World Series Game 7: The 10 most decisive moments in MLB history

World Series Game 7 is the ultimate sports showdown. It’s the climax of an intense, six-month drama, and it is not infrequently spiced with moments where the outcome hinges literally on one play.

That fact makes the history of those decisive moments spectacular in itself. We are discussing here instances where the fate of the championship swung.

In eight of the 10 instances detailed below, that was the case. The team benefitting from the pivotal play went on to claim the trophy, either at that instant or soon afterward.

But fate is not always kind. In two of these 10 most decisive moments, fate later turned away from its favored child and anointed a different champion.

The standard of measurement is Win Probability Added, a relatively new statistic that calculates the extent to which the play in question influenced the game’s outcome.

Two Game 7s are represented twice on this list, and they are considered by historians to have been two of the most monumental games ever played. Those two were the seventh games of the Series of 1924 and 1960.

Here are the 10 most decisive moments from the history of World Series Game 7

t-9. Hugh McQuillen, 1924 New York Giants. The climactic game of the 1924 World Series between the Washington Senators and New York Giants is a candidate for greatest game ever played. Not only were the stakes (a world championship) at the highest possible level, but the game wound through 12 innings and featured two of the most memorable plays in baseball history.

This particular decisive moment unfolds in the bottom of the ninth inning at Griffith Stadium. The Nationals have rallied late to cement a 3-3 tie (more on that in a bit) and now stand poised to claim the championship. With one out, Nats first baseman Joe judge has singled and advanced all the way to third when Giants shortstop Travis Jackson fumbled away a potential force at second.

With the Series winning run 90 feet from home and just one out, Giants manager John McGraw summoned Hugh McQuillen, normally a starter, in from the bullpen to face Ralph Miller. McQuillen had gone 14-8 with a 2.69 ERA in 24 starts that season, but he’d made just four relief appearances.

But with the Series on the line, McQuillen induced a ground ball from Miller to Jackson, who flipped to Frank Frisch at second and then on to first for a game-saving double play. The Giants would not be finished off in the regulation nine innings. McQuillen Win Probability Added: 33 percent.

t-9. Howie Kendrick, 2019 Washington Nationals. The American League champion Houston Astros led the Nationals 2-0 through six innings of Game Seven of the 2019 World Series. Astros starter Zack Greinke had held Washington to just one hit when he retired Adam Eaton to open the seventh.

But then Anthony Rendon touched Greinke for a home run, and when Juan Soto walked Astros manager A.J. Hinch summoned Will Harris to face the next batter, Kendrick.

Harris’ first pitch was a strike, and his second, a cutter, dived toward the low outside corner of the strike zone. Kendrick reached out and sent the ball arcing toward the right field foul pole. When it clanged off that pole, he had a two-run game-tying and momentum-turning home run.

The Nats added three more late runs and won the game 6-2, claiming the Series. Kendrick Win Probability Added: 33 percent.

6. Jim Northrup, 1968 Detroit Tigers. The concluding game of the 1968 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers featured a pair of pitchers seeking thir third Series victory. Bob Gibson had won Games 1 and 4 for St. Louis, while Mickey Lolich won Games 2 and 5 for the Tigers.

Through six innings, neither pitcher had given up a run, Gibson allowing just one hit, Lolich just four. Gibson retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the seventh before Norm Cash and Willie Horton put together back-to-back singles. That brought Northrup to the plate.

Northrup lifted a fly ball deep into center field at Busch Stadium. But normally reliable Cardinal center fielder Curt Flood misjudged the ball, initially coming in before racing back in a vain attempt to corral Northrup’s blow. The ball flew over Flood’s head and rolled to the wall for a triple, Cash and Horton both scoring. Northrup came home on Bill Freehan’s double into the left field corner, and with Lolich completing a five-hitter for his third Series victory, the Tigers won 4-1. Northrup Win Probability Added: 36 percent.

5. Bill Mazeroski, 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. Shocked to see Mazeroski’s iconic Game 7-winning walk-off home run this low on the list? Its placement here is a product of mathematical circumstances.

As Maz came to bat, his Pirates and the New York Yankees were tied 9-9 in the decisive game. That game was played at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, meaning the Pirates – with last at bats – had a natural statistical advantage. Combine that with the fact that there were none out and the Pirates already had a 63 percent chance of winning the game – at some point that inning or in a later one, if not immediately.

This obviously does not diminish what Mazeroski accomplished in hitting the only Game Seven walk-off homer in World Series history. It simply puts it in mathematical context. Mazeroski Win Probability Added: 37 percent.

4. Rajai Davis, 2016 Cleveland Indians. With the Giants’ Hugh McQuillen earlier on this list, Davis is the only player to have turned the Game Seven odds so dramatically in his team’s favor in a game they eventually lost.

This of course is the Series in which the Chicago Cubs broke their 108-year World Series drought, beating Davis’ Indians 8-7 in 10 innings at Cleveland’s Progressive Field. It would have been much simpler but for Davis.

The Cubs led 6-4 in the eighth inning of that concluding game and were just four outs from their long-awaited championship when Davis came to the plate against Aroldis Chapman with two out and Brandon Guyer at second base.

Davis worked the count to 2-2 on Chapman, then somehow turned around a 100-mph fastball and lifted it just over the wall down the left field line for a stunning, game-tying home run. For Davis, the only problem was that it turned out to be not quite enough. The Cubs won 8-7 on Ben Zobrist’s 10th inning hit. Davis Win Probability Added: 39 percent.

3. Tony Womack, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. The final game of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees is another frequently mentioned when the subject of greatest games arises. That game, which Arizona won 3-2, featured a lead change in the eighth inning and another in the ninth, Womack playing a pivotal role.

At Chase Field in Phoenix, the visiting Yankees had broken a 1-1 tie with Alfonso Soriano’s eighth inning home run. Now, with Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera on the mound, they sought to wrap it up. Mark Grace, the first hitter, threw a hitch into those plans with a line single, and when Damien Miller attempted to bunt pinch runner David Dellucci into scoring position Rivera threw wildly to second.

An unsuccessful sacrifice later, Womack came up and played his role. On a 2-2 count, he laced a double toward the right field line, pinch runner Midre Cummings scoring the tying run and Jay Bell – who had reached on the forceout of Dellucci at third – went to third.

After Rivera hit Craig Counsell to load the bases, Luis Gonzalez struck the hump-back liner into short center that scored Bell with the championship run. Gonzalez is the one whose hit we celebrate today, but Womack – with the hit that erased New York’s lead – had statistically the more impactful blow. Womack Win Probability Added: 50 percent.

2. Tris Speaker, 1912 Boston Red Sox. Speaker’s heroics actually came in Game 8 of a Series won by the Red Sox over the New York Giants 4-3 with one tie. And again here, as in several of the games highlighted on this list, we are talking about a contest ranked among the greatest in baseball history.

Christy Mathewson and Joe Wood – who had entered in relief of starter Hugh Bedient after being shelled one day earlier – were locked in a 1-1 death match through the regulation nine innings at Boston’s Fenway Park.

But the Giants, on Red Murray’s double and Fred Merkle’s single, carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 10th, and with Mathewson on the mound looked like sure winners. Then extraordinary things began to happen.

First Giant outfielder Fred Snodgrass dropped Clyde Engle’s routine fly ball for a two-base error. Then Snodgrass raced back and made a spectacular catch of Harry Hooper’s apparent game-tying double for the first out. Following a Steve Yerkes walk, Speaker came up.

He lifted what looked like an easy foul pop near the first base dugout. But first baseman Merkle failed to react, and by the time catcher Chief Meyers did it was too late…the ball fell harmlessly. Reprieved, Speaker lined a game-tying single into right field, Yerkes taking third and Speaker second on the throw in.

Following an intentional walk to set up a potential double play, Red Sox third baseman Larry Gardner capped the Series with a fly ball deep enough to right to allow Yerkes to score the championship run. It was the first ‘walk-off’ plate appearance in World Series championship history. But it was Speaker's hit that turned the outcome. Speaker Win Probability Added: 51 percent.

1. Hal Smith, 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates. Without Smith’s heroics one inning earlier, Mazeroski’s Game 7 home run of 1960 is probably a mere footnote. Maz got the glory, but Smith provided the true game-turner.

The Yanks led 7-4 at Forbes Field with just six outs separating them from another in the franchise’s interminable line of World Series wins. Left-hander Bobby Shantz was assigned the task of getting those six outs.

But Gino Cimoli led off with a single, then Bill Virdon’s ground ball took a bad hop and struck Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek in the Adam’s Apple, rolling into left field and knocking Kubek from the game. It also knocked Shantz from the game, Jim Coates coming on in relief as Dick Groat stood at home plate representing the tying run.

Groat’s single scored Cimoli, narrowing the gap to 7-5 before Coates steadied, retiring Bob Skinner and Rocky Nelson. But Roberto Clemente also singled, scoring Virdon to make it 7-6.

With two on and two out, Smith held the game and Series in his hands. He worked a 2-2 count, then powered Coates’ last pitch far over the same left field wall Mazeroski would later clear. This one gave Pittsburgh a seemingly safe 9-7 lead.

The Yanks tied the game with a pair of ninth inning runs before Mazeroski’s blast which, absent Smith’s heroics, probably would have only pulled the Pirates within 9-7. Smith Win Probability Added: 64 percent.