With only a
handful games left in the 2015 regular season, and with most of the playoff
races settling down, it looks like the race that will go right down to the wire
is the race for the American League Wild Card’s second slot. With so many teams
still in the hunt, there is a possibility that we could see two teams tied at
season’s end. That would lead to a one-game tiebreaker game to determine the
Wild Card entrant.
In the history of Major League
Baseball, there have been 14 tie-breakers. I will give my opinion on
the top five most memorable single-game tie-breaker games. Please note that the
1951 Dodgers/Giants game, where Bobby Thompson hit the shot world round the
world (“The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win
the pennant!”) will not be included as that was a best of three series used to
break the tie. I will focus on the one-game tie-breakers.
5. September
28, 1998—Giants at Cubs for NL Wild Card
While the big focus on the 1998
Chicago Cubs was Sammy Sosa’s battle with Mark McGwire of the Cardinals for the
all-time home run king title, the Cubs silently produced a playoff contender,
finishing with a record of 89-73, identical to the San Francisco Giants. The
teams would square off at Wrigley Field in Chicago to determine the NL Wild
Card winner.
After four scoreless innings,
the Cubs scored two in the fifth, two in the sixth and added another in the
eighth to take a 5-0 lead into the ninth inning. The Giants, having struggled
all night against Cubs’ starter Steve Trachsel, pushed across three runs to cut
the deficit to two. But Cubs’ closer Rod Beck was able to get the final two
outs of the game, preserving Chicago’s 5-3 win.
The Cubs would be swept in the
NLDS by the Atlanta Braves.
4. October
2, 1978—Yankees at Red Sox for the AL East
After
trailing Boston by 14 games in mid-July, the Yankees went on a torrid pace in
the final 2 ½ months of the season and actually led the Red Sox by a game going
into the final week, but the teams ended up tied atop the AL East with 99-63
records and would meet in Fenway Park in Boston to break that tie.
Carl Yastrzemski homered for
Boston in the second and Jim Rice added an RBI single in the sixth to give the
Sox a 2-0 lead. However, in the top of the seventh, light-hitting shortstop,
Bucky Dent, hit a three-run home run to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Both teams
would add a pair of runs but Yankee closer, Rich Gossage, got Yastrzemski to
pop up with two out and the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth to
give the Yanks a 5-4 win.
The Yankees would defeat the
Kansas City Royals in the ALCS in four games and then beat the Los Angeles
Dodgers in six to take the World Series. Bucky Dent was the World Series’ Most
Valuable Player.
3. September
30, 2008—Twins at White Sox for the AL Central
When the regular season ended on
September 28, the Twins, with a 88-74 record, held a ½ game lead over the
Chicago White Sox. The Sox would have to play a make-up game against the
Detroit Tigers which had been rained out earlier in the month. Chicago won 8-2
setting up the showdown against Minnesota at US Cellular Field in Chicago.
The game was a pitcher’s duel as
White Sox starter John Danks and his Twins’ counterpart Nick Blackburn, matched
zeros through six innings. In the bottom of the seventh, Chicago DH Jim Thome
led off the inning with a home run, the first run of the game. Chicago held
that 1-0 lead going into the ninth. Sox closer Bobby Jenks got the three outs
needed and Chicago won the tiebreaker and the Central Division crown.
They would lose to the Tampa Bay
Rays, three games to one, in the ALDS.
2. October
6, 2009—Tigers at Twins for the AL Central
For
the second year in a row, the AL Central crown would be decided by a
tie-breaker. Again, the Minnesota Twins were involved, this time against the
Detroit Tigers. The Tigers held a seven game lead on September 6, and after the
two teams split a four game series at the end of the month, the Tigers held a
two game lead with three to play. The Twins swept the Kansas City Royals and
Detroit lost two of three to the White Sox. Both teams finished with an 86-76
record and would meet in Minnesota’s Metrodome to break the tie.
The Tigers scored three in the
third, high-lighted by a two run homer by Miguel Cabrera. The Twins slowly
pecked away at the deficit and eventually scored two in the seventh to take a
4-3 lead. The Tigers tied it in the eighth and neither team scored in the
ninth.
In the top of the tenth, the
Tigers took a 5-4 lead when Brandon Inge doubled in Don Kelly. However, the
Twins tied it in the bottom half and had a chance to win the game on a
sacrifice fly. However, Tigers’ left fielder Ryan Rayburn fired a strike to
home plate after catching the ball, and catcher Gerald Laird tagged out Alexi
Casilla to end the inning with the score tied at five.
Neither team scored in the
eleventh and the Tigers failed to dent the dish in the top of the twelfth. With
one out and two runners on base in the bottom half, Casilla hit a ground ball through the right
side of the infield, scoring Carlos Gomez and giving the Twins the game 6-5 and
the AL Central title.
The Twins would be swept in the
ALDS by the New York Yankees.
1. October 1, 2007—Padres
at Rockies for the NL Wild Card
The Arizona Diamondbacks won the National League West Division by one
game—with a 90-72 record—ahead of both the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego
Padres (89-73). The two teams would meet at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado to
determine which team would win the wild card. Incidentally, the New York Mets
were only one game behind Colorado and San Diego at 88-74.
The Rockies struck for two in the bottom of the first when Kaz Matsui
scored on a sac fly by Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki scored on a single by
Garrett Atkins. Yorvit Torrealba hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second
to extend Colorado’s lead to 3-0.
The Padres stormed back with five runs in the third, in large part due to
a grand slam by Adrian Gonzalez, but then Helton homered in the bottom half of
the inning to close the gap to 5-4, and Matt Holiday singled in Tulowitzki in
the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at five.
The Rockies then took a 6-5 lead in the sixth when Seth Smith scored on a
Matsui sac fly, but the Padres tied it in the eighth when Geoff Blum
scored on a double by Brian Giles; 6-6.
After a scoreless ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth, the Padres scored
two in the top of the thirteenth when Scott Harrison hit a two run home run. For the
bottom of the inning, the Padres had Trevor Hoffman (at that time the Major League
leader in career saves) to close the door on the Rockies’ season.
Matsui and Tulowitzki doubled. Helton followed with a triple that tied
the game at eight. After an intentional walk, Jamey Carroll hit a line drive
to right field that was caught by Giles. Holliday tagged and tried to score. He
slid head first and was called safe to give the Rockies the 9-8 walk off
victory and the NL Wild Card.
Controversy surrounded the final play at the plate, particularly in the
media. Some say Holliday never touched the plate. But the throw on the play
bounced away from Padres’ catcher Michael Barrett, so a tag was never applied
either. Replays of the slide were inconclusive.
The Rockies swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS and then went on
to sweep the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. Unfortunately, in the World Series, the
tables were turned and Colorado got swept by the Boston Red Sox.
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