Ranking MLB’s Greatest Postseason Game 7’s of the 21st Century

2008 ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays 3, Boston Red Sox 1

Game 5 of this series featured one of the wildest comebacks in postseason history, with Boston erasing what was a 7-0 deficit in the seventh inning. And the reigning champions tried to do it again, getting two on with one out in the seventh, loading the bases in the eighth and thrice bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth. ‘Twas all for naught, though, as the Rays used five pitchers in the eighth inning alone while repeatedly wriggling out of jams.

2017 World Series: Houston Astros 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Lance McCullers Jr. plunked not one, not two, not three, but four of the first 12 Dodgers he faced. They never made him pay for his lack of control, though, not scoring their lone run until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Houston racked up five runs within its first 10 batters, chasing Yu Darvish from a game that was over in a hurry.

2020 NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Atlanta Braves 3

A tense one for sure, in which Kiké Hernández hit the game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning before Cody Bellinger delivered the go-ahead solo shot in the seventh. After a wild double play at third base in the fourth inning, though, Atlanta’s offense simply vanished, as Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Julio Urías went six hitless innings to close out the game. Yes, one of those hitless ABs was Mookie Betts robbing Freddie Freeman of a home run. But, let’s be frank, the fact that this game was played in a sparsely populated Texas Rangers stadium really mitigated the memorability factor.

2020 ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays 4, Houston Astros 2

Houston almost became the second team to erase a 3-0 series deficit, but couldn’t quite erase what was a 4-0 deficit in this game. They got two men on in the sixth, two more on in the seventh and brought the would-be tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings. Alas, they couldn’t quite complete the journey from a 29-31 regular season record to the World Series.

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