MLB postseason: The ten best playoff MVPs

10. Albert Pujols, 0.975, 2004 NLCS

Pujols’ consistent play saved a bitterly fought seven-game NLCS between his NL Central champion Cardinals and the division runner-up Houston Astros.

St. Louis entered MLB postseason play as a strong favorite to represent the National League in the World Series based largely on their dominant, 105-win regular season. Pujols batted .331 that season.

The one team that had given the Cardinals problems all season was Houston, which won 10 of the teams’ 18 regular season meetings. So when the Astros eliminated the Atlanta Braves in a five-game division series, the NLCS set up as a struggle. Pujols turned out to be the difference maker.

In the first game, his first inning home run erased a 2-0 Astros lead. He later singled and walked as St. Louis won 10-7.

In Game 2, Pujols’ eighth inning home run broke open a 4-4 tie and sent St. Louis on its way to a 6-4 victory.

But Houston rallied to take the next three games and send St. Louis to the brink of elimination in Game 6. That brink loomed closer when Lance Berkman homered in the top of the first. But in the home half of that same inning, Pujols blasted a two-run home run of his own to give St. Louis a lead. The contest stood 4-4 into extra innings when Pujols opened the bottom of the 10th by working a base on balls from Dan Miceli. Two batters later, Jim Edmonds homered, Pujols scoring ahead of him with the run that sent the series to a seventh game.

Houston carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning of that decisive game. But with two out and a runner at second, Pujols touched Roger Clemens for a game-tying two base hit. He scored the go-ahead run with the next hitter, Scott Rolen, homered. St. Louis won 5-2.

9. Gene Tenace, 1.066, 1972 World Series

Tenace’s accomplishments for Oakland against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds have long become the stuff of legend.

The first thing to understand about Tenace was that he was a most unlikely hero. A .225 hitter during that season, Tenace wasn’t even a regular. In 258 plate appearances for manager Dick Williams, he hit just five home runs.

So imagine the baseball world’s surprise when Tenace got the Game 1 starting nod behind the plate, ahead of regular Dave Duncan, and imagine the greater surprise when he hit a two-run home run in the top of the second inning to put the Athletics on top. In the fifth inning, Tenace took Reds starter Gary Nolan deep a second time,  breaking a 2-2 tie. His home run proved to be the game-winner.

The A’s led two games to one when Tenace came to bat against Don Gullet in the fifth inning of a scoreless Game 4. He homered a third time. But the Reds scored twice in the eighth inning to carry a 2-1 advantage into the bottom of the ninth. With one on and one out, Tenace singled against bullpen ace Clay Carroll. Two singles later, he crossed home plate with the walk-off winner that moved Oakland within one win of the world championship.

In the second inning of the fifth game, Tenace homered a fourth time, this one coming with two runners on base. It gave Oakland a 3-0 lead although the Reds came back to win 5-4.

Cincinnati also won the sixth game. But in the decisive seventh, Tenace’s first inning base hit with Angel Mangual on third gave the Athletics an early lead. Then with the game tied 1-1 with two out and Bert Campaneris on third base in the sixth inning, Tenace delivered the killer: a double down the left field line that gave Oakland the lead it would not relinquish. The next batter, Sal Bando, also doubled scoring Tenace with an insurance run.

The series victory was the first of three straight world titles for the A’s. In the nearly half century since then, no team has matched Oakland’s feat.

8. George Springer, 1.070, 2017 World Series

Springer’s destruction of the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers in that 2017 World Series may be tainted by the sign-stealing scandal. But based solely on the record, it was one of the most comprehensive one-man beat-downs ever administered.

Springer rang up 11 hits in 29 official at bats against the Dodgers, eight for extra bases, and five of them leaving the yard. He scored eight runs in that seven-game series.

His slugging average for the series was an even 1.000.

His performance began in Game 2, an 11-inning Astros win that evened the series at a game apiece. The biggest hit, with Cameron Maybin on base in the top of the 11th,  flew over the right-center field wall for a home run. It produced a 7-6 Houston victory.

With the series deadlocked at two games each, Springer’s game-tying seventh inning home run put Houston on course for a 13-12 victory in 10 innings. Springer’s base on balls set the stage for Alex Bregman’s game-winning home run.

Facing Yu Darvish in the finale, Springer was a pivotal figure. He doubled to launch a two-run top of the first inning. In the second, Springer’s two-run home run boosted Houston’s lead to 5-0. The Astros wouldn’t score again, but they wouldn’t need to. Lance McCullers and a series of bullpen arms limited the Dodgers to one run.

7. Bernie Williams, 1.099, 1996 ALCS

The 1996 ALCS was a battle between the AL East champion Yankees and their season-long rivals, the wild card Baltimore Orioles. New York entered with a ton of confidence having beaten Baltimore 10 times in 13 meetings.

Game 1 was the famous Jeffrey Maier game, when the young Yankee fan reached over the field of play to turn Derek Jeter’s fly ball into a home run. That home run, coming in the bottom of the eighth, tied the game at 4-4.

But potentially lost in all the controversy over the Maier play was what happened three innings later. With the game still tied in the bottom of the 11th, Williams turned around a Randy Myers pitch and sent it over the wall down the left field line for a game-winner.

The series was tied when the Yanks came to bat in the top of the eighth inning of Game 3, trailing 2-1. With two out and a runner on second, Williams lined a base hit to left that tied the game. When Tino Martinez lined a double down the left field line, Williams scored the go-ahead run.

One day later, Williams’ first inning home run started the Yanks on their way to an 8-4 victory. In the first game, Williams contributed two hits. But his most important play was a simple ground ball to second base in the top of the third of a game New York led 1-0. When Orioles second baseman Roberto Alomar threw the ball away, a run scored and the door was opened for a six-run Yankee inning that wrapped up the pennant.

For the series, Williams batted .474 with three doubles and two home runs.

6. David Freese, 1.102, 2011 World Series

It’s no exaggeration to say that Freese’s accomplishments under the most intense MLB postseason pressure were the reason the St. Louis Cardinals claimed the 2011 World Series title over the Texas Rangers.

Freese’s star began to shine during Game 3 of a series tied at a game apiece at the time. In the top of the fourth, Freese came up with two on, one out, and his Cardinals holding a 1-0 lead. His double scored one run and opened the door to a four-run inning.

It began an onslaught that didn’t let up until the Cardinals walked away with a 16-7 win.

But as those who saw it well remember, Freese really grabbed center stage in the sixth game. With St. Louis trailing 3 games to 2 and down 7-5 with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Freese delivered a two-strike triple to the wall in right that scored Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman with the tying runs.

The game was still tied when Freese led off the bottom of the 11th with a game-winning home run off Mark Lowe.

But that hit only squared the series at three games each. The Rangers scored twice in the top of the first inning in the seventh game, only to see Freese negate that with a two-out double in the bottom of the first that scored two game-tying Cardinal runs. The Cardinals went on to win 6-2.

5. Lew Burdette, 1.104, 1957 World Series

Only 13 pitchers have won three games in the same World Series, none since Randy Johnson in 2001. Milwaukee’s Lew Burdette is on that list.

The odd thing is that Burdette was not even the star of his team’s rotation. That distinction plainly went to his Hall of Fame teammate, Warren Spahn. He was 21-11, Burdette a very complementary 17-9.

But after Whitey Ford beat Spahn 3-1 in the first game of that year’s World Series, Burdette squared matters with a 4-2 victory. He scattered seven Yankee hits in a complete game performance, surviving a ninth inning rally that ended when Burdette got Hank Bauer to ground out with the tying runs on base.

With only three reliable starters – Spahn, Burdette, and Bob Buhl – Milwaukee manager Fred Haney was forced to turn to Burdette again in Game 5. He was even better, shutting out the Yankees on six hits and winning 1-0 on Joe Adcock’s run-producing single.

And when Spahn lost the sixth game, Haney turned a third time to Burdette, this time working on just two days of rest. He was as strong as ever, shutting out the Yankees again, this time on seven hits. Milwaukee wrapped up the series 5-0.

For the series, Burdette had pitched 27 innings, the last 24 of them without allowing a run. That gave him a 0.67 ERA.

4. Ralph Terry, 1.122, 1962 World Series

Terry may be more famous for having thrown the pitch that Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Bill Mazeroski slammed over the left field wall at Forbes Field in October of 1960 to end that year’s World Series.

From Terry’s standpoint, however, a far happier memory was the pitch he threw to San Francisco Giants star Willie McCovey that ended the 1962 World Series.

Terry had been a vital force all during the Series. He started the second game but lost 2-0 when Giant starter Jack Sanford tossed a shutout. Terry allowed just six hits, but one of them was a McCovey home run in the seventh inning.

Terry came back in Game 5 to even the score with Sanford. He won  their showdown 5-3, allowing eight Giants hits in a complete game performance.

Leading three games to two, Yankee manager Ralph Houk went for the clincher when the rain-interrupted series resumed five days later in New York. He started his ace, Ford. But the Giants beat Ford 5-2, forcing a seventh game with Terry the only reliable Yankee starter.

That game remains one of the classics of all World Series play. Matched a third time against Sanford, Terry held the Giants scoreless and enjoyed a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Bill Skowron singled, advanced to third on another single and a walk, then scored on a double play grounder by Tony Kubek.

From that point through the eighth, Terry held the Giants to just two hits. Matty Alou led off the bottom of the ninth with a bunt single, but two strikeouts later he advanced only as far as third base when Willie Mays doubled to right.

The next batter was McCovey, the same hitter who had homered off Terry a few days before. The slugger slammed Terry’s first pitch deep down the line in right field for what initially appeared to be a Series-winning hit. But it curved foul and crashed into the seats. McCovey also ripped the next pitch … directly into the glove of Bobby Richardson for the Series-ending out.

As Burdette had done five years earlier, Terry was the series’ dominant force. He had thrown 25 innings worth of work, allowing just 17 base hits. In the decisive seventh game, he permitted just four baserunners, all of them on hits.

3. Madison Bumgarner, 1.182, 2014 World Series

The 2014 World Series is recent enough for most every baseball fan to recall Bumgarner’s oversized accomplishment in bringing that season’s World Series flag to San Francisco.

Bumgarner made three appearances, two of them starts, working 21 innings. That was three times as many as any other Giants pitcher. He allowed just nine hits and only a single run.

Bumgarner’s first performance was a virtual walkover, a 7-1 win that the Giants led from the first inning on. He allowed just three hits in seven innings of work.

But the series was tied 2-2 when Bumgarner went to the mound again in Game 5. This time he delivered a complete game shutout, holding the Royals to just four base hits and striking out eight.

When Kansas City won Game Six 10-0, it sent the series to a seventh game and forced Giants manager Bruce Bochy to rely on veteran Tim Hudson as his starter. San Francisco took a 3-2 lead after four innings, prompting Bochy to turn to Bumgarner, who took the mound on just two days rest.

Bumgarner was not to be denied. After allowing a leadoff single to Omar Infante, he retired the next 14 Royals in order before Alex Gordon touched him for a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth. He got Salvador Perez to pop up for the series-clinching out.

2. Will Clark, 1.243, 1989 NLCS

The Giants’ first baseman almost single-handedly lifted his team past the NL East champion Chicago Cubs to the World Series. Every time the Cubs needed a big out, Clark was there to spoil the plan.

Clark set the tone early, with a four-hit performance in the first game, an 11-3 Giants rout. He doubled, homered twice, and drove in six runs.

Then when the series shifted to San Francisco even at a game each, Clark really took over. He had two more hits in the third game a 5-4 Giants victory. One day later, Clark’s three-hit game included two doubles and he scored twice.

In the next day’s wrapup, Chicago led 1-0 until Clark tripled to open the seventh. A Kevin Mitchell fly ball scored him with the tying run. One inning later, Clark’s two-out single scored Candy Maldonado and Brett Butler with the go-ahead runs in what would become a 3-2 Giants victory.

For the series, Clark terrorized Cubs pitching to the tune of a .650 average, 13 hits in 20 at bats. Six of those hits went for extra bases, and he drove in eight runs.

Perhaps oddly, Clark’s luck did not hold in the ensuing World Series. He produced just four hits in 16 at bats, failed to drive in a run, and the American League champion Oakland Athletics defeated Clark’s Giants in four straight.

1.       Jack Morris, 1.264, 1991 World Series

Morris’ work in this series played a major role in his eventual election to the Hall of Fame.

In his only season with the Twins, Morris had gone 18-12 during the regular season, making him Tom Kelly’s logical Game 1 starter. He worked seven innings, allowing five hits but just two runs and winning 5-2.

Pitching on three days rest, Morris returned in Game 4 to face Braves star John Smoltz. This time he lasted six innings, allowing just 1 run but leaving in a 1-1 tie. The Braves eventually won 3-2, squaring the series at two games each.

It was still tied, at three games each, when Morris and Smoltz met again for Game 7, each again working on three days rest. The game remains a classic.

Through seven innings, each team had moved only one runner as far as third base, neither of them scoring. A double play bailed Morris out in the bottom of the eighth. Smoltz left in the bottom of that same inning, but a Twins ninth inning rally fell short when Shane Mack grounded into a double play and Paul Sorrento whiffed.

Still pitching scoreless ball into the 10th, Morris retired Atlanta in order and hoped for some offensive support. His hopes were fulfilled when pinch hitter Gene Larkin’s deep fly got Dan Gladden across with the Series winning run.

For the series, Morris allowed just 18 hits and three runs in 23 innings, striking out 15.