The 15 Best Game-Winning Plays in MLB History
Baseball and dramatics go hand-in-hand, with a game-winning play offering a grandiose nature afforded by few other sports. Perhaps it’s the tradition of the sport or its long and fabled history, but a game-winning hit or defensive play has a chance to send someone’s name into folklore.
While there have been tons of walk-off home runs that have led to Gatorade baths and champagne celebrations, certain game-winners have propelled momentary mystique into Major League Baseball history.
1. Bill Mazeroski’s Walk-Off Home Run
The 1960 World Series was a blow-for-blow, 12-round fight between the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees, with Pittsburgh having the opportunity to close the series out at home in Game 7.
The Yankees had tied the game in the top of the ninth by scoring twice, and sent Ralph Terry to start the bottom of the inning on the mound. Bill Mazeroski stepped to the plate with no one on in the bottom of the ninth, and sent a ball soaring over the left field fence for a solo shot to win the game, 10-9. The Pirates captured a ring, and to this day, it is the only Game 7 walk-off home run in World Series history.
2. Joe Carter Wins the World Series
Mazeroski’s walk-off homer isn’t the only game-winning home run to win a World Series title, though. The other honor belongs to Joe Carter.
The Philadelphia Phillies battled hard against the defending champion Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, taking the series to Game 6 in Canada. Toronto led the series by a game, but trailed, 6-5, with two runners on in the bottom of the ninth against Mitch Williams with Carter at-bat. He drilled a ball down the line that cleared the wall, sending the SkyDome into a frenzy with a series-winning three-run home run.
3. The David Freese Game
The 2011 World Series had the Texas Rangers one strike away from beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6, with David Freese at the plate. Two swings of the bat would change baseball history forever.
Freese shot a ball to right field over Nelson Cruz’s head, clearing the bases with a game-tying triple. He’d get another opportunity to hit in the 11th inning, and once again with two strikes, hit a solo homer to center field to force Game 7. He’d add another RBI in Game 7, and the Cardinals would win the World Series on his actions.
4. Aaron Boone a Hero in Game 7
The Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees rivalry hit its peak in the 2003 American League Championship Series, with fists flying and Don Zimmer being thrown to the ground by Pedro Martinez.
The two traded blows into Game 7 at Yankee Stadium, where New York trailed, 5-2, in the 8th inning. The Yankees mounted a rally to force extra innings, where Mariano Rivera would shut down the Sox into the 11th inning. Aaron Boone opened the inning with a deep fly ball to left off Tim Wakefield that would send the Yankees to the World Series with a 6-5 win.
5. Kirk Gibson Becomes a Legend
Dodgers outfielder Kirk Gibson could barely hobble to the plate in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series between Los Angeles and the Oakland Athletics, but he left the stadium a hero.
Gibson had been battling multiple leg injuries, and was watching the game in the clubhouse while getting rehabbed. The broadcast pointed out he was nowhere to be found, so he told manager Tommy Lasorda he could pinch-hit if need be. He got the call down one in the bottom of the ninth, and proceeded to hit a two-run walk-off homer off Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley that is widely viewed as one of the greatest sports moments in Los Angeles sports history. It was his lone at-bat of the series.
6. It Gets Through Buckner
One of the most iconic game-winning moments to ever happen in Major League Baseball involves a defensive blunder on the biggest stage possible.
The Red Sox looked poised to end their infamous “Curse of the Bambino” in the 1986 World Series, as they were one strike away from putting away the New York Mets in Game 6. The Mets would mount a rally that would ultimately tie the game, with Mookie Wilson looking to send the series to Game 7. He dribbled a ball to first baseman Bill Buckner, who muffed the routine play, handing the game to the Mets. Boston would again lead in Game 7, but the Mets would come back and win the series.
7. Luis Gonzalez Slays Goliath
The Yankees built up a dynasty that saw them win four World Series in five years from 1996 through 2000, and they aimed to take another in 2001 in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A couple of emotional walk-off wins in New York sent the Yanks to Arizona with a chance to take the series, but the Diamondbacks forced Game 7. New York led, 2-1, going into the ninth with Mariano Rivera in to close it out. A rare error by Rivera combined with clutch hitting tied the game at 2, and Luis Gonzalez stepped to the plate with the infield in. He blooped a single over the head of shortstop Derek Jeter, and the Diamondbacks put a dagger through the heat of the dynasty.
8. Jack Morris and Gene Larkin’s Minnesota Magic
The Minnesota Twins forced Game 7 in the 1991 World Series against the Atlanta Braves through some dramatics, and the final outing produced even more.
Jack Morris threw 10 innings of shutout ball for Minnesota, resulting in one of the finest pitching performances in MLB postseason history. That allowed for Gene Larkin to step to the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning in a scoreless game, delivering a walk-off hit in the gap that won Minnesota its second World Series title. The win is the franchise’s most recent championship to date.
9. The Shot Heard ‘Round the World
The New York Giants very well may not have won the pennant had it not been for Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”
The Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers were knotted at one game apiece heading into the decisive Game 3 to determine the 1951 National League pennant winner, with the Giants having won 37 of 44 games to force the series in the first place. New York trailed, 4-1, going into the bottom of the ninth, but plated a run to make it 4-2. Thomson grabbed his bat and, with two on against Ralph Branca, sent a pitch into the Polo Grounds seats, and pandemonium ensued.
10. Travis Ishikawa, Cardinals Killer
Thomson is not the lone Giant to win the pennant with one swing. Travis Ishikawa would do the same in San Francisco in 2014.
The Giants led the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, 3-1, with Ishikawa getting a chance to hit in the bottom of the ninth of Game 5 with the game tied at 3. He pulled the trigger on a 2-0 offering from Michael Wacha, and hit a dramatic three-run homer to send the Giants to the World Series. They’d go on to win their third World Series title since 2010.
11. The Fish Win a Thriller
The Florida Marlins had only been around since 1993, but they found themselves with a chance to win their first title in 1997 against Cleveland.
The series would go seven games and end up in Miami, in a game that would go to extra innings after Florida tied it in the ninth on a sacrifice fly. Florida loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th with one out, and instead of playing for the double play, Cleveland induced a grounder to second and threw home for a force. That allowed Edgar Renteria to step up with two outs, and he proceeded to shoot a line drive to center to walk it off in Game 7 and deliver Florida a championship.
12. Carlton Fisk Waves it Fair
Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is considered to be one of the greatest baseball games ever played, and it ended with fireworks in Beantown.
The Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds dueled for nine innings, with a 6-6 ballgame going to extra innings. Carlton Fisk faced off against Pat Darcy in the 12th inning, and soared a ball into left field over Fenway Park’s Green Monster. The ball appeared to be heading foul, but Fisk waved his arms towards fair territory, and it magically stayed in fair territory for a walk-off home run to force Game 7. The Red Sox would lose the series, but the image of Fisk lives on.
13. Bucky Dent
A moment Red Sox fans would much rather forget would be Bucky Dent’s go-ahead and, incidentally, game-winning home run in the seventh inning of the 1978 Al East tiebreaker game.
Dent had only 40 career home runs, but saved his biggest for when it mattered most. The Yankees trailed, 2-0, late against the Sox in a game that would settle one of the most heated AL East races in baseball history. Dent shot a home run deep to left, giving the Yankees a lead they would not squander. New York would ultimately win the World Series.
14. Magglio Walks It Off
The 2006 Detroit Tigers were a dominant team, winning 95 games just a few years after being the worst squad in all of baseball. And their ticket to the World Series was punched in style.
Magglio Ordóñez signed the second-largest contract in franchise history the year prior, as Detroit felt it had the foundation to compete for a title. That would prove to be right, as he stepped to the plate in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Athletics with Detroit one win away from the World Series. Ordóñez had already hit a homer in the sixth, and in the ninth, sent a screaming line drive into left with two men on. It delivered not just a 6-3 win, but an American League Championship for the Tigers.
15. Jeter’s Dramatics
Derek Jeter’s career was no stranger to theatrics, and the last hit of his playing days at Yankee Stadium embodied that.
Jeter came to hit with a runner on second with the game tied at 5 in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles, the final at-bat of his final home game before his retirement in 2014. After a standing ovation during his introduction, Jeter would take the first pitch he saw from Evan Meek into right field for a Jeterian single. Antoan Richardson would slide in ahead of the throw to home, and Jeter would leave his final home game hoisted in his teammates’ arms in celebration.
