, who had pitched them to the playoffs three years before, went on a run unlike any in baseball history in the later stages of the season. Hershiser started throwing shutout after shutout, eventually breaking Don Drysdale's record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings by getting to 59 1/3. What was more impressive was that those were the final 59 1/3 innings Hershiser pitched in 1988, giving the Dodgers the boost they needed to win the NL West.

Their opponents in the NLCS were the Mets. After winning the World Series in 1986, the Mets had a bit of a championship hangover in 1987 before bouncing back in 1988 and cruising to the NL East title. They were widely seen as the superior team to the Dodgers, but everybody knew the Dodgers had Hershiser, the ultimate ace in the hole.

As expected, the Dodgers sent Hershiser out to the mound for Game 1. As expected, he shut down the Mets, throwing 8 shutout innings. But the Mets got to Hershiser in the ninth, scoring one run while he was in the game and two more after he was pulled to steal Game 1 3-2.

Their ace beaten, the Dodgers responded by winning Game 2, then got a break when rain started to fall. By the time the skies cleared, enough time had lapsed that the Dodgers could send Hershiser out again for Game 3. But again, the Mets got to him, this time for three runs in seven innings. Though the Dodgers took the lead in the eighth, five New York runs in the bottom of the innings gave New York the 2-1 series edge.

Again, the Dodgers responded, winning games 4 and 5 to go back home with the lead. And though they lost Game 6, they had their ace back on the mound and ready to go for Game 7.

The Game
The Dodgers had wasted two sterling efforts from Hershiser already this series. They weren't about to do that a third time. After he got through the first, the Dodgers were quick to give Hershiser some support, scoring on a Kirk Gibson sacrifice fly. Hershiser set down the Mets in the second, and then it all happened. Four hits and an error gave the Dodgers three runs in the second, and they managed two more runs that inning without getting any more hits. It was 6-0 after two innings, with Hershiser on the mound. Good night, Mets, and good luck. Hershiser finished off the Mets with a complete-game shutout, capping a LCS in which he had given up only three earned runs in 24 innings, yet had only gotten one win. But the one win was the one that counted, and the Dodgers were off to the World Series against Oakland.

Aftermath
If the Dodgers were underdogs against the Mets, they were even bigger ones against Oakland, who boasted one of the best teams of the 80s. Led by the Bash Brothers of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, they were supposed to roll right over the Dodgers, who were without the injured NL MVP Gibson and would likely only have Hershiser for two games of the series.

But then a funny thing happened. Gibson hit a home run that shook the baseball world, Hershiser pitched a complete-game shutout in Game 2 only three days rest, and the A's went home unexpectedly down 2-0. Oakland bounced back to win Game 3 on a walkoff home run by McGwire, but the Dodgers stole Game 4, then handed the ball to Hershiser for Game 5. Game, set, match. Hershiser finished his remarkable season with another complete game, and the Dodgers won their second championship of the 80s

The Rundown
What I'm doing.

The list so far:
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 NLCS: Cincinnati vs. New York
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 NCLS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1985 ALCS: Kansas City vs. Toronto
1987 NLCS: St. Louis vs. San Francisco
1991 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
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
2007 ALCS: Boston vs. Cleveland
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay

1999 National League Wild Card: Lights-out Leiter

Pregame
The last thing the Cincinnati Reds were thinking about in 1999 was a wild card berth. For most of the season, the Reds were right up there with the Houston Astros in the Central Division race. It appeared that the Astros had finally held off the Reds when they took a 3.5-game lead on September 21, but the Reds ran off six straight wins to take the division lead. They couldn't hold it, though, and three straight losses late in the year forced them to settle for second place.

The New York Mets were in a tight division race as well, going back and forth with the Atlanta Braves in the East Division race. On September 19, the Mets were only a game back of the Braves, but a seven-game losing streak - including four losses to the Braves - doomed New York to second place. From there, even the Wild Card seemed unlikely, but the Mets swept their season-ending series against Pittsburgh to tie the Reds and force a one-game tiebreaker playoff game in Cincinnati.

The Game
At first glance, the pitching matchup in the tiebreaker game seemed fairly close. The Mets were sending their de facto ace, Al Leiter, to the mound - de facto as he was their declared ace, but only had a 12-12 record that year. Meanwhile, the Reds were sending their second-best starter, Steve Parris, to the hill. While both teams were likely fully confident in their pitchers, there was a big difference between the two. Though he was 31, Parris was only in his second year as a Major League starter and had never pitched in a game anywhere near as important as this one. Leiter, meanwhile, was a three-time World Series winner, a man the Mets brought in specifically for games like these.

In reality, the game was over before Leiter even took the hill, as a Rickey Henderson leadoff single was followed by a home run by Edgardo Alfonzo, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. Leiter took over from there. He gave up a single with one out in the second, and then held the Reds hitless until a leadoff double in the ninth. By that point, the Mets had driven Parris out of the game and increased their lead to 5-0, helped by a Henderson home run and another RBI hit by Alfonzo. Leiter shut the door in the ninth, and the Mets were off to the postseason.

Postgame
The Mets continued the momentum from their win over Cincinnati, beating Arizona 3 games to 1 in the NLDS in a series punctuated by Todd Pratt's game-ending home run in Game 4. Waiting for the Mets in the NLCS were the Braves. The Braves won the first three games of the series before the Mets won the next two at home, both in dramatic, late-inning fashion. Game 5 was especially dramatic, as Robin Ventura won the game in the bottom of the 15th inning on a walk-off grand slam, only to have the hit reverted to a single as his teammates mobbed him between first and second base. In Game 6, the Braves scored five first-inning runs off Leiter, but the Mets fought back to send the game into extra innings. New York took a 10th-inning lead before blowing the save, then watched as their season ended on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 11th.

For the Reds, the close call became especially painful over the next decade, as they plunged toward the bottom of the NL Central. After seeing Leiter shut the door on their chances in 1999, it took until 2010 for the Reds to make the postseason again.

The Rundown

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)

October 25, 1986: Buckner

QUEENS, N.Y. - With a cursed franchise, the tortured fans are often quick to place blame for failures. It's almost as if they need to find evidence of the existence of the curse to justify their team's repeated failures, that their team could never lose simply because they weren't quite good enough.

Often, the scapegoat is mislabeled, a poor sap who is taking the blame for something that he had little effect on - a fan reaching interfering with a left-fielder on a foul pop-up, a manager who left his star pitcher in the game two batters too long, a first baseman who committed a key error.

In the anger and disappointment immediately following a heartbreaking loss, it's easy to remember the big play that sealed the cursed team's fate rather than all the little ones that led up to it. In their anger, fans might even forget important details, like what the score was when the supposed scapegoat choked away a title.

Such was the fate of Bill Buckner.

Now, it's easy to say that he should have easily fielded Mookie Wilson's slow roller in the bottom of the 10th inning of game 6 in 1986. It was an easy play, one that Buckner had made thousands of times in his life. It was also easy to blame him for the Red Sox losing, since his error allowed Ray Knight to scamper home with the game-winning run. But the thing that many Red Sox fans forget in all their vitriol was that they had already blown that game before Buckner committed his fateful error.

Flash back to the middle of the 10th. Boston had just scored twice in the top of the inning, putting themselves three outs away from the championship. They just needed to put the Mets down without trouble. Even a little bit of trouble would be fine, as the Boston had a two-run cushion to work with.

Calvin Schiraldi was on the mound for Boston, beginning his third inning of relief. Why didn't they go right to closer Bob Stanley? Who knows? Stanley hadn't given up a run in the World Series yet, so why Schiraldi was out there was a mystery. Another mystery was why Buckner was still in the game at first; he had been regularly replaced late in games for defensive purposes all season. Manager John McNamara answered the second question later by saying he wanted Buckner to have the chance to celebrate a championship on the field. Seems like a risky way to tempt fate.

Now, to the game action. Schiraldi made McNamara seem like a genuis at first, getting the first two outs in the 10th with no trouble. Boston was one out away. Little did they know the disaster that was coming.

Gary Carter singled on a 2-1 pitch. No worries there, as he's still just one baserunner. But then pinch-hitter Kevin Mitchell singled on an 0-1 pitch. Now the tying run is on base, with the winning run at the plate. Still, though, Boston has that two-run lead. Schiraldi got an 0-2 count on Knight before Knight singled to center. Carter came home, Mitchell to third. Time for Boston to panic a little bit. McNamara finally went to Stanley at this point, still only needing one more out.

Now came Mookie Wilson's fateful at bat. He fouled off the first pitch before taking two out of the zone. Then, Wilson fouled another one off. Boston was one strike away. Wilson didn't give in, fouling off two more pitches. He had faced six pitches in the at bat.

At this point, Boston pitchers had thrown 15 pitches in the inning since getting the second out, 15 different pitches that could have won the World Series. Stanley threw the 16th. Wilson jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the ball as it skipped by his feet, falling to the ground, then scrambling out of the way as Mitchell came home with the tying run. So there it was. The lead, and the World Series, had been blown. And Wilson hadn't even hit the ball towards Buckner yet. That came two pitches later, with Knight scoring easily from second after advancing on the wild pitch.

So if you're a Boston fan, who do you blame for that loss? Do you blame Schilardi for falling apart late in his third inning of work? Do you blame McNamara for leaving him in in the first place? Do you blame Stanley for the wild pitch that tied the game? Those questions are too difficult to answer. They require defending your position and running the risk of having somebody disagree with you. It's a lot easier to find a scapegoat everybody can blame.

So everybody blamed Buckner.

September 18, 1963: No more Polo

NEW YORK - It was a sad, undeserving end to a stadium that had seen so much. The stadium that had played host to 14 World Series was now host to one of the worst teams to ever grace the Major Leagues, the glories of the past nothing but a distant memory.

Baseball was first played on the corner of 110th and 5th in Upper Manhattan in 1880, when the New York Metropolitans converted an old polo field into a baseball stadium. In a nod to the site's former use, the stadium was called the Polo Grounds. Because of fires and renovations, four different stadiums stood at the site, or across the street, in the 1880s before the final structure took shape for the 1890 season.

From then, the Polo Grounds was the primary home of the New York Giants, and in that capacity hosted 47 World Series games and 2 Major League All-Star games. Many of the most famous games in baseball history were played on the distinctive bathtub-shaped field set underneath Coogan's Bluff.

But it wasn't just the Giants who called the Polo Grounds home. The Yankees played there for a few years before Yankee Stadium was built directly across the Harlem River in the Bronx. The New York Giants, New York Titans, and New York Jets of the NFL all played there at some point, and many of the Army football team's most famous games happened there.

When the Giants moved to San Francisco for the 1958 season, the Polo Grounds stood mostly empty. The expansion Mets moved in for th 1962 season, but it was apparent that they had to play somewhere else. In reality, the Polo Grounds were a temporary home for the moribund franchise.

The end for the Polo Grounds came on September 18, 1963, as the Mets, on their way to 111 losses - which was actually an improvement over the previous year - hosted the Phillies for the final home game of the season. Clearly, the nostalgia had worn off, as less than 2,000 fans showed up for the final game. The Mets Jim Hickman hit the last home run into the short porch in the 4th inning, but it was the only run the Mets would get, losing 5-1. As Ted Schreiber grounded into a double play to end the game.

The Polo Grounds was torn down the next year using the same wrecking ball that had dismantled Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. In its place went a public housing project.

Giants fans watching the World Series at the Polo Grounds from atop Coogans Bluff

The view from Coogan's Bluff today

September 12, 1984: Doctor K

QUEENS, N.Y. - For the tall, lanky 19-year-old on the mound, the future seemed limitless. There was nothing that the young man from Tampa couldn't accomplish on the pitching mound. The way the Pirates were being mowed down, Mets fans had every reason to believe that the National League had no chance over the next decade. Nothing could stop Dwight Gooden.

Nothing, except Gooden himself.

Already a national phenomenon as a rookie in 1984, Dwight Gooden officially made a name for himself with his 16-strikeout, no-walk performance on September 12 against Pittsburgh. In beating the Pirates 2-0, Gooden soared past the rookie single-game strikeout record, ending the game with 251 for the season. The five-hitter was his second straight shutout and seventh straight victory. So complete was his domination that of 120 pitches he threw, only 28 were called balls.

That start was the peak of Gooden's incredible rookie season, during which he earned the nickname Doctor K, later shortened to just Doc for the rest of his career. He went 17-9 on the year, with a 2.60 ERA and a league-leading 276 strikeouts and finished one vote shy of a unanimous Rookie of the Year award.

The next year, Gooden was even better, going 24-4 with a shocking 1.53 ERA, the best pitching season of the 80s. When the Mets won the World Series in 1986 with Gooden anchoring the staff, Cooperstown seemed the only plausible resting stop for his career.

But as happens far too often with phenoms, something got in the way. Gooden's comet shined brightly for a few years, but faded quickly. So often, it's injuries that derail careers, and Gooden had his fair share. But what started the downfall of his career was cocaine; after being arrested in the winter of 1986, Gooden entered rehab in April 1987 for a cocaine habit. Missing the first two months of the 1987 season, Gooden still returned in time to win 15 games for the Mets. He pitched in the postseason again in 1988, losing twice to drop his career postseason record to 0-4.

And then the injuries. Gooden suffered two separate shoulder injuries within three years in the late 80s and early 90s, putting the halt to a great career. He would bounce back between shoulder problems to produce great seasons, but he never recaptured the magic of his first two seasons in the league.

A lot of reasons have been proposed for why Gooden's career fizzled out. The cocaine is an obvious one, as was Gooden's problems with alcohol; he has been arrested at least five times since his retirement, mostly for drug and alcohol-related offenses. But the injuries also played a toll, and it's likely that the heavy workload from the early days of his career also had a lot to do with his later troubles.

In 1984, though, all that was the last thing on Mets fans' minds. They were far too wrapped up in Gooden mania, too optimistic about their budding dynasty, to ever consider that Gooden's comet would flare out so soon.