One of the benefits of not having a life is that any random thought that pops along my train of thought has the possibility of becoming a blog post.
Remember yesterday's post that just listed classic Game Sixes that had nothing to do with teams from New York or Boston?
After posting it, I thought it needed a little more detail. Then, after watching Boston's 12-2 schellacking (schelaquing? shu-lack-ing?) of Cleveland, I though about rating all of the Game Sixes in League Championship history since it was expanded to a best-of-seven format in 1985.
Here are all of the Game Sixes played in the ALCS and the NLCS in chronological order:
NLCS '85: St. Louis 7 @ Los Angeles 5. The Dodgers pitched to Jack Clark with first base open in the top of the ninth leading 5-4. Clark crushed a three-run homer and the Cardinals clinched the series.
ALCS '85: Kansas City 5 @ Toronto 3. Hal McRae knocks in two. George Brett homered and Dan Quisenberry nailed down the win to send the series to game seven.
NLCS '86: New York 7 @ Houston 6 (F/16). Astros had a 3-0 lead. Mets tied the game with three in the ninth; and took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 14th. Billy Hatcher tied the game with a homer in the bottom of the inning. Mets scored three in the 16th. Astros scored twice in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets held on to end the series.
ALCS '86: California 4 @ Boston 10. Oil Can Boyd got a five runs in the bottom of the third for a 7-2 lead and the Sox cruised to get the series to a seventh game.
NLCS '86: San Francisco 0 @ St. Louis 1. John Tudor and two other Cardinal pitchers cobine on a 6-hit shutout. The only run scored in the game was in the second. Tony Pena tripled and Jose Oquendo knocked him in with a sacrifice fly off Dave Dravecky. The win sent the series to game seven.
NLCS 1988: New York 5 @ Los Angeles 1. David Cone keeps the Mets alive with a complete game win. Kevin McReynolds helped out with a 4-for-4 day that included a homer and three RBI.
NLCS '90: Pittsburgh 1 @ Cincinnati 2. The Reds get a seventh inning, pinch-hit RBI single from Luis Quinones to snap a 1-1 tie. Norm Charlton the win, Randy Meyers the save, and the Reds were in the World Series.
NLCS '91: Atlanta 1 @ Pittsburgh 0. Steve Avery vs. Doug Drabek. Scoreless game until the top of the ninth. Greg Olson's two-out double scored Ron Gant. Alejandro Pena struck out Andy Van Slyke with the tying run at third to end the game and force game seven.
NLCS '92: Pittsburgh 13 @ Atlanta 4. The Pirates kept their season going by pasting the Braves. Barry Bonds, Jay Bell, and Lloyd McClendon all homered for Pittsburgh. Tim Wakefield won his second game of the series with a complete game.
ALCS '92: Toronto 9 @ Oakland 2. The Blue Jays finally got into the World Series. Toronto battered Mike Moore in the first three innings for an early 6-0 lead. Joe Carter and Candy Maldonado both homered for the Jays.
NLCS '93: Atlanta 3 @ Philadelphia 6. The Phillies get in by building a 6-1 lead and holding off the Braves. All six runs were off Greg Maddux.
ALCS '93: Toronto 6 @ Chicago 3. Toronto makes it back-to-back pennants. This was a 3-2 game in favor of the Blue Jays until the top of the ninth. Devon White homered with one out. After the second out was recorded, there was a single, an error, and a two-run triple by Paul Molitor. That White Sox run in the bottom of the ninth off Duane Ward wasn't enough.
ALCS '95: Cleveland 4 @ Seattle 0. The Indians ended the run of the Mariners and got into the World Series for the first time since 1954. Cleveland led 1-0 until they scored three in the top of the eighth inning off Randy Johnson. Two of those runs came in on one passed ball. Dennis Martinez worked seven scoreless for the win.
NLCS '96: St. Louis 1 @ Atlanta 3. Atlanta stays alive behind 7-2/3 strong innings from Maddux. The Cards pulled to within 2-1 with a run in the top of the eighth. But, Rafael Belliard gave a bit of a cushion with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth. Mark Wohlers got the save.
NLCS '97: Florida 7 @ Atlanta 4. Marlins make their first Fall Classic. They score four in the first off Tom Glavine. But, the Braves get one in the first and two in the second off Kevin Brown. A three-run sixth put the game solidly in Florida's column.
ALCS '97: Cleveland 1 @ Baltimore 0 (F/11). The Orioles had ten hits. The Indians had three. The one hit that counted was a two-out homer by Tony Fernandez in the top of the eleventh. Charles Nagy gave up nine hits in 7-1/3 innings, but did not give up a run. Mike Mussina allowed one hit and struck out ten in eight innings, but it wasn't enough. Indians go back to the Series.
NLCS '98: San Diego 5 @ Atlanta 0. Sterling Hitchcock and four relievers shutdown the Braves on two hits to clinch the pennant. Only two of the runs scored off Glavine were earned.
ALCS '98: Cleveland 5 @ New York 9. Yankees get a 6-0 lead in the first three innings. Cone was cruising, but the Indians score five in the fifth. Derek Jeter triples in two runs and scores himself in the bottom of the sixth. Ramiro Mendoza and Mariano Rivera gave up one hit over the final four innings for a Yankees series win.
NLCS '99: New York 9 @ Atlanta 10 (F/11). The Mets got to play game six by beating the Braves 4-3 in 15 innings in game five. Atlanta scored five runs in the bottom of the first and knocked Al Leiter out of the game. It was a 7-3 game in the seventh and the Mets scored four times off John Smoltz (on in relief) to tie the game. Mike Piazza's two-run homer tied the game. New York took a lead in the eighth, but the Braves tied it again in the bottom of the eighth. Todd Pratt's sac fly in the tenth gave the Mets another lead, but Ozzie Guillen -- yes, that Ozzie Guillen -- tied the game with an RBI single. The Braves won the pennant as Andrew Jones drew a bases loaded walk, the third straight free pass issued by Kenny Rogers.
ALCS 2000: Seattle 7 @ New York 9. The M's led 4-3. But, the Yankees scored six in the bottom of the seventh. David Justice's three-run homer was the big blow. Alex Rodriguez homered in the eighth and the M's got two more runs, but Rivera shut it down the rest of the way to end Seattle's season.
NLCS '03: Florida 8 @ Chicago 3. The Cubs were five outs from the World Series...
ALCS '03: Boston 9 @ New York 6. Sox stay alive with a comeback win. Three in the seventh put them up 7-6 and two in the ninth accounted for the final score.
NLCS '04: Houston 4 @ St. Louis 6 (F/12). Houston sent the game to extra innings with a run in the top of the ninth. Jim Edmonds ended the game --but not the series -- with a two-run homer in the twelfth.
ALCS '04: Boston 4 @ New York 2. Schilling's bloody sock.
NLCS '05: Houston 5 @ St. Louis 1. Astro's first pennant behind a Roy Oswalt gem.
NLCS '06: St. Louis 2 @ New York 4. John Maine and Paul LoDuca keep the Mets alive.
ALCS '07: Cleveland 2 @ Boston 12. JD Drew slams the Indians.
What criteria should be used to rate these Game 6s? Walk-offs, pennant clinchers, pitching performances, forcing game seven, close games?
Of the 27 games above, last night's game six wouldn't rate in the top 20.
Just eyeballing these for a hackneyed Top 10, I would go with this:
10. Yankees-Seattle 2000
9. Cardinals-Giants 1987
8. Braves-Pirates 1991
7. Cardinals-Astros 2004
6. Red Sox-Yankees 2004
5. Reds-Pirates 1990
4. Indians-Orioles 1997
3. Marlins-Cubs 2003
2. Mets-Astros 1986
1. Cardinals-Dodgers 1985
How would you rate them?
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