2000s: Top 10 MLB Games

The Yankees mustered only two hits, including Jorge Posada's fifth-inning homer off Barry Zito. Mike Mussina held the A's scoreless into the seventh, when Jeremy Giambi punched a two-out single and Terrence Long doubled into the right-field corner. Shane Spencer's throw home missed both cutoff men as Giambi barreled around third, but Derek Jeter, seemingly out of nowhere, corralled the errant toss and flipped it backhanded to Posada. Giambi, who failed to slide, was tagged an instant before his foot came down on the plate. Mariano Rivera got the final six outs as the Yankees staved off elimination en route to their fourth consecutive pennant.

The Cubs were within five outs of their first World Series since 1945 when all hell broke loose at Wrigley Field. Mark Prior, allowed to throw 119 pitches by Dusty Baker, took a 3-0 lead into the eighth, but after the first out, Juan Pierre doubled. That's when Cubs fan Steve Bartman inadvertently swatted a foul pop out of Moises Alou's glove, shortstop Alex Gonzalez booted a would-be inning-ending double-play ball with the Cubs still leading 3-1, and the Marlins rallied for a whopping eight runs. Florida would rally in Game 7, too, this time against Kerry Wood.

After the host Rockies took a 3-0 lead against pitching triple-crown winner Jake Peavy and the Padres countered with Adrian Gonzalez's grand slam, the game went into extra innings tied 6-6. Scott Hairston's two-run homer in the 13th off Jorge Julio, the ninth of 10 pitchers used by Colorado, looked like the final blow, but all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman was greeted by a pair of doubles and Matt Holliday's game-tying triple. Holliday then tagged up on Jamie Carroll's fly to right, made a face-first dive at home plate and was called safe by Tim McClelland. Their 14th win in 15 games sent the Rockies to the playoffs and on their way to their first pennant.

In game No. 163, the Tigers went ahead 3-0 on a third-inning homer by Miguel Cabrera, but Minnesota chipped away -- just as it had in erasing a late seven-game division deficit. Orlando Cabrera's two-run homer in the seventh put the Twins up 4-3, but Magglio Ordonez tied it with a solo shot leading off the eighth. The Tigers took the lead in the 10th, but the Twins tied it again following a leadoff triple by Michael Cuddyer. After the Tigers loaded the bases in the 12th but couldn't score, the Twins finally ended it -- and extended the baseball life of the Metrodome -- against Fernando Rodney on singles by slap-hitting in-game subs Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla.

Tied 1-1 after an inning and a half, the unlikely pitchers' duel between Jeff Suppan and Oliver Perez remained knotted into the ninth in New York. That was thanks in large part to Endy Chavez's breathtaking sixth-inning catch of a would-be two-run homer. Yadier Molina put St. Louis ahead with a two-run homer in the ninth off Aaron Heilman. The Mets then loaded the bases against Adam Wainwright, bringing Carlos Beltran to the plate with two outs, but Wainwright froze Beltran with an unhittable curveball for called strike three to claim the pennant for the eventual world champion Cardinals.

The Giants were eight outs away from their first title in San Francisco when Dusty Baker removed Russ Ortiz in the bottom of the seventh. Holding a seemingly comfortable 5-0 lead, Baker let Ortiz keep the ball as a souvenir as he left the game with two runners on base, but Scott Spiezio immediately cut that lead to 5-3 with a home run off Felix Rodriguez. Darin Erstad homered off Todd Worrell to start the eighth, and after a pair of singles, Troy Glaus doubled off Robb Nen to give the Angels the lead. Troy Percival shut the door in the ninth, and the Giants were a dead team walking in Game 7 as the Angels won their first world championship.

The Yankees got within three outs of a sweep in Game 4, but the Sox rallied against Mariano Rivera. This time, the Yanks got within six outs, leading 4-2, when the host Sox rallied again. Five scoreless innings followed with several missed opportunities, most notably a ninth-inning ground-rule double by Tony Clark that would have given the Yankees the lead had it not skipped over Fenway Park's short right-field wall, and Jason Varitek's nearly kicking away the game with three passed balls on Tim Wakefield's knuckler in the 13th. David Ortiz won it in the 14th with an RBI single. The Sox would become the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, and then break their 86-year title drought with a World Series sweep of St. Louis.

In Game 4, with his team trailing 3-1 with two outs in the ninth, Tino Martinez hit a game-tying home run off Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim. An inning later, as the clock struck midnight to flip the calendar to November, Derek Jeter hit a solo shot off Kim for a 4-3 victory to tie the Series. The next night, it was Scott Brosius who hit a two-run, game-tying homer off Kim with two outs in the ninth. The Yankees won 3-2 on 12th-inning singles by Chuck Knoblauch and Alfonso Soriano.

The rivals combined for six AL pennants and four world championships in the `00s, and their first postseason confrontation of the decade lived up to the hype. Upstaging Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez got the Red Sox within five outs of the pennant, but Boston manager Grady Little was too slow with his hook and the Yankees, buoyed by a pair of Jason Giambi homers and three scoreless innings of relief from Mike Mussina, rallied to tie it in the bottom of the eighth. Mariano Rivera pitched three scoreless innings of his own before Aaron Boone finally won the pennant with a walk-off home run off Tim Wakefield on the first pitch of the bottom of the 11th.

This marked the first time a team won the Series after trailing entering the final inning. Starters Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling struck on 19 while allowing just three runs in 13 2/3 combined innings. The D'backs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth; the Yankees tied it up in the seventh. Alfonso Soriano's homer off Schilling in the eighth gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Randy Johnson contributed 1 1/3 perfect innings out of the bullpen, and Arizona pulled off the most unlikely of comebacks against Mariano Rivera in the ninth, winning it on Luis Gonzalez's broken-bat, two-run single with the bases loaded.