With the 2010’s featuring an incredible five World Series Game 7s, here’s a look back at the most recognizable moments from do-or-die Fall Classics last decade.
After a feverish ninth-inning rally from the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 was quickly extinguished, the Los Angeles Dodgers ensured baseball fans would be treated to something we haven’t seen since the days before the COVID-19 pandemic – a World Series Game 7.
A Fall Classic between the star-studded dynasty of the Dodgers and the upstart surprise squad in the Blue Jays will officially go the distance, becoming the first World Series since the 2019 duel between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros to go seven games.
Toronto squandered their first chance to win it all at home on Friday night, with their offense once again stymied by Yoshinobu Yamamoto while three runs was enough for a scuffling Los Angeles offense to live another day.
It’s no secret that in a Game 7, particularly one for the championship, that both anything can happen and nothing is off limits. There is no tomorrow for either team – so fans and players alike should expect unconventional managerial decisions and in-game scenarios their wildest dreams couldn’t imagine.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who previously managed a World Series Game 7 in 2017, alluded to this ahead of Game 6, mentioning that two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani would be available to both pitch in relief and possibly play the outfield.
These wild, unpredictable situations have taken hold in Game 7s before, with the five Game 7s of the previous decade spoiling baseball fans with moments that transcend both time and fanbase.
With Saturday’s Game 7 marking the first since 2019, here’s a look at how the five Game 7s of the 2010s panned out:
- 2011: Texas Rangers 2, St. Louis Cardinals 6
- 2014: San Francisco Giants 3, Kansas City Royals 2
- 2016: Chicago Cubs 8, Cleveland Indians 7 (10 innings)
- 2017: Houston Astros 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
- 2019: Washington Nationals 6, Houston Astros 2
In news Blue Jays fans likely don’t want to hear, Game 7 of the 2011 World Series was the last time a home team won a World Series Game 7, with the last four winner-take-all Fall Classic contests going to the road team.
As Saturday holds the potential to gift fans with moments that will forever be etched into the fabric of baseball history, here’s a look back at the most iconic moments and plays from World Series Game 7s in the 2010’s:
2014: Madison Bumgarner takes the Giants home in unprecedented five-inning save
Even before Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, fans were well aware that Madison Bumgarner was putting on a postseason performance for the ages. After tossing a complete game shutout in the NL Wild Card Game, Bumgarner pitched gems in both the NLDS and NLCS before picking up two wins in the Fall Classic – a seven-inning masterpiece in Game 1 and a complete game shutout in Game 5.
In Kauffman Stadium with the Commissioner’s Trophy hanging in the balance, the Giants broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the fourth inning with a Mike Morse RBI single that gave San Francisco a 3-2 advantage – all they would end up needing.
Just three days after tossing a 117-pitch shutout, Bumgarner emerged from the bullpen to start the bottom of the fifth inning and never appeared to relinquish control.
Across Bumgarner’s incredible five-inning outing, the lefty allowed just two hits, striking out four batters while not surrendering any walks to a Kansas City team that made its name by producing traffic on the basepaths.
While an Alex Gordon single and ensuing two-base error put the tying run 90 feet away for the Royals in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bumgarner, unfazed, induced a foul pop out from Salvador Perez to secure San Francisco’s third title in just five years.
2016: Rajai Davis ties it in the eighth, Cubs break the curse after rain delay
In what may have been the greatest baseball game ever played with stakes so high they couldn’t possibly be replicated in North American pro sports for decades, fans were treated (or tormented, in my case) with one of the most intense finishes imaginable.
After the Cubs built a 5-1 lead by the middle innings, Cleveland managed to cut the advantage in half by scoring two runs on perhaps the flukiest wild pitch one will ever see. The Cubs managed to maintain their lead for a few more innings, holding a 6-3 advantage in the eighth inning when a Brandon Guyer RBI double made it a two-run game and brought the tying run to the plate.
Despite being known as a speedster above all else, Cleveland outfielder Rajai Davis used Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman’s velocity to his advantage, ripping a line drive down the left field line that made its way out of the ballpark, tying the game for Cleveland while sending nightmarish shockwaves through Chicago.
The home run from the unlikeliest of players made Cubs fans feel the Curse of the Billy Goat once more as a loss suddenly felt inevitable.
After a squandered opportunity for the Cubs in the ninth inning and a wildly impressive 1-2-3 frame from Chapman in the bottom half of the frame, a sudden downpour in Cleveland led to a 17-minute rain delay.
In what may be the most famous baseball moment to not take place on a field, Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward called a team meeting during the delay, looking to boost morale after a collapse that felt so fucking on-brand for the Cubs.
Heyward negated an awful postseason showing with this speech, as the Cubs pounced on Cleveland to score two runs in the 10th inning, taking an 8-6 lead. While Davis himself answered back in the bottom half of the inning to bring Cleveland back within a run with two outs, that turned out to be final gasp of air from the Curse of the Billy Goat.
2019: Howie Kendrick rips one off the foul pole as Nationals win their first
In a bizarre seven-game twirl that had seen the road team win every game of the series, the Astros looked to finally break that precedent in Game 7, holding a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning as they aimed to secure their second World Series title in just three seasons.
After starter Zack Greinke induced a groundout from Adam Eaton to lead off the inning, slugger Anthony Rendon promptly answered with a solo home run, cutting the Houston lead in half with eight outs separating the Astros from another title.
Greinke then walked Juan Soto on five pitches, leading Astros skipper A.J. Hinch to replace Greinke with righty reliever Will Harris, who hadn’t allowed an earned run in the first two rounds and had been mostly solid in the Fall Classic as well, giving up just a solo home run earlier in the series.
Unfortunately for Harris, that trend wouldn’t continue. Facing veteran Howie Kendrick to start the outing, an 0-1 offering was ripped by Kendrick down the right field line, catching a piece of the foul pole and instantly turning Game 7 upside down to give Washington a 3-2 lead.
What was excitement and anticipation inside then-Minute Maid Park quickly became anxiety and palpable shock as the Nationals took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Nationals went on to score three more times in Game 7 before closer Daniel Hudson shut the door on Houston to secure Washington’s first-ever World Series championship.
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