Oct. 25
1911 — Fred Merkle’s 10th-inning sacrifice fly scored Larry Doyle to give the New York Giants a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. The victory cut the A’s lead in the Series to 3-2.
1978 — Gaylord Perry of the San Diego Padres becomes the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. Perry wins the National League award with a 21-6 record and a 2.72 ERA.
1981 — Steve Yeager and Pedro Guerrero hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees and take a 3-2 lead in the World Series.
1986 — The New York Mets rallied for three runs with two outs in the 10th inning against the Boston Red Sox and pushed the World Series to a decisive seventh game. The tie-breaking run scored on Boston first baseman Bill Buckner’s error on Mookie Wilson’s slow grounder.
1987 — The Minnesota Twins, behind Frank Viola, won their first World Series championship by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 in Game 7, becoming the first team to win four home games.
1997 — Cleveland’s Chad Ogea beat Florida with his arm and bat to force a Game 7 in the World Series. Ogea allowed a run on four hits over five innings and got two hits with two RBIs and a run scored in a 4-1 victory over the Marlins. Ogea drove in the first two runs of the game with a bases-loaded single in the second.
2003 — Florida’s Josh Beckett threw a shutout to lead the Marlins to a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees to win the World Series. Pitching on three days rest, Beckett, who was named MVP of the series, allowed five hits in Game 6 as Florida won its second title in seven seasons.
2005 — Geoff Blum homered in the top of the 14th inning in his first World Series at-bat to help the Chicago White Sox defeat Houston 7-5 in Game 3. At 5 hours, 41 minutes, it was the longest game by time in Series history and matched the longest in innings. The Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers also went 14 innings in Game 2 of the 1916 World Series.
2016 — Corey Kluber got the Cleveland Indians off to a great start and Roberto Perez finished off the Chicago Cubs for a 6-0 win in Game 1 of the World Series. Kluber pitched neatly into the seventh inning and Perez hit two home runs.
2017 — George Springer hit a two-run drive in the 11th inning and the Houston Astros won a thrilling home run derby at Dodger Stadium, beating Los Angeles 7-6 to tie the World Series at one game apiece. The teams combined for a Series record eight homers.
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Oct. 26
1911 — Danny Murphy of Philadelphia had four hits as the Athletics beat the New York Giants 13-2 to win the World Series in six games. The A’s put the game out of reach with a seven-run seventh inning.
1940 — Detroit outfielder Hank Greenberg won the American League MVP with Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller finishing second. Greenberg hit .340 with 41 home runs and 150 RBIs. Greenberg, who won the award in 1935 as a first baseman, became the first player to win the MVP again playing a different position.
1977 — Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees became the first American League relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. Lyle posted a 13-5 record with 26 saves and a 2.17 ERA in a league-leading 72 appearances.
1982 — Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies became the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards, taking National League honors. The 37-year-old lefthander led the league in wins (23), innings pitched (295.2), strikeouts (286) and shutouts (6). Carlton also won the award in 1972, 1977 and 1980.
1985 — Dane Iorg’s two-run single and a disputed call by first base umpire Don Denkinger in the ninth inning gave the Kansas City Royals a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and tied the World Series after six games. St. Louis scored its run on a bloop single by Brian Harper in the eighth inning.
1991 — Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett homered off Charlie Leibrandt to give the Twins a 4-3, 11-inning win over the Atlanta Braves and force a Game 7 in the World Series.
1996 — The New York Yankees won their 23rd World Series by beating the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in Game 6. The Yankees scored three runs off Greg Maddux in the third inning. John Wetteland, who allowed a run in the ninth, hung on to get his fourth save of the series and capture Series MVP.
1997 — Edgar Renteria ended one of the most thrilling Game 7s, singling with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Florida Marlins their first World Series championship with a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Indians. The 5-year-old Marlins became the youngest expansion team to win a championship.
2000 — The New York Yankees became the first team in more than a quarter-century to win three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-2.
2002 — The Anaheim Angels overcame a 5-0 deficit to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 and force a Game 7 in the World Series.
2005 — Jermaine Dye singled home the only run in the eighth, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros 1-0 to win their first World Series title in 88 years. Chicago’s sweep, its eighth straight postseason win and 16th in 17 games overall, made it the second team to go through the postseason 11-1 since the extra round of playoffs was added in 1995, joining the 1999 Yankees.
2008 — Joe Blanton became the first pitcher in 34 years to homer in the World Series, Ryan Howard drove in five runs and the Philadelphia Phillies romped over the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2 to move within one win of their first championship since 1980.
2013 — Third baseman Will Middlebrooks tripped Allen Craig for a game-ending obstruction call on Jon Jay’s ninth-inning grounder, giving the St. Louis Cardinals a bizarre 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox and a 2-1 World Series lead.
2018 — LA Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 in the longest game, by time (7 hours, 20 minutes) and innings, 18, in World Series history.
Oct. 27
1985 — The Kansas City Royals, behind Bret Saberhagen’s five-hitter, beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-0 in Game 7 of the World Series. The Royals became the sixth team in major league history to rally from a three-games-to-one deficit to win the World Series.
1985 — Billy Martin fired by the Yankees for the 4th time.
1986 — The New York Mets won the World Series with an 8-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 7. The Mets rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win behind home runs by Ray Knight and Darryl Strawberry. Knight is named Series MVP.
1989 — The World Series resumed after a 10-day delay because of the San Francisco earthquake. Oakland, behind two homers by Dave Henderson, beat the Giants 13-7 in Game 3.
1991 — Pinch-hitter Gene Larkin hit a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning as the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0 to win one of the most exciting World Series in history. Series MVP Jack Morris pitched a seven-hitter over 10 innings and won only the third decisive seventh game in World Series history to go into extra innings.
1996 — After two humbling losses at home, the New York Yankees won their first World Series title since 1978 with a 3-2 victory over the defending champion Atlanta Braves in Game 6.
1998 — President Clinton signed a bill overturning part of baseball’s 70-year-old antitrust exemption, putting baseball on a par with other professional sports on labor matters. The new law overrides part of a 1922 Supreme Court ruling that exempted baseball from antitrust laws on grounds that it was not interstate commerce. That exemption deprived baseball players of protections enjoyed by other professional athletes and the players association blamed it for contributing to baseball’s eight work stoppages since 1972, including the disastrous 232-day strike in 1994-95.
1999 — Roger Clemens pitched the New York Yankees to their second straight World Series sweep, shutting down the Atlanta Braves 4-1. The Yankees won their record 25th championship — third in four years. Game 4 marked New York’s 12th Series victory a row, matching the mark set by its Murderers’ Row teams.
2001 — The Arizona Diamondbacks pound the New York Yankees 9-1 in the World Series opener. Arizona’s Craig Counsell and Luis Gonzalez hit home runs off Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling allowed one run on three hits over seven innings for the win.
2002 — The Anaheim Angels won the World Series with a 4-1 win over the Giants in Game 7 at San Francisco’s Edison Field. Garret Anderson’s three-run double in the third inning put the Angels up 4-1. John Lackey became the first rookie to win a seventh game since 1909 when Babe Adams did it for the Pirates.
2004 — The Boston Red Sox became World Series champions at long, long last. Johnny Damon homered on the fourth pitch of the game, Derek Lowe made it stand up and the Red Sox won Game 4 3-0, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals for their first crown since 1918. Manny Ramirez, who batted .412 (7-for-17) with a homer and four RBIs, was named Boston’s first World Series MVP.
2006 — The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 in Game 5 to wrap up their first Series title in nearly a quarter-century and 10th overall.
2007 — Jacoby Ellsbury went 4-for-5 leading Boston to a 10-5 win over Colorado and a 3-0 series lead. Ellsbury became the first rookie with four hits in a World Series game since Joe Garagiola accomplished the feat for St. Louis in 1946.
2011 — David Freese homered to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals forced the World Series to a Game 7 by rallying from two-run deficits against the Texas Rangers in the 9th and 10th.
2015 — Alex Gordon hit a tying home run with one out in the ninth inning, Eric Hosmer hit a sacrifice fly against Bartolo Colon in the 14th and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets 5-4 in the longest opener in World Series history.
