The 1974 American League Championship Series marked the third time in four years the Oakland A’s and Baltimore Orioles had squared off for the pennant. The A’s were looking to win a third consecutive World Series title. The Orioles were looking to get back to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1971. In a series defined by excellent pitching, it was Oakland who prevailed.
You can read more about the journey each team took to its respective division title, and about their key players, at the links below. This article will take an exclusive focus on the games of the 1974 ALCS.
League Championship Series play was a best-of-five affair through 1984, and homefield was done on a rotation basis. This year’s rotation called for the series to open with two games in Oakland and conclude with up to three played back east in Baltimore.
So, on a Saturday afternoon, we got started with the A’s sending the great Catfish Hunter to the mound to face off with crafty Oriole lefty Mike Cuellar. With one out in the first inning, Baltimore’s Paul Blair took Catfish deep and the Birds had a quick 1-0 lead.
Oakland evened it up in the bottom of the third. Dick Green worked a leadoff walk. Bill North grounded into a force play but replacing Green with the speedy North on the bases worked out. North stole second and then scored on a base hit from Bert Campaneris.
The Orioles moved back in front in the fourth when Bobby Grich hit a one-out double, and then scored on a single by Tommy Davis. And in the fifth, Baltimore opened up against Catfish. The legendary Brooks Robinson was in the twilight of his career, but he homered to lead off this inning. Elrod Hendricks singled, then moved up to second on a sac bunt and took third on a passed ball. When Hunter struck out Rich Coggins, he was on the verge of limiting the damage. But Blair came up with a clutch RBI single to make it 4-1. Grich homered. It was 6-1, Hunter was gone, and Baltimore was cruising.
Oakland got a run back in the fifth but didn’t threaten again until adding another run in the ninth. The outcome wasn’t in doubt after the Grich blast, and the Orioles took the opener 6-3.
Now, the two-time defending champs faced a virtual must-win game on Sunday afternoon, lest they go on the road down 0-2. Ken Holtzman shouldered the burden for the A’s against Dave McNally for the Birds.
Both pitchers were sharp early, and the game was scoreless into the bottom of the fourth. A’s third baseman Sal Bando hit a harmless pop fly down the rightfield line, in foul territory. Grich gave chase and got there…but he dropped the ball. That was the opening Bando needed, who homered to give Oakland their first lead of the series.
The A’s were able to get another run when North drew a walk, and then scored on a two-out triple from Joe Rudi. Oakland threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs. Nothing came of it, and this remained a tight 2-0 game into the late innings. Finally, in the eighth, the A’s broke it open. With two outs, a walk and an error, set up a three-run homer by Ray Fosse. Holtzman completed a five-hitter. Oakland’s 5-0 win evened the series.
LCS games still weren’t being scheduled for prime-time, so the Tuesday through Thursday schedule in Baltimore to decide the pennant would all take place during work or school hours. Tuesday’s Game 3 saw Vida Blue go for the A’s, while the Orioles gave the ball to Jim Palmer. And a series that had already seen some good pitching was about to go to a whole new level.
Blue and Palmer simply dominated. The difference? Palmer made one mistake to Bando, who hit another big home run. On an afternoon when he pitched a four-hitter, Palmer would take the L. Blue was magnificent, dealing a two-hitter, striking out seven and never allowing anything resembling a real threat. The A’s 1-0 win moved them to the brink of the pennant.
Game 4 was a Hunter-Cuellar rematch. The A’s weren’t much better at hitting Cuellar than they had been in Game 1. But on this afternoon, the Oriole lefty was wild.
The problems started in the first inning, when Cuellar issued three consecutive two-out walks. He got Gene Tenace to pop up and avoid damage. But his control never settled in, and in the fifth inning, it came back to bite. Again with two outs, Cuellar walked two men. Then a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Rudi was intentionally walked. Normally, this would seem a smart move. But loading the bases when the starting pitcher is having trouble finding the strike zone is problematic. Cuellar walked Tenace. The A’s had a 1-0 lead.
As the game moved to the sixth inning, Oakland was in the bizarre position to win a pennant-clinching game while being no-hit. Finally, in the seventh, the bats got off the schneid. After a walk to Bando, Reggie Jackson doubled. The only A’s hit of the afternoon had given them a 2-0 lead.
Hunter dominated through seven innings and that 2-0 lead held to the ninth inning. Rollie Fingers was on the mound looking to close it out, when Baltimore launched a last, desperate rally. With one out, Blair walked and Grich singled. After Davis grounded out, a Boog Powell base hit made it 2-1 and there were runners on first and second. Don Baylor was the last hope. Fingers struck him out and Oakland had won the game on the strength of pitching and drawing 11 walks.
There weren’t a lot of notable offensive performers in this series. In fact, there were none for Baltimore. For Oakland, a hat tip would have to go Fosse, who went 4-for-12. And while Bando only went 3-for-13, his two home runs were both huge.
The ALCS didn’t have an official MVP until 1980. If we can give one retroactively here, my choice would be Blue. While I generally prefer a starting pitcher to have two wins before considering them for a series MVP award, Blue’s dominance in Game 3 was both thorough and necessary, given Palmer’s almost-as-good performance.
Oakland went on to complete their three-peat, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. In the big picture, this 1974 ALCS marked the end of what can be considered the A’s-Orioles Era of American League baseball. Baltimore continued to be a competitive contender, but they did not return to the postseason until 1979. Oakland came back for one more shot in 1975, but lost in the ALCS, and then fell off the map for a few years. This series marked a pivot point in the history of the American League.
The Oakland A’s and the Baltimore Orioles were the great powers of the American League in the first half of the 1970s, and they met three times in the playoffs. The 1973 ALCS was the second of those times, and what was then a best-of-five series went the distance. Oakland prevailed, en route to a second straight World Series title.
You can read more about the paths the A’s and Orioles took to their respective division titles, and about their key players, at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 1973 American League Championship Series.
Homefield worked on a rotating basis, and it was the AL East’s turn to open this year. This series would see the first two games played at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, and the balance of the series would be played at Oakland Alameda-County Coliseum.
The Orioles sent Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer to the mound to face the A’s lefty, Vida Blue in Saturday afternoon’s Game 1. Palmer started a little wild, walking the first two batters he faced, before recovering to strike out the side. And then Baltimore quickly got after Blue.
Merv Rettenmund started the home half of the first by beating out an infield hit. Paul Blair drew a one-out walk. Tommy Davis doubled to score one run and put runners on second and third. Don Baylor worked a walk. With the bases loaded, Blue struck out Brooks Robinson and was on the verge of escaping. But the young catcher, Earl Williams, tagged Blue for a two-run double that made it 3-0 and sent the Oakland start to an early shower. Mark Belanger tacked on an RBI base hit before it was over.
Staked to a 4-0 lead, Palmer settled in and delivered a vintage complete-game five-hitter, striking out 12 along the way. The Oakland bullpen kept Baltimore at bay until late in the game when the Orioles got add-on runs in the seventh and eighth. The final was 6-0.
The defending champs were in a hole, but they only needed to get a split in Baltimore to shift homefield advantage their way, and the great Catfish Hunter got the ball for the A’s in Game 2. Dave McNally was on the hill for the Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
Oakland needed momentum and shortstop Bert Campaneris wasted little time in giving it to them. “Campy” opened the game with a solo home run. But Baltimore struck again in the first inning. Al Bumbry got it started with a leadoff walk. Rich Coggins singled to put runners on the corners and Davis picked up the run with an RBI groundball. We were tied 1-1. Catfish and McNally both locked in and that scored held until the sixth inning.
The A’s again used the long ball. Joe Rudi and Sal Bando hit back-to-back homers to open the stop of the sixth. The Orioles again moved to answer right back. Trailing 3-1, Coggins and Davis opened the bottom of the sixth with base hits. A one-out double from Williams cut the lead to 3-2. There were runners on second and third. Catfish needed a big out and he got out when Blair popped up. Oakland’s lead had been halved, but it was intact.
Campaneris beat out an infield hit with one out in the top of the eighth, and then stole second. The stolen base proved superfluous, as Bando homered again. The A’s had breathing room at 5-2, but the trend of the Orioles bouncing back right away continued. Davis and Williams both singled. With one out, the great Rollie Fingers came out of the A’s bullpen. Fingers got Terry Crowley to fly out, but Brooks Robinson came up with a two-out single to cut the lead to 5-3. The lead run was at the plate. When Bobby Grich drew a walk, the bases were loaded. Power-hitting Don Baylor came up. Rollie got him on a groundball to short.
A single, a bunt, a passed ball, and an RBI knock from Campaneris gave Oakland some insurance they could use in the ninth. This time, there was no Baltimore bounceback. Rollie closed out the 6-3 win and this series was heading west tied at a game apiece.
After a day for travel, play resumed on Tuesday. Prime-time games in the postseason were still reserved for the World Series, so this Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday run would all be during the afternoon. And it began with an epic pitcher’s duel between Oakland’s Ken Holtzman and Baltimore’s Mike Cuellar.
Earl Williams put the Birds on the board when he homered in the second inning. It wasn’t until the fourth that the A’s got their first hit of the game. It wasn’t until the seventh that anyone even threatened again. That came when a walk and an error gave Baltimore some chance for insurance. But Holtzman pitched around it, keyed by a double play ball off the bat of Baylor. And the 1-0 score held to the bottom of the eighth.
Jesus Alou came off the Oakland bench to pinch-hit and blooped a double to get things started. Mike Andrews put down a sacrifice bunt. With the tying run on third and one out, Cuellar struck out Campaneris. It was up to Rudi. In one of the most significant at-bats in the great Oakland Dynasty of this decade, Rudi singled to left-center. We were tied.
Extra innings came. One thing that didn’t come was a relief pitcher. Holtzman and Cuellar kept at it. In the bottom of the 11th, Cuellar finally blinked. Campaneris homered and the A’s had a 2-1 win for the game and a 2-1 lead in the series.
Oakland would send Blue back to the mound for Game 4 to get the pennant. Baltimore went back to Palmer to try and live another day. The Oriole ace didn’t have it. Gene Tenace led off the bottom of the second with a double. Vic Davalillo to left. With one out, Ray Fosse’s double picked up both runs. Dick Green doubled, and it was 3-0. With no room for error, Baltimore manager Earl Weaver came out to get the ball from Palmer. Bob Reynolds now held the Oriole season in his hands.
Reynolds settled everything down, but Blue was dealing. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth. He didn’t allow so much as a threat through six. He got an extra run to work with in the bottom of the sixth when Tenace walked, took third on a Davalillo single and scored on a sac fly from Fosse. It was 4-0 and Oakland was nine outs from going back to the World Series.
In the blink of an eye, it all changed. With one out in the seventh, Earl Williams walked, Baylor singled, Brooks Robinson singled, and it was 4-1. Andy Etchebarren homered. In a stunning development, we were tied 4-4. Fingers came on for Blue.
Oakland threatened in their own half of the seventh, with runners on first and second and one out. Grant Jackson came out of the Oriole bullpen and got both Reggie Jackson and Tenace. In the top of the eighth, Grich homered. It was 5-4 and Grant Jackson closed the game without further incident. The Orioles had a 5-4 win fueled by unlikely heroes in Reynolds, Jackson, and Etchebarren. And Palmer, having barely broken a sweat, was available for the decisive Game 5.
But another future Hall of Fame arm was also available for Game 5 and that was Catfish. Baltimore would hope that young Doyle Alexander could weather any storms early on.
After two scoreless innings, the Orioles made the game’s first mistake—an error by Brooks Robinson at third. A subsequent bunt set up a two-out RBI single from Rudi for the game’s first run. In the fourth, the A’s struck with two outs. A Davalillo triple was sandwiched by singles from Tenace and Alou. It was 3-0 and Palmer came out of the bullpen.
The Oriole ace redeemed himself well, pitching two-hit ball the rest of the way and keeping Oakland locked on “3”. But Catfish was too good. He took a no-hitter into the fifth. He allowed just five hits overall. Baltimore never seriously threatened. When Grich grounded out to Campaneris in the ninth, the 3-0 score was a final and the party was on in the Bay Area.
There was no series MVP award given out in ALCS play prior to 1980. Had there been one in 1973, it’s hard to imagine it going to anyone other than Catfish. He won Game 2 when his team’s back was close to the wall. He won Game 5 when his team was literally against the wall. He worked 16 innings in those two games with a 1.65 ERA.
Honorable mention would go to Campaneris, who went 7-for-21 and homered twice, including the big momentum-turning blast to open Game 2. The speedy Campy also stole three bases. And there has to a hat-tip to Holtzman for his magnificent 11-inning gem to win Game 3.
On the Baltimore side, Cueller would deserve a similar hat tip. Palmer had the Game 1 shutout and the strong Game 5 relief outing, while his Game 4 travails didn’t end up hurting. Earl Williams was the best everyday player for the Birds, going 5-for-18 with four RBIs, while Davis ended up with six hits for the series.
Oakland was on their way back to the World Series, where they would again go the distance. The A’s won a seven-game series with the New York Mets. And neither the A’s nor the Orioles were going anywhere. They would both be back on this ALCS stage in 1974.
The early years of the American League Championship Series had been somewhat anticlimactic. A playoff round that was founded in 1969 as a best-of-five series, the first three editions had seen the Baltimore Orioles blow through with sweeps each time. The 1972 ALCS was different. The Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers provided heart-stopping excitement throughout, replete with dramatic swings of momentum and a full five-game battle before the A’s finally prevailed.
You can read more about the paths Oakland and Detroit took to their respective division titles and about their key players at the links below. This post takes an exclusive focus on the games of the 1972 ALCS.
Homefield advantage in the LCS was set up on a rotation basis rather the won-loss record. This year’s rotation called for the series to begin with two games in Oakland, and the balance of the series to be played back in Detroit.
So, on Saturday afternoon the A’s gave the ball to the great Catfish Hunter. The Tigers countered with Mickey Lolich, the hero of their 1968 World Series triumph.
Norm Cash put Detroit on the board in the top of the second with a leadoff home run. After an Oakland rally in the bottom of that same inning fizzled, the A’s tied it up in the third. Bert Campaneris worked a one-out walk. Matty Alou singled to right, putting runners on the corners. Joe Rudy’s sac fly made it 1-1.
Both pitchers were settled in and no serious threat was made again until Oakland’s half of the sixth, and even that was built on just an error and a walk. With one out, Gene Tenace’s line drive to third was caught and Reggie Jackson was doubled off second base. The game stayed 1-1.
Detroit took their turn at threatening in the eighth when Ed Brinkman hit a leadoff double. The pitcher’s spot was up next—the DH did not come to the American League until a year later. Lolich batted for himself, another factoid that can illuminate the way the game was played in this era. The pitcher struck out and Catfish escaped the jam.
Another leadoff double in the top of the ninth, this one by Duke Sims, prompted Oakland manager Dick Williams to go to his bullpen. Vida Blue, normally a top-flight starter, but who would pull substantial relief work in this postseason, came on. An error on a sac bunt put the Tigers with business with men on the corners and no outs. Williams came back out and summoned his Hall of Fame closer, Rollie Fingers.
Rollie got Gates Brown to pop up, then induced a double-play ball from Jim Northrup. The A’s had escaped and the 1-1 tie went to extra innings.
Detroit rightfielder Al Kaline was an aging legend, but still a productive one. And he greeted Fingers in the 11th with a solo blast. The Tigers had the lead. Sims then tripled to right. But Fingers again escaped. An opportunity to add some insurance was missed. And it would hurt.
Sal Bando and Mike Epstein both singled off Lolich, still in the game, to open the bottom of the 11th. Now it was Tiger manager Billy Martin’s turn to go to his bullpen. He summoned Chuck Seelbach.
Tenance got a bunt down and both runners moved up. Gonzalo Marquez knocked a single to right and both runs came home. Oakland had won a 3-2 thriller.
The A’s rolled that momentum into Sunday afternoon and Game 2. Campaneris led off the bottom of the first with a base hit, stole second, stole third, and scored on a single from Rudi. Oakland starter Blue Moon Odom was staked to a quick 1-zip lead.
Campaneir singled again to start the third. Alou’s ground ball resulted in a forceout at second. Williams tried to gin up the running game again, but this time it backfired. Alou was cut down trying to steal second and Rudi’s subsequent double went to waste.
Detroit starter Woodie Fryman got settled down and kept the game 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth. George Hendrick singled. Odom got down a sac bunt. The lineup flipped over and Campaneris delivered again, with a single that put runners on first and third. Alou’s single made it 2-0 with runners still on the corners. Martin summoned Chris Zachary from the bullpen to try and stop the bleeding.
But Zachary uncorked consecutive wild pitches that put the A’s up 3-0 with Alou on third. Rudi walked. Martin again went to the pen, this time Fred Scherman. It didn’t work. Reggie Jackson doubled to left-center, both runs scored and it was 5-0.
This game was blown open and Odom was doing some serious dealing. He went the distance and allowed just three hits, all of them singles. The 5-0 final put the A’s on the brink of a pennant as the series went to the Rustbelt.
But during those last few innings of Game 2, an incident happened that would reverberate through the rest of the series. Campaneris was beaned on the left ankle by Tiger reliever Lerrin LaGrow. Campy didn’t take it well and hurled his bat back towards the mound. The A’s shortstop was suspended. He could return if his team made the World Series, but he was sidelined for the rest of this ALCS.
Even though prime-time baseball arrived in the postseason during the 1971 World Series, it hadn’t yet filtered down to LCS play. So the midweek sequence of games at old Tiger Stadium would all be in the daytime. Oakland sent lefty Ken Holtzman to the mound to try and win the pennant. Detroit sought to keep their season alive with Joe Coleman.
Alou had moved up to leadoff in place of Campaneris and opened the game with a double. Dal Maxvill worked a walk. After Coleman struck out Rudi, Williams put on a double steal and it paid off. Runners on second and third, one out and Reggie at the plate. But Coleman came up with another big strikeout, then he K’d Epstein for good measure. No runs on the board.
That inning would prove to be a trend. In seven of the nine innings, Oakland would put their leadoff man aboard. And they would never score. In the meantime, Bill Freehan hit a one-out double in the Detroit fourth that was sandwiched around a pair of walks. Holtzman got Mickey Stanley to fly to center and was on the verge of escaping. But Ike Brown knocked a two-out single and gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Freehan homered in the eighth. Coleman kept pitching around baserunners and went the distance. Detroit’s 3-0 win extended the series another day.
Pitching on three days’ rest was common, if not the norm, in the baseball world of 1972. So we had a Catfish-Lolich rematch on tap for Wednesday afternoon’s Game 4. And once again, the aces were dialed in.
Oakland threatened in the third with Alou’s leadoff double, but he died there. Detroit got on the board in the bottom of that same inning when McAuliffe hit a leadoff home run. The Tigers went on to put runners on first and second with one out. Catfish bore down, struck out Cash and Northrup and kept it a 1-0 game. The pitchers kept dominating until the seventh. Then Epstein homered for the A’s and were tied 1-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, McAuliffe worked a leadoff walk. Kaline bunted him up to second. Stanley beat out an infield hit, setting Detroit up with men on the corners and still just one out. Fingers came out of the Oakland bullpen.
Both of the great managers in this series believed in the running game. Although perhaps Martin’s belief was a little too strong in this instance. With Freehan at the plate, Stanley tried to steal home. He was out. Fingers got out of the jam.
Blue pitched the ninth without incident for the A’s, and Seelbach came on for Lolich as the game went to the 10th. With Blue’s spot due to lead off the 10th, Marquez came off the bench to pinch-hit. He singled and promptly scored on another double from Alou. The A’s had a 2-1 lead. Ted Kubiak poked an RBI single. It was 3-1, and Oakland was three outs from the World Series.
The thin reed on which Detroit’s hopes hung could be bolstered by the fact that both Fingers and Blue were now out of the game. Bob Locker was on in relief to try and close it for the A’s. For the third time in this Game 4, McAuliffe got action started, this time with a leadoff single. Kaline followed with a single of his own. Joe Horlen came on in relief for Oakland and promptly walked Gates Brown. There was still no one out and the Tigers had the winning runs on base.
As part of Williams’ late-inning maneuvering, he had pinch-hit for second baseman Green. That resulted in Tenace, a natural catcher playing second base. The consequences of that arrived when Freehan came to the plate.
Freehan’s ground ball to third could have been the double play ball the A’s needed. Instead they got nothing. Tenace made an error on the throw. The bases were still loaded, there was still no one out, and now it was 3-2.
Wiliams made another relief move, this time going for Dave Hamilton. He walked Cash to tie the game. Northrup singled to right. Ballgame. The Tigers had won a dramatic 4-3 thriller, the second extra-inning turnabout in this series. And it set up Thursday afternoon’s winner-take-all Game 5.
Detroit had all the momentum and they immediately rolled that over in the first inning against Odom. Once again, McAuliffe was the instigator, with a leadoff single. Sims worked a one-out walk. Tenace was back behind the plate, but his defensive struggles continued, with a passed ball that move the runners to second and third. Freehan’s groundout picked up the run.
Oakland needed to reverse fortune, and Reggie stepped up. After a leadoff walk, he stole second and moved up to third on a fly out. But Tenace’s rough stretch continued with a strikeout. Risking a missed opportunity, Williams rolled the dice. Reggie tried to steal home. And he made it. The game was tied 1-1. But it did come out of a cost—the great outfielder tore up his knee on the slide and was done for the year.
In the top of the fourth, a McAuliffe error was followed by a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Tenace came to the plate. His fortunes turned with a big RBI single. The A’s had a 2-1 lead.
Odom was settled in, and in the fifth, he tried to help the cause with his bat. A leadoff double from the pitcher, followed by a sac bunt put the A’s in business. But Maxvill popped out, Rudi flied to center and the 2-1 score held.
Blue came out of the bullpen and continued the great Oakland pitching. Not until the bottom of the eighth, did Detroit threaten. A leadoff single, followed by a sac bunt gave the heart of the order a couple shots at tying the game. But Blue got both Kaline and Sims.
That was Detroit’s best chance. They got a one-out single from Cash in the ninth, but he stayed at first. When Blue got Tony Taylor to fly out to George Hendrick in center, the party could start in Oakland.
There was no ALCS MVP award given out until 1980. But the notable performers included Alou, who had eight hits over the five games and had assumed the leadoff spot after Campaneris was suspended. Catfish pitched over 15 innings in his two starts, and allowed just two runs.
On the Detroit side, Lolich had worked an amazing 19 innings in two starts, with an ERA of 1.42. None of the Tiger hitters had notable overall series numbers, but McAuliffe certainly made the most of his hits.
Then there’s Odom. Over 14 innings, the only run scored off him was unearned. He won both of his starts, including the decisive Game 5. He would be my pick for a retroactive 1972 ALCS MVP.
For the Tigers, this series was a last hurrah for the great core group headlined by Lolich and Kaline. By the time Detroit returned to contention several years later, an entirely new cast had been developed.
For the A’s, this was just the beginning. The 1972 World Serieswas more of the same. It was riveting and intense, dominated by pitching. It had Oakland getting a two-game lead in the Series, being pushed to the limit, and then surviving. Tenace, after his brief rough stretch in this ALCS, was a hero, hitting four home runs and pushing Oakland past the Cincinnati Reds.
This season was the first of three straight title runs for the A’s. The good times in Oakland were just getting started.
The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners came into the 2000 ALCS with very different histories. The Yankees were the most decorated franchise in all of professional sports, and the two-time defending World Series champions to boots. The Mariners were a team whose very existence was still less than 25 years old. They had never even made the World Series, much less won it. And they had only reached the ALCS once before this. These two teams, coming from such different paths, played a good American League Championship Series in October of 2000, with the Yanks successfully continuing their march for a three-peat.
You can read more about the paths New York and Seattle took to reach the postseason, the key players who led the way, and their victories in the Division Series round, at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 2000 ALCS.
The ALCS opened on a Tuesday night in the Bronx. New York, their rotation off schedule after a grueling five-game Division Series with Oakland, gave the Game 1 start to Denny Neagle. Seattle, fresh off a sweep of Chicago, handed the ball to reliable Freddy Garcia.
Both pitchers performed well. Neagle pitched around a couple of first-inning walks by getting a double play ball. Garcia got his own double-play ball to escape a tight spot in the third inning. We were still scoreless when the game reached the fifth. That’s when the Mariners did some two-out damage.
Mark McLemore got the first hit of the game for Seattle, a double to left. Neagle’s no-hitter was gone, and his shutout went by the boards when Rickey Henderson delivered an RBI single. One inning later, Alex Rodriguez, then a rising star with the Mariners, homered.
Garcia pitched into the seventh inning, allowing just three hits. The game overall had only 11 hits and eight of them were singles. The 2-0 Seattle lead was still holding in the bottom of the ninth. Mariner closer Kazuhiro “Kaz” Sasaki came out of the bullpen. Bernie Williams hit a leadoff single, and Tino Martinez delivered a one-out base hit. The Yankees had a couple shots to win the game with one swing. But Kaz got Jorge Posada and Luis Sojo to fly out. Seattle had grabbed a road win.
Game 2 was a late afternoon start on Wednesday. New York would turn to the ever-reliable Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who faced off with John Halama.
The Yankees quickly loaded up the bases on Halama in the first, thanks to two walks and an error. With nobody out, Williams had the chance to do some real damage. But he bounced into a home-to-first double play and the Mariners escaped the inning.
El Duque did some escape work of his own in the top of the second. With runners on second and third and one out, he snared a line drive hit back at him, and then doubled the runner off second. But in the top of the third inning, Seattle broke through. Just like last night, everything started with two outs. Mike Cameron walked, stole second and scored on a base hit by Stan Javier.
It was early, but there was definitely some pressure on New York. El Duque settled in and didn’t allow any more runs, as he worked eight strong innings. But Halama continued the Seattle pattern of putting up zeroes. We reached the bottom of the eighth with the score still 1-0 and the Yanks in danger of falling into a big series hole.
David Justice responded with a leadoff double in the eighth against Mariner reliever Arthur Rhodes. Williams promptly followed with a single that tied the game. Martinez and Posada both singled. The Yanks now had the lead and they had Mariano Rivera coming out of the bullpen for the ninth. But they kept adding on. Paul O’Neill picked up an RBI with a sac fly. Sojo singled. Jose Vizcaino doubled. Chuck Knoblauch singled. The lead was up to 5-1. Derek Jeter homered.
By the time the inning was over, it was 7-1. Rivera still came out of the pen, but now it just to get some work and stay sharp going into the travel day. New York had evened up this 2000 ALCS.
Friday night’s prime-time start on the East Coast meant a 5 PM local start in Seattle for Game 3. The pitchers were Andy Pettitte for the Yanks and Aaron Sele for the Mariners. The home crowd behind them, Seattle got after Pettitte right away in the first inning. Consecutive one-out singles from Cameron, A-Rod, and Edgar Martinez gave the home team a 1-0 lead.
But this time, the Yankee bats got cooking early. Williams and Tino Martinez hit back-to-back homers in the second inning, quickly putting New York back up 2-1. After Pettitte pitched around trouble in the second, the Yanks got another run in the third when Scott Brosius singled and then scored a two-out double from Justice.
In the bottom of the fifth, Seattle got one back. Henderson doubled with one out, Cameron picked him up with a single, and at 3-2, we had another good ballgame on our hands.
New York kept chipping away in the sixth. Williams singled. Tino Martinez beat out an infield hit. With two outs, O’Neill delivered an RBI single. 4-2 Yanks.
It was still 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth, when A-Rod singled and stole second. With one out, New York manager Joe Torre summoned Rivera. The great closer got the last two outs of the eighth. He retired the side in the ninth. In between the Yankees tacked on four insurance wins. With the 8-2 final, New York had won another otherwise close game by blowing it open late. And they led this ALCS 2-1.
Game 4 was another late afternoon start in the Pacific Northwest, aiming for the Saturday night audience in the Big Apple. And Roger Clemens was ready for prime-time. The Yankee starter was dominant and was working on a no-hitter by the fifth inning. But Paul Abbott was putting up zeroes of his own for Seattle. Abbott got the first two batters in the top of the fifth. Then New York struck.
In short order, Brosius singled, Knoblauch worked a walk and Jeter homered. It was 3-0. With Clemens pitching like he was, and Rivera waiting in the bullpen, the lead seemed ironclad. It was—and Mariano wasn’t even necessary. Clemens kept dealing. His no-hitter stayed intact until the seventh. Seattle got the tying run to the plate with two outs in that seventh inning, but Clemens struck out Cameron to end the threat.
Clemens went the distance, closing out the one-hitter and finishing with 15 strikeouts. Justice hit a two-run homer for unnecessary insurance in the eighth. New York had a 5-0 win and was one win from a third straight American League pennant.
What a day Sunday, October 15 was to be a sports fan in New York City. The pro football feast started with the Super Bowl-bound Giants beating the Cowboys. In the late afternoon time slot, a decent Jets team knocked off the Patriots. And baseball? Merely the Yankees going to make the World Series in a 4 PM ET start, and the Mets playing in prime-time, two wins from doing the same.
Game 5 was a Neagle-Garcia rematch. Neagle had been wild in the first inning of Game 1, but escaped. He was wild again to start this one, walking three batters. Neagle didn’t give up a hit, but a sac fly from John Olerud to put the Mariners on the board.
New York hadn’t scored off Garcia in the series opener, and it took the Yanks until the fourth inning to do anything here. Tino Martinez hit a leadoff double. Posada followed with a single, setting up runners on the corners with no one out. Then O’Neill worked a walk. Sojo doubled. The Yankees had a 2-1 lead, there were runners on the second and third and still none out. The chance to blow this game—and the 2000 ALCS—wide open was right there.
But it didn’t happen. Brosius popped up, Knoblauch struck out and Jeter grounded out. The Mariners still had life. And in the bottom of the fifth, they made New York pay for not driving the knife in.
McLemore bunted for a hit to start the rally. Henderson walked. Cameron bunted both runners up. Neagle was pulled for Jeff Nelson, but A-Rod got Nelson for a single that scored both runs. Seattle had the lead and they kept coming. Edgar Martinez homered. Olerud homered. The Mariners had a comfortable 6-2 lead.
Seattle fans still had reason to be nervous in the seventh when three walks loaded the bases with one out. But Rhodes struck out Posada, struck out Glenallen Hill and killed the threat. The game ended 6-2. The Mariners still had a steep hill to climb, trailing 3-2 in games and the series going to New York. But the Subway Series, which got the first half completed, when the Mets clinched the NLCS on Monday, wasn’t a done deal yet.
Tuesday night, we were back in the Bronx with a pitching rematch between El Duque and Halama. And the Yankee starter was not sharp. After a one-out walk in the top of the first, A-Rod and Edgar Martinez hit consecutive doubles down the left field line and Seattle had a 2-0 lead. That lead extended to 4-zip in the fourth when Olerud’s double was followed by a two-run blast from Carlos Guillen.
That 3-1 series lead that had looked so ironclad for the Yankees was starting to crack, but this veteran team wasted no time getting back in the game. With one out in the home half of the fourth, Justice and Williams each singled. Tino Martinez worked a walk. Posada ripped a double into the right-center gap to cut the lead to 4-2, with runners still on second and third and only one out. O’Neill grounded a single and it was 4-3 with runners on the corners.
Seattle skipper Lou Piniella went to his bullpen. Brett Tomko delivered, getting Sojo to pop up and then finishing the inning with the Mariner lead still intact.
Torre’s confidence in El Duque was underscored by leaving the starter in a game of this magnitude, even after the poor start. El Duque rewarded the confidence. He pitched around a leadoff double in the sixth, but otherwise kept the game at 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh.
Jose Paniagua was now on for Seattle. A simple infield hit from Vizcaino got the inning started. Knoblauch put down a sac bunt to get the tying run into scoring position. Jeter singled to left, but Vizcaino was held up at third. It was still 4-3, and Piniella summoned the lefthander Rhodes to face the lefthanded hitting Justice.
It was a by-the-book move, but it blew up. Justice ripped a home run to right. The crowd was in a frenzy. The Yankees led 6-4 and they didn’t stop. Williams singled. Tino Martinez doubled. Posada walked. With the bases loaded, O’Neill knocked in two runs with a base hit. Rhodes was gone and the score was 8-4. It went to 9-4 when Vizcaino, who started all of this, picked up a run with a sac fly.
A-Rod immediately led off the top of the eighth with a home run and Edgar Martinez walked. That was it for El Duque and Rivera came in. But the great closer was greeted by a double from Olerud. There were runners on second and third. Raul Ibanez and Guillen couldn’t pick up the runs. But with two outs, McLemore did. A double to right cut the lead to 9-7 and gave Jay Buhner—a good young power-hitter—a chance to come up as the tying run. Mariano struck him out.
With two outs in the ninth, A-Rod legged out an infield hit. The Mariners had another good shot with the tying run up, this time in the person of Edgar Martinez. But Rivera induced a groundball to short, Jeter made the play and there was another October celebration in Yankee Stadium.
David Justice was named the 2000 ALCS MVP. His 6-for-26 performance doesn’t jump off the page. But if it seems like, in reading this narrative account, that Justice was at the center of an awful lot, well…he was. That’s backed up by his 8 RBIs in the six games, including the big home run of Game 6. He was a worthy choice for the honor.
Other Yankee heroes included Tino Martinez, who went 8-for-25, and Williams, who delivered 10 hits. Jeter went 7-for-22 and drew six walks.
A-Rod would one day become renowned for October failures when he became a Yankee, but there were no signs of that in this series. He went 9-for-22 with two home runs. Olerud’s 7-for-20 performance was the other notable showing by a Mariner hitter. Seattle’s best individual performance came from Garcia, who got both of Seattle’s wins with a 1.54 ERA.
The Yankees went on to finish the three-peat, defeating the Mets in five games in the World Series. One year later, both the Yanks and Mariners would be right back in this very same place. Both teams had even better regular seasons—especially Seattle, who won 116 games. But that 2001 ALCS ended basically the same—with a New York triumph.
The League Championship Series round was only in its third year of existence in 1971, but the Baltimore Orioles were already old hands at it. The Birds had swept what was then a best-of-five series the previous two years and won the World Series in 1970. The Oakland A’s were the newcomers. The difference in experience showed at the 1971 ALCS, as Baltimore made it three in a row—not just pennants, but sweeps.
You can read more about the season-long paths the Orioles and A’s took to reach this postseason and about their key players, at the links below. This article will focus exclusively on the games of the 1971 ALCS.
Homefield advantage was done on a rotation basis and it was the AL East’s turn to host. The series opened in Baltimore on a Sunday afternoon. The Orioles sent one of their four 20-game winners, Dave McNally, to face Oakland ace Vida Blue who would merely win both the Cy Young and MVP awards this season.
Oakland showed no signs of cold feet with a second inning assault. In short order, Sal Bando doubled, Angel Mangual tripled and Dave Duncan doubled. The score was 2-0 and there was nobody out. Dick Green dropped down a sac bunt to move Duncan to third. Blue came to the plate—this was two years before the advent of the DH rule in the American League.
Duncan was thrown out on the basepaths and that threat was ended. But in the top of the fourth, Mangual delivered again–a one-out RBI double that drove in Tommy Davis. The A’s were up 3-zip and had the best pitcher in baseball on the mound.
In the bottom of the fourth, Davey Johnson and Merv Rettenmund hit back-to-back doubles, the first hits Blue had given up. Boog Powell singled to right. One run was in and there were runners on the corners with one out. Brooks Robinson was at the plate, but Blue got him to ground to Bando at third and start an inning-ending double play. Oakland’s lead held at 3-1.
It stayed that way until the seventh, when Baltimore finally got to Blue. A leadoff walk issued to Frank Robinson was the original source of Blue’s troubles. Brooks Robinson singled. After a flyball out, there were runners on the corners, but Blue was on the verge of escaping against the bottom of the order. Instead, 8-hitter Mark Belanger singled, cutting the lead to 3-2. Curt Motton, batting in McNally’s spot, slashed a double. The game was tied 3-all with runners on second and third.
Paul Blair finished the job with a two-out, two-run double that gave Baltimore a 5-3 lead. Oakland had a threat in the eighth, after Bert Campaneris led off the inning with a double, with Joe Rudi and Reggie Jackson coming to the plate. But ace Oriole reliever Eddie Watt slammed the door and Baltimore took Game 1.
Prime-time baseball in LCS play was something else still a couple years off, so Monday’s Game 2 started at 1 PM. Baltimore had another 20-game winner to go to, this one being Mike Cuellar. Oakland had another rising star in Catfish Hunter.
Oakland again got a leadoff double in the second, this one from Tommy Davis. This time the rally died with no runs. In the bottom of that inning, Rettenmund singled, but was thrown out trying to stretch into a double. Brooks Robinson responded with a solo home run. Two more singles, one by Cuellar, put two on with two outs. But Catfish got Don Buford to fly out. An inning that could have been big ended with just one run.
The Birds used the long ball again, this time off the bat of Boog Powell, to take a 2-0 lead in the third. Oakland finally got on the board in the fourth. Bando doubled and scored on a two-out base hit from Duncan. The A’s threatened in the sixth when Reggie Jackson led off with a double and was bunted up to third.
Oakland was poised to tie the game…but Bando and Mangual were unable to drive in the run. Baltimore kept their 2-1 lead going into the late innings.
Hunter had been in control since the third, but the inability to keep the ball in the yard did him in again late. Elrod Hendricks homered for Baltimore. Powell went deep again in the eighth, this time a two-run blast. Cuellar went the distance. With a 5-1 win, the Orioles had held serve at home and were one win from the pennant.
The travel day had been lost when the opening of the series had to be postponed from its scheduled Saturday start date. That meant a long flight across the country and a quick turnaround with a day game on Tuesday. The difference between the rotations also started to show up. Oakland’s Diego Segui was a good arm, to be sure. But Baltimore simply trotted out another 20-game winner—the future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer.
A couple of first-inning walks put Segui in immediate trouble, the bases loaded and no outs. But he sandwiched big strikeouts of Frank and Brooks Robinson around a sac fly from Hendricks. The Orioles only got one run.
It was Palmer’s turn to get out of some trouble in the bottom of the first. With runners on first and second and one out, the Oriole starter got Mike Epstein and Bando to keep Oakland off the board.
The pattern continued in the top of the third. Baltimore had two on and one out. Frank Robinson hit a hard line drive…that went right at shortstop Campaneris who doubled off the runner and killed the threat. When Reggie Jackson homered in the bottom of the inning, we had a 1-1 tie.
Oakland had their chance to get the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Palmer issued a couple walks. But the bottom of the order was up. Green and Segui were retired. A game with a lot of action still had a tight 1-1 score.
The constant playing with fire got Segui burned in the top of the fifth though. Buford led off with a single. Powell worked a one-out walk. A Frank Robinson groundout moved both runners up, to second and third. Hendricks walked. Two outs, the bases loaded and Brooks Robinson at the plate. The hero of Baltimore’s 1970 postseason run, Brooks knocked a single to center and picked up two runs. Oakland manager Dick Williams pulled Segui and brought in Rollie Fingers, but the damage was done.
Bando homered in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2. But the Orioles took out some insurance in the top of the seventh. A walk to Powell was followed by an RBI double from Frank Robinson, who in turn took third on a futile throw home. That enabled another run to score on a wild pitch. It was 5-2 and the Orioles could taste the champagne.
The A’s made noise in the bottom of the eighth though. Reggie Jackson homered again to make it 5-3. Mike Epstein singled. The tying run was coming to the plate in the person of Bando, who was enjoying a good series. But his groundball to short started a double-play. Palmer locked in and struck out the final four batters. Baltimore was officially 9-0 in ALCS play over three years and going back to the World Series.
There was no ALCS MVP honor awarded until 1980. Baltimore’s balanced attack left them with several good candidates for a retroactive honor. Powell went 3-for-10 and homered twice. Davey Johnson also went 3-for-10. Buford and Blair had three hits apiece while starting just two games.
But the honor would have to go to Brooks Robinson. In going 4-for-11, he narrowly had the top batting average of any Oriole regular. He hit the home run that got Baltimore started in Game 2 and had the biggest hit of the clinching Game 3. None of the starting pitchers worked more than one game and no reliever stood out.
On Oakland’s side, Bando and Reggie Jackson, with four hits apiece stood out. The lack of great outings from Blue and Hunter is ultimately what did the A’s in.
Baltimore briefly kept their momentum going, winning the first two games of the World Seriesagainst the Pittsburgh Pirates. But then the Oriole bats fell silent and they ultimately lost a heartbreaking seven-game series.
As for Oakland, they would be back in spades. This was the first of five straight trips to the ALCS. Starting in 1972, the A’s would win three straight World Series. Two of the ALCS triumphs in that span came against the Orioles. Baltimore and Oakland were the dominant American League teams of the early 1970s and this 1971 ALCS was their first postseason showdown.
The 1970 American League Championship Series was a sequel. The inaugural year of LCS play had been 1969. The AL round had seen the Baltimore Orioles sweep the Minnesota Twins three straight in a postseason round that was best-of-five through 1984. 1970 was more of the same. The Twins were good, but the Orioles were better and Baltimore brought the brooms.
You can read more about the season-long journeys that Baltimore and Minnesota took to their division titles, and about their key players, at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games that made up the 1970 ALCS.
Homefield advantage for the League Championship Series round was done on a rotation basis and used a 2-3 format. The series would open with two games at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium, then go east to Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium for all remaining games.
So on Saturday afternoon at the Old Met, the Orioles and Twins got down to business and the home team wasted no time in going to work. Cesar Tovar singled, was bunted up to second and scored on a single by the great Harmon Killebrew. It was 1-0 Twins in the first inning and might have been worse, but Tony Oliva’s two-out line drive wound up in the glove of Baltimore centerfielder Paul Blair.
Baltimore then bounced right back at the plate. Elrod Hendricks and Brooks Robinson singled, and Davey Johnson was hit by a pitch. The bases were loaded with one out. Minnesota starter Jim Perry got a needed ground ball from Mark Belanger. But after the forceout at second, Twins’ second baseman Danny Thompson threw it away on the turn. Instead of escaping the jam, Perry saw two runs score and the Birds grab the lead.
Thompson helped make some amends with his bat in the bottom of the inning, following a George Mitterwald single with a double and setting up second and third with one out. Perry came to the plate—the DH did not exist until 1973—and dropped down a bunt that picked up the tying run. It was 2-2, and neither starter—eventual Cy Young Award winner Perry or 20-game winner Cuellar—looked comfortable.
In the top of the fourth, Frank Robinson and Hendricks got the inning going with singles to right. With runners on the corners, Brooks Robinson’s sac fly put Baltimore up 3-2. A Johnson single and infield hit from Belanger loaded up the bases. Cuellar came to the plate. It was an ideal spot for Perry to limit the damage. Instead, the Oriole pitcher blew this game open with a grand slam. It was 7-2 and before the inning was over, Baltimore added on. Don Buford and MVP first baseman Boog Powell each homered.
With a 9-2 lead, Cuellar should have been set to cruise home. Instead, the Twins rallied over the next two innings. Tovar knocked a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. Killebrew homered in the fifth. Mitterwald came up with a two-out RBI base hit of his own. Cuellar was not able to complete five innings and qualify for the win. It was 9-6 and we still had a ballgame on our hands.
Dick Hall, on in relief for Cuellar, batted for himself in the top of the sixth and singled. Buford worked a walk. Powell’s RBI single extended the lead to 10-6. After another walk, the bases were loaded. But this rally ended when Hendricks’ ground ball to first base turned into a 3-2-3 double play.
The double play kept the Twins in the game, but games like this swing on which team can find a reliever to settle things done. Hall was that man today. He pitched four innings of one-hit ball and the 10-6 score held to the end. Baltimore had ensured themselves a road split.
Minnesota turned to their own Hall—Tom Hall to try and even up the series on Sunday afternoon. But Tom Hall was erratic, walking Belanger and Blair to open the game, then giving up a RBI double to Powell. In the top of the third, a leadoff single from Belanger set up Frank Robinson’s two-run blast. In the fourth, an infield hit and an error set up another Oriole pitcher to do the job with his bat. Dave McNally singled in the run. It was 4-0 and Tom Hall was headed for an early shower.
Like Cuellar before him, McNally struggled with an early lead. He walked Leo Cardenas. A free pass to a light-hitting shortstop who batted in front of Killebrew and Oliva was less than ideal. The big bats each homered and the Twins were back in the game, down 4-3 going into the fifth.
Baltimore threatened to blow it right back open in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with no one out. Stan Williams came out of the Minnesota. He got Brooks Robinson to pop out and Davey Johnson’s fly ball was to shallow to score a run. Williams kept the score 4-3 and—at least temporarily—saved his team’s season.
The Twins missed their own opportunity in the fifth inning’s bottom half. With two on and one out, Cardenas singled to left. Williams came around third looking to score the tying run, but Oriole leftfielder Merv Rettenmund threw him out at the plate and preserved the 4-3 lead.
Just like in the opener, both teams got pitching in the latter stages of the game and the 4-3 score held to the top of the ninth. McNally, still in the game, was allowed to bat for himself and got it rolling with a double to left. A Belanger single put runners on first and third. After Blair struck out, Frank Robinson worked a walk to load the bases.
Ron Perranoski, the Twins’ ace reliever had come in on the eighth and faced off with Powell. The MVP ripped a double to left, scored two runs and extended the lead to 6-3. Having taken out a little insurance, the Baltimore bats piled on. Rettenmund’s single picked up another run. An error from Cardenas made it 8-3. Davey Johnson delivered the final blow with a three-run blast.
The Orioles had an 11-3 win. It was a much better game than the score makes it sound, but Baltimore was going back home needing just one win in three tries.
There was no travel day and night baseball was not yet a thing for League Championship Series play. So on Monday afternoon, the Birds sent Jim Palmer to the mound to try and secure the pennant. And the Baltimore bats wasted no time in chipping away at Jim Kaat.
Don Buford singled to left to start the home half of the first and was bunted up by Blair. Frank Robinson’s fly ball moved Buford to right and Powell’s single drove in the run. In the second inning, Palmer’s fly ball to center was flubbed by Jim Holt and the Oriole pitcher ended up on second base. A Buford single picked up the run and made it 2-0.
Brooks Robinson led off the Baltimore third with a double. A single from Johnson put runners on the corners and got Kaat out of the game. Bert Blyleven came on, making him the third future Hall of Fame pitcher to work in this game. But the 19-year-old Blyleven couldn’t stop the rally. A ground ball out picked up one run. Palmer continued the hitting display put on by Baltimore pitchers with an RBI double. Buford’s big day continued with a sac fly.
It was 5-0, but Minnesota had shown a propensity to rally at this point in the game. They put two men on with none out in the fourth, but Palmer worked out of it. The Twins grabbed a run in the fifth and brought Killebrew to the plate with two men aboard. On a 1-2 count, Palmer got the great Minnesota slugger looking. The lead was still a comfortable 5-1.
A solo blast from Johnson extended the lead and Palmer cruised home. With a man on first and two outs in the ninth, the Twins set up pinch-hitter Rick Renick. Palmer induced a ground ball to short. Belanger flipped it to Johnson for the forceout at second and the party was on. Baltimore had won the American League pennant for the second straight season and the third time in five years.
The ALCS did not start giving out an MVP award until 1980. The best choice in 1970 would have been Powell. The big first baseman went 6-for-14 and drove in six runs. That included the double that broke open Game 2 and the big two-out RBI hit early in Game 3 that set the tone.
Brooks Robinson had an excellent ALCS, going 7-for-12. Other noteworthy performances included Belanger, who went 4-for-12 and Davey Johnson homered twice.
For Minnesota, this ALCS loss ended what had been a nice two-year run. It would be 17 years before they made it back. For Baltimore, this was the second of six ALCS appearances they would make in the period from 1969 to 1983.
In the short-term, the Orioles had unfinished business. They were looking to avenge an upset loss in the 1969 World Series. This time around, Baltimore faced the Cincinnati Reds in the Fall Classic. Brooks Robinson built off his excellent ALCS and delivered a historically great World Series, leading the Orioles to the championship.
The Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland A’s were old hands at postseason baseball by the time they met in the 1992 ALCS. The two teams faced each other in 1989, when Oakland rolled to a pennant and later a World Series title. The A’s had also been here in 1988and 1990. The Blue Jays had also been to this round in 1985 and 1991. But while Oakland was a proven champion, Toronto had yet to get to a World Series. 1992 was the time to rectify that.
You can read more about the regular season journeys of the A’s and Blue Jays, and the performances of their key players, at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 1992 American League Championship Series.
Toronto’s Jack Morris and Oakland’s Dave Stewart were the very definition of big-game pitchers for their era and they squared off in the series opener on Wednesday night. By virtue of the rotation system that determined homefield advantage, the ALCS would open at Toronto’s Skydome.
The A’s got to Morris in the second inning. Harold Baines singled, and that was followed by home runs from Mark McGwuire and Terry Steinbach for a 3-0 lead. The Blue Jays chipped back in the middle innings on solo blasts from Pat Borders and Dave Winfield, but Oakland still held a 3-2 lead as the game went to the eighth.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Toronto got a double from Dave Winfield. Stewart was removed for Jeff Russell, but the setup man couldn’t stop John Olerud from lining a single to center to tie the game. Morris was still in for Toronto, but Baines got him one more time—with a home run down the right field line. This time the lead stood up and the 4-3 win gave the A’s early control of the series.
Toronto had acquired David Cone at the trade deadline and this kind of virtual must-win game at home on Thursday night was the reason why. He squared off with Oakland’s Mike Moore and both pitchers quickly settled in.
The game was scoreless until the fifth. The A’s had a chance to break through when they put runners on second and third. But a couple big strikeouts from Cone kept the scoreless tie intact. Until the Blue Jays came to the plate. Kelly Gruber hit a two-run blast for the game’s first runs. Two innings late, Gruber doubled and scored to give Cone a 3-0 lead.
Cone was removed in the ninth after allowing a leadoff triple to Ruben Sierra. Tom Henke, the closer came on. Baines’ RBI single brought to the tying run to the plate in the person of McGwire. The big first baseman hit the ball well, but got underneath it just enough to keep it in the park. The deep fly out to right was Oakland’s best shot in a 3-1 loss.
The A’s still had three games coming up home and the first one was a noon start local time on Saturday afternoon. Oakland sent postseason veteran Ron Darling to face Toronto’s talented young 16-game winner Juan Guzman.
An early error by A’s third baseman Carney Lansford resulted in a Blue Jay run and fourth-inning home run by Roberto Alomar nudged Toronto out to a 2-zip lead. Oakland made their first move in the bottom of the fourth. Sierra doubled to start a two-run rally that included another key base hit from Baines. The game was tied 2-2, the bases were loaded and there was nobody out. Mike Bordick lifted a fly ball to right. McGwire tagged up from third. Jays’ rightfielder Joe Carter threw him out at the plate. Toronto had turned back a potentially big inning and then immediately got a solo blast from Candy Maldonado to start the fifth.
The starting pitchers each made it through six innings and the score stayed 3-2 into the seventh. An error by Bordick opened the door to a two-run triple by Manny Lee and the Jays were up 5-2. The A’s countered with three singles, wrapped around a walk and stolen base by Rickey Henderson to get the two runs back and make it 5-4.
Russell came on in the eighth and for the second time in this series, struggled. He walked Winfield and with the 40-year-old later on third base, Russell uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the run. It proved to be a big run, because Oakland got something going against Henke in their own half of the eighth, getting runners on first and third with one out.
Lansford was at the plate and when he popped out, it looked like Henke would escape. But Sierra blooped a single to make it a 6-5 game and gave the red-hot Baines a chance to be a hero. Alas, Henke got Baines to ground out. Toronto added one more insurance run off Oakland’s MVP closer Dennis Eckersley in the ninth and won 7-5.
The two teams came back again at noon on Sunday. Morris took the ball on short rest for Toronto, while Oakland turned to veteran Bob Welch. And the Blue Jay offense seemed to pick up where they left off, with a home run from Olerud staking Morris to a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
But in the bottom of the third, the A’s bats got rolling. They peppered Morris for five hits, along with two walks and rang up five runs. They were in position to get more before Bordick grounded into a double play that kept the score 5-1.
Oakland rallied again the fourth and chased Morris with runners on the corners and one out. Todd Stottlemyre came out of the bullpen and delivered for the Jays. He got Sierra on a weak grounder that couldn’t bring in the run and then retired Baines.
Sierra ripped a two-out double in the sixth and came around to score. The lead was stretched to 6-1 and stayed that way until the eighth. Roberto Alomar led off the Toronto frame with a double. Welch was removed. It was simply up to the Oakland bullpen, so reliable all year, to get the final six outs and put the ball back in Dave Stewart’s hands the following afternoon. Even with Russell ineffective, Oakland manager Tony LaRussa had other options and he went to Jeff Parrett.
It didn’t help. Carter and Winfield each got hits and LaRussa was forced to go to Eckersley early. Olerud and Maldonado greeted Eck with base hits. Suddenly the score was 6-4, there were runners on first and second and still nobody out. Eckersley shut it down from there, and celebrated by shaking his fist at the Blue Jay dugout.
The celebration was premature. Devon White singled to start the Toronto ninth and Alomar homered to tie the game. LaRussa had to pull Eckersley, as Toronto loaded up the bases again with two outs. Jim Corsi finally got a big out for the A’s, keeping the score 6-6.
Oakland was poised to win it in the ninth. Baines singled. Pinch-runner Eric Fox stole second and was bunted over to third with one out. But Toronto’s Duane Ward got Steinbach and Lansford to to kill the threat.
It was one more missed opportunity for the A’s offense and it would be their last. Toronto picked up a run in the eleventh, Henke slammed the door and the Blue Jays had a commanding 3-1 series lead, with two home games still in tow.
The Blue Jays stood on the cusp of their first pennant, but it wasn’t going to happen against Stewart in his own backyard. Sierra hit a two-run blast off Cone early in the game for a 2-0 lead. Jerry Browne filled in for Lansford at third base and delivered a four-hit game, including an RBI single in the third.. Oakland added three more in the fifth. Stewart went the distance, pitching a seven-hitter and winning 6-2.
Toronto’s history of postseason failures meant no one in Canada was taking anything for granted. Especially because one of those failings—in 1985—involved blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing the final two games at home.
But not this year. In a late Wednesday afternoon start, the Blue Jay bats unloaded early and often against Moore. Carter hit a two-run blast in the first. Olerud added to the lead with an RBI single. And Maldonado blew it open in the third, with a three-run homer that made it 6-0. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was a party atmosphere in Skydome, with the Jays cruising to a 9-2 win.
Alomar was named 1992 ALCS MVP and it was a deserved honor. He finished the series with a stat line of .464 on-base percentage/.692 slugging percentage and his Game 4 home run off Eckersley remains the moment that defines this series, even more than 25 years later.
Credit also has to Olerud, Winfield and Maldonado, who were consistent bats throughout. And Devon White set the table effectively with a .448 OBP in the leadoff spot. Guzman’s two wins, including the Game 6 clincher, led the starting pitching, while Henke saved the three close games and didn’t allow a run.
Baines was the star on the Oakland side, with a stat line of .440/.640, including the game-winning home run in Game 1 that seemed like it might set the tone for the series. Sierra was excellent, at .357/.625. But Toronto was able to pitch around McGwire. The big slugger drew five walks, but didn’t get a chance to make a big enough impact with his bat.
For the A’s, this series was the end of an era. They would not return to postseason play until 2000. They did not reach the ALCS again until 2006. And they’ve yet to get back to the World Series.
Toronto had more champagne in their future. They finished the job in 1992, beating the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. And the Blue Jays came back in 1993 and did it again.
The Minnesota Twins had won a World Series in 1987, but the ensuing years saw them fall badly off the pace. The Toronto Blue Jays were as consistent a contender as there was in baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From these different starting points, the Twins and Blue Jays each won their division and faced off in the 1991 ALCS.
You can read more about the regular season paths each team took to reach the postseason, and the players who made it possible, at the links below. This article will focus specifically on the games of the American League Championship Series itself.
On a Tuesday night in the old Metrodome, Jack Morris took the ball for Minnesota against Toronto knuckleballer Tom Candiotti. The Twins got after Candiotti right away. Dan Gladden and Chuck Knoblauch led off the first inning with singles. A one-out sacrifice fly moved Gladden to third and Knoblauch stole second. Chili Davis then delivered a two-out RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
Minnesota kept it going in the second. Shane Mack beat out an infield hit, stole second and scored on a base hit from Greg Gagne. Gladden and Knoblauch each singled again and it was 4-0. In the bottom of the third, Davis walked, stole second and scored on a two-out RBI double from Mack. Candiotti was gone and the lead was 5-zip.
Toronto got great relief work from David Wells and Mike Timlin, and their offense started chipping back. They got a run in the fourth. With one out in the sixth, Devon White, Roberto Alomar, John Olerud and Kelly Gruber all singled in succession. Suddenly the lead was cut to 5-4 and there were runners on first and second. Minnesota manager Tom Kelly summoned Carl Willis from the bullpen.
Willis retired all seven batters he faced and get the ball into the hands of closer Rick Aguilera, who got the final four outs and held on to the 5-4 lead and the Game 1 win.
The Blue Jays turned to Juan Guzman for a Game 2 they realistically needed to win. They got him early support, touching Twins’ starter Kevin Tapani for a first-inning run. Devon White started that rally and he did it again in the third, when a leadoff double started that rally that ended when Gruber hit a two-run single to right.
Guzman pitched around some trouble in the first when he walked a couple guys and allowed a run in the third when a wild pitch let Knoblauch get to second where he scored on a base hit by Puckett. But otherwise, the 3-1 lead stood into the sixth when walks again got him in trouble.
Knoblauch and Chili Davis each drew free passes. With two outs, Puckett singled to score a run. Guzman was out and Toronto manager Cito Gaston went to his closer early. Tom Hehnke came on to end that inning and the Twins never threatened again. The Jays touched Tapani for two more runs in the seventh to secure their 5-2 win.
Homefield advantage had been vital to Minnesota in their 1987 World Series title run, as they had gone 6-0 in the Metrodome. The Game 2 loss in this ALCS meant they had to get at least one win on the road. It turned out, the Twins would do a lot more than that.
It didn’t look like the weekend was going to be a Twins-fest when Toronto’s Joe Carter hit a solo home run in the first inning of Friday night’s Game 3. And then that was followed up by a walk, an infield hit and an RBI double from Candy Maldonado. It was 2-0, but Minnesota’s 20-game winner Scott Erickson turned out to be done giving up runs for the night.
Jimmy Key pitched well for the Blue Jays and the 2-0 lead stood to the fifth when Mack tripled and scored. In the sixth, Knoblauch doubled and Puckett picked him up with a single that tied the game. It stayed 2-2 into extra innings and both starters were out.
Timlin was on for Toronto facing Minnesota third baseman Mike Pagliarulo. After a disappointing season following his free agent signing, Pagliarulo made up for it. He homered to right. Aguilera closed the game out and Minnesota had reclaimed homefield.
The pressure was on the Blue Jays for Saturday night with Morris on the mound. Toronto threatened early. They got on the run in the second, and one inning later, put runners on second and third with one out. Carter was at the plate. Morris got the big strikeout, escaped the inning and the rest of the evening went Minnesota’s way.
Puckett homered off Todd Stottlemyre to start the fourth and the game was tied. Davis hit a one-out double. With two outs, Mack walked and Pagliarulo singled in a run. After a hit batsman, Gladden ripped a two-run single, it was 4-1 and the rout was on. Minnesota added two more in the sixth. Morris went eight strong innings. The final score was 9-3.
Candiotti would get a chance to redeem himself in a must-win Game 5 in the late afternoon on Sunday. It didn’t begin well. Puckett homered in the first. In the second, Davis singled and then moved up to third as a couple knuckleballs got away. A base hit from Mack made it 2-0 and the Twins put runners on second and third with one out. Candiotti got Greg Gagne to pop up and kept his team in the game.
The Toronto offense awoke against Tapani in the third. Singles from Manny Lee, White and Alomar brought in one run. Carter doubled to tie it. Olerud drove in a third run with a productive out and the Blue Jays had the lead. That lead was extended to 5-2 in the fourth. After two were out, Lee and Mookie Wilson singled putting runners on the corners. Wilson stole second and Alomar drove in both runners with a single.
In the top of the sixth, Mack and Pagliarulo each singled, and Candiotti was removed for Timlin. Gagne popped up, but a Toronto error let a run in. Knoblauch blooped a double to right, two more runs scored and the game was tied.
Ward came on for Timlin and the 5-5 score held until the eighth. Ward got the first two Minnesota batters out. Then the final blow came from the Twins. Gladden singled and Knoblauch walked. A base hit from Puckett brought in Gladden with the lead run. The throw to the plate let Knoblauch and Puckett each move up a base. Kent Hrbek went the other way with a single to left center that provided two insurance runs.
It was 8-5 and all but over. Willis handled the Toronto half of the eighth with ease. Aguilera closed out the ninth, with Alomar’s fly ball to Gladden triggering the celebration in the Twin Cities.
Puckett was named 1991 ALCS MVP. He went 9-for-21, homered twice and drove in five runs, including the one that clinched the pennant. Also worthy of mention are Knoblauch, who batted .350 for the series and the relief work of Willis and Aguilera. They combined to pitch 8.2 IP of shutout ball and were vital to three of the four wins.
Toronto was hurt most by Candiotti not pitching deep into either one of his starts. Offensively, Olerud, Lee and Maldonado combined to go 7-for-55. Alomar was the bright spot, with his nine hits for the series.
For the second time in three years, the Oakland A’s met the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. The result of 1990 was the same as 1988—not only did Oakland win, but they did it in four straight.
You can read more about the regular season paths of the A’s and Red Sox at the links below and about the key players who shaped their success. This article will focus on the events of the 1990 ALCS.
Homefield advantage was done by rotation rather than merit, so in spite of Oakland’s dominant 99-win campaign, Fenway Park was the venue for Saturday night’s Game 1. And there was a marquee pitching matchup awaiting the prime-time audience. The A’s sent Dave Stewart to face the Red Sox’ Roger Clemens. Both were 20-game winners in 1990.
The game went according to script, as Stewart and Clemens were in control. Boston got on the board first when Wade Boggs hit a solo blast over the Green Monster in the fourth inning. Oakland threatened in the sixth when Clemens walked the first two batters, before a line drive double play off the bat of Harold Baines killed the threat. It was still a 1-0 game going into the seventh inning when Larry Andersen came on in relief of Clemens.
Andersen promptly walked Mark McGwire. A one-out single by Jamie Quirk put runners on the corners and a sac fly from AL MVP Rickey Henderson tied the game. Boston manager Joe Morgan tried another reliever, Tom Bolton in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff single to Jose Canseco, who was bunted to second, stole third and scored on Carney Lansford’s single to right. The A’s had manufactured a 2-1 lead. In the ninth, facing another reliever in Jeff Gray, Oakland unloaded for seven runs and the final score was a deceptive 9-1.
There was now a big dropoff in the Red Sox rotation. Dana Kiecker had a nice year in 1990 with a 3.97 ERA, but having him in a must-win spot wasn’t anything Boston fans would have wanted. Oakland just rolled out another ace. This time it was Bob Welch, who merely won 27 games in 1990 and captured the AL Cy Young Award.
The Red Sox threatened in the second before Tony Pena grounded into a double play. They threatened again in the third when Luis Rivera hit a leadoff double. This time productive outs brought the run around and Boston again had a 1-0 lead.
It only took until the fourth inning for the A’s to respond on Sunday night. Wille McGee ripped a leadoff double and scored on a Baines single. In the sixth, they peppered away at Kiecker for four straight singles, but another Baines double-play ball was mixed in there. Reliever Greg Harris was able to escape the inning with no damage. The Red Sox missed their own opportunity in the bottom of the frame when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Tom Brunansky grounded out.
The combination of the seventh inning and Larry Andersen did Boston in again. Although to be fair, the reliever did come on after Mike Gallego and Rickey Henderson had started the inning with singles. Oakland pushed across the lead run. The Red Sox looked ready to answer in the bottom of the eighth when Boggs and Ellis Burks singled with one out. Oakland manager Tony LaRussa played matchups—he used lefty reliever Rick Honeycutt to get Boston’s talented leftfielder Mike Greenwell. Then the manager went to closer Dennis Eckersley to strike out Dwight Evans and preserve the 2-1 lead.
The A’s again used the ninth to get some insurance. After McGee bunted his way on and Canseco walked, Baines doubled to right, McGwire singled to left and the score was 4-1. Eckersley made it stand up. Oakland was going home with 2-0 series lead.
On a Tuesday afternoon in Oakland, the A’s sent Mike Moore to the mound to face the Red Sox’ Mike Boddicker. In the top of the second, Greenwell worked a one-out walk, Evans singled and Brunansky drove in the run with a sac fly. Boston again led 1-0, but given the results thus far, Red Sox Nation could be forgiven if there was any lack of excitement over an early lead.
The pattern of Oakland comebacks continued. Canseco led off the fourth with a walk and Baines singled. McGwire struck out, but a successful double-steal on the third strike had the A’s in business. Dave Henderson tied the game with a sac fly and Willie Randolph delivered a two-out single to make it 2-1.
That was all Moore was going to need, although Boston generously gave up more in the sixth, with two errors and a hit batsman creating two runs and a 4-1 lead. Moore worked into the eighth until the Red Sox put two men aboard and brought Greenwell to the plate as the tying run. LaRussa again went to Honeycutt for the lefty-lefty matchup and again Honeycutt delivered. Eckersley again closed it out. And again, Oakland beat Boston in a postseason game.
Clemens and Stewart came back on short rest for Game 4 the following afternoon, but the Red Sox ace didn’t last long. In the bottom of the second, Lansford singled with one out. Terry Steinbach singled to left and a Greenwell throwing error put the runners on second and third. McGwire’s groundball out drove in the run. Clemens was in position to get out of it, but when he walked Willie Randolph, the pitcher lost his cool at home plate umpire Terry Cooney and got himself ejected.
With the Red Sox in the pen surprisingly early, light-hitting Mike Gallego ripped a two-out double that made it 3-0. The Boston relief corps did its job the rest of the way, and Oakland never scored again. But Stewart was simply unhittable. He carried the shutout into the ninth inning before a Burks double and Jody Reed single cut the lead to 3-1 and gave the Red Sox three shots with the tying run at the plate.
Honeycutt came on and promptly got Wade Boggs to ground into a double play. Another groundball out from Greenwell ended the series. Oakland had its third consecutive American League pennant.
Stewart’s two dominant starts made him an easy choice for 1990 ALCS MVP. Oakland also showcased the versatility in its lineup—even though McGwire and Canseco only combined for four hits, they also combined for eight walks. And other bats could do the damage, notably Lansford, who went 7-for-16, along with Baines and Steinbach who had five hits apiece in the four games.
For both teams, this series marked the ending of an era. Boston had won the AL East three times over the previous five years, but this core group of players would not return to October. It wasn’t until 1995, after some roster makeover and a realignment that created three divisions per league, that the Red Sox again won their division.
Oakland’s era ending was much more surprising. The A’s were the toast of baseball and the odds-on favorite to win a second straight World Series title. No one could have guessed that they had won for the last time in 1990—the Cincinnati Reds delivered astunning sweep in the Fall Classic. Oakland lost their hold on the AL West in 1991, and while they returned to postseason play in ‘92, the franchise has not been back to the World Series since 1990.
One team was one of baseball’s history-laden franchises, the other an expansion team. But they were united a shared heritage of heartbreak. The Boston Red Sox and California Angels met at the 1986 ALCS and it was inevitable that somebody’s fan base would be crushed when it was over. In a rare turnabout for the pre-2004 era it was the Red Sox who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat rather than the other way around.
Boston and California had each pulled away from their respective divisions and made September anticlimactic. Homefield advantage was determined on a rotation basis rather than merit, so there was really nothing to do for the last few weeks of the regular season than point to this showdown. You can read about the paths each team took to its division title at the links below. This article focuses exclusively on the games of the 1986 ALCS.
The series opened on a Tuesday night in Fenway Park, and it was a matchup of aces. Roger Clemens won by the Cy Young and MVP for the Red Sox, while the Angels’ Mike Witt finished third in the Cy Young voting. And to the surprise of the Fenway crowd, this was Witt’s night.
In the top of the second, Clemens issued a pair of walks and then in rapid succession, Ruppert Jones singled, Wally Joyner doubled and Brian Downing singled to left. It was suddenly 4-0. In the top of the third, California had some more two-out magic. After an error by Boston shortstop Spike Owen, the Angels got hits from Bob Boone and Gary Pettis and the lead was 5-zip.
Witt was in command and not until the sixth did the Red Sox get on the board. Owen drew a walk, Wade Boggs beat out an infield hit and Marty Barrett took a single the other way to right. But it was not the sign of an impending comeback. Witt finished off a complete-game five-hitter with no further damage. Clemens worked into the eighth, sparing the bullpen, but the Angels tacked on another couple runs in the 8-1 win.
Lefty Bruce Hurst got the ball for the Red Sox on Wednesday night who faced a virtual must-win on their homefield. Kirk McCaskill was on the mound for the Angels. This time it was Boston who came out on the attack. In the bottom of the first, Boggs lead off with a triple and Barrett doubled him home. In the bottom of the second, Rich Gedman and Owen singled and Boggs beat out another infield hit.
The bases were loaded with one out. Barrett popped a single to left and it was 2-0. McCaskill escaped further damage by getting Bill Buckner to bounce back to the mound and start a double play. California took advantage by tying the game up in the middle innings. Downing and Doug DeCinces opened with singles. A Boggs error and an infield hit by Dick Schofield brought in a run. One inning later Joyner homered to make it 2-2.
Boston got the lead back in the bottom of the frame when Buckner singled, veteran DH Don Baylor worked out a two-out walk and Dwight Evans doubled in the lead run. In the seventh, the Red Sox got real separation. After an error by second baseman Bobby Grich, Jim Rice singled and Baylor walked. Another error, this one by DeCinces at third, made the game 4-2.
McCaskill looked ready to get out of it when he got a ground ball to second that looked like a double play. California got the out at second, but Schofield’s throw to first went awry and two more runs scored. McCaskill was done and so were the Angels. Hurt gave up eleven hits, but finished the game because Joyner’s home run was the only one that went for extra bases. The Red Sox tacked on three runs in the eighth for good measure, keyed by Rice’s two-run homer. The final was 9-2.
An anticipated series had opened with two blowouts. At the very least, the Joyner routs had gone both ways, so there was room for excitement to build. And the three games out in Anaheim would be a building crescendo of drama.
Oil Can Boyd, the colorful Red Sox righthander got the Game 3 start and faced off with John Candelaria, a veteran of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1979 World Series champions. Boston got an early run in the second, but a baserunning error prevented a bigger inning. Rice led off with a walk and Baylor singled, but the lefthanded Candelaria picked Baylor off of first. Subsequent singles by Evans and Gedman only resulted in one run.
The Angels threatened in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with two outs. DeCinces then beat out an infield single to first, but Joyner tried to score all the way from second. Buckner wasn’t buying and threw him out at the plate. The Red Sox blew a bigger opportunity in the top of the fifth, failing to score after getting men on second and third with none out. Owens grounded to first, but failed to score the run, Barrett popped out and Candelaria escaped.
California finally tied it up in the sixth. Joyner drew a walk and moved up on a groundball. Hurst faced an old Boston nemesis, DH Reggie Jackson, who singled to tie the game. In the seventh, the Angels’ contact hitters displayed some muscle. The diminutive Schofield homered with two outs. After Bob Boone singled, speedy Gary Pettis also went deep. The Angels suddenly had a 4-1 lead.
The Red Sox made a move in the eighth when Barrett led off with a single. Rice drilled out a two-out double that spelled the end of the night for Candelaria. California manager Gene Mauch went to his closer, Donnie Moore, who promptly balked in a run. After issuing a walk to Evans, Moore surrendered a base hit to Rich Gedman that cut the lead to 4-3.
With two runners still on base Moore got the game’s biggest out, when Tony Armas flied out to center. California got an insurance run in the eighth when Jackson drew a walk, went all the way to third on a Boggs error and scored on a sac fly by Jones. Moore closed the ninth without incident and the 5-3 win put the Angels halfway to a pennant.
The significant downside that came out of the game for California was that Joyner would no longer be available. The first baseman and Rookie of the Year suffered a staph infection after Game 2 and while he tried to play in Game 3, it wasn’t working and he was out for the remainder of the ALCS.
The Red Sox turned to Clemens on three days’ rest to even the series. The Angels, in the stronger positon for the series, and having a future Hall of Famer in veteran Don Sutton available, kept on their normal rotation.
Clemens and Sutton traded zeroes for three innings in the prime-time game. In the top of the fourth, Boston missed a chance. Boggs led off with a double and Barrett bunted him up. But a Buckner fly ball wasn’t deep enough and Sutton escaped. The Red Sox got another chance in the sixth and cashed in. Armas started it with a single, Owen dropped down a sac bunt and with two outs, Buckner ultimately redeemed himself with an RBI single.
Sutton left after seven excellent innings and Vern Ruhle came on. But the bottom of the order was causing problems. Owen singled, took second on a groundball out and eventually scored on a base hit from Barrett. Chuck Finley came out of the Angel bullpen, but was let down by a pair of errors that resulted in Barrett scoring. Mauch, emptying his bullpen, to try and keep it close, went to Doug Corbett, who struck with Baylor with two outs and two on.
I still recall this Saturday night. A high school sophomore who was playing poker in a room separate from the TV set, I was walking back and forth and confidently reported to the other teenage card players that “the series is tied.” It would be a premature call.
Clemens, after a magnificent night, gave up a leadoff home run to DeCinces. With one out, consecutive singles from veteran pinch-hitter George Hendrick and Schofield, got the Red Sox ace out of the game. Manager John McNamara went to closer Calvin Schiraldi. Pettis greeted him with an RBI double that made it 3-2 and put runners on second and third.
After an intentional walk to Jones, Schiraldi came up with a big strikeout of Grich that looked ready to save the game. But with two outs, the closer plunked Downing. The score was tied and Reggie was coming to the plate. If nothing else, Schiraldi didn’t let the longtime New England nemesis deliver the final blow and Jackson grounded to second. But it merely delayed what looked like a fatal loss.
Schiraldi was still on the eleventh, as the Boston offense could get nothing going in extra innings. Angels’ catcher Jerry Narron singled and was bunted up by Pettis. Grich redeemed himself with a line drive single to left that won the game and put California on the brink of a pennant. With Witt ready to go on full rest for Sunday afternoon, and Clemens having been beaten twice, there seemed little hope left for the Red Sox.
Boston still came out strong, with Rice singling in the second inning and Gedman hitting a two-out home run. Hurst, on short rest, escaped jam in the innings’ bottom half pitching around a leadoff double by DeCinces and keeping the score 2-0. But the Boston bats fell silent, as Witt began cruising through the lineup. And California cut the lead in half on a solo shot by Boone in the third. They took the lead in the sixth when DeCinces hit a two-out double and Grich homered to make it 3-2.
The Angels appeared to all but sew up the pennant in the seventh. Hendrick legged out an infield hit. After a sac bunt by Boone, Pettis drew a walk and a double by Rob Wilfong put California up 5-2. There were just six outs left and Witt worked the eighth without incident.
Witt took the mound to open the ninth and quickly got into trouble. Buckner singled to center. After Rice struck out, Baylor homered and now it was 5-4. Witt recovered to get Evans to pop out and Angels Stadium was ready to celebrate. With the lefthanded hitting Gedman at the plate, Mauch decided to engage in situational managing and brought in lefty Gary Lucas.
This managerial decision has been the subject of considerable controversy, pulling your ace with one out to go and no one in base. In Mauch’s defense, Gedman had homered earlier and another one would tie the game. And the fact Baylor had already homered this inning suggested Witt was just hanging on. But when Lucas hit Gedman with a pitch, it seemed a useless change.
Mauch summoned the righthanded Moore to face Boston’s Dave Henderson. The count ran 2-2. One strike from elimination, Henderson homered on the next pitch. The Red Sox had a stunning 6-5 lead.
This is the moment when most recollection of the 1986 ALCS basically shuts down and the eventual Boston triumph seemed inevitable. It didn’t actually play out that way on late Sunday afternoon. The Angels rallied against the Red Sox bullpen in the ninth.
Boone led off with a single. Ruppert Jones came in to pinch run for the aging catcher and was bunted to second. McNamara played his own righty-lefty game and removed Bob Stanley, opting for lefty Joe Sambito to face Wilfong. It didn’t work. Wilfong singled and the game was tied. McNamara went back to the pen, going for righty Steve Crawford. He allowed a single to Schofield, sending Wilfong to third with the winning run and only one out. Downing was intentionally walked. DeCinces came to the plate and got a fly ball to right…but not deep enough to score. The agony of the Angels only increased when Grich hit a line drive, but right back at Crawford. The Red Sox had escaped the ninth inning not once, but twice and it was 6-6 as Sunday afternoon wore on.
Boston missed a chance in the tenth, as Rice grounded into a double play with runners on the corners and one out. Moore was still in the game in the top of the eleventh. Baylor was hit by a pitch and Evans singled. Gedman dropped down a bunt and beat it out. The bases were loaded with none out. Henderson—who else—hit a sac fly that made it 7-6. Even though no further damage resulted, this one was finally over. Schiraldi came in for the Red Sox and closed it out.
The Red Sox were flying high as the teams went back east, with a day off on Monday and resuming play on Tuesday. The Angels had to try and reclaim some momentum and they got right at it against Boyd.
After Jones worked a walk, Jackson and DeCinces hit back-to-back doubles for a quick 2-0 lead. But the Red Sox countered with a soft rally. Boggs and Barrett each worked full-count walks off McCaskill. A productive groundout, a passed ball and another productive ground ball tied the game.
In the third inning, Boston leveled McCaskill. Owens and Boggs singled to lead it off. Barrett doubled and Buckner singled to make it 4-2. Barrett tried to score on a groundball to third off the bat of Rice, but was thrown out at the plate. But with runners on first and second, Baylor singled to the opposite field. In an attempt to make another play at home, Joyner’s relay throw went wild and both runs scored, while Baylor went to third. Evans smacked a single to center making it 7-2 and ending McCaskill’s night.
California tried to rally in the fourth, putting the first two men on base. Boyd reached back to strike out Boone and Pettis and there were no runs. The Red Sox added to the lead in the fifth. After Baylor was hit by a pitch, Evans and Gedman singled, setting up an RBI groundball by Henderson. Even though Boggs ultimately killed the rally with a double-play, it wouldn’t really matter. The Angels got a solo home run from Downing in the seventh and an unearned run in the ninth, but even those were sandwiched around a two-run triple by Owen. The final was 10-4 and it was all coming down to a seventh game.
The Red Sox had Clemens available for a third start, while the Angels would turn to Candelaria. Even without Witt, you had still like the pitching option for California. Candelaria had some big-game mojo from 1979 and had pitched a shutout in Game 6 of the World Series in Baltimore, a game his Pirates faced elimination in. But October 15 in Fenway wouldn’t work out quite as well.
In the bottom of the second, an error by Schofield started the rally. It was followed by a base hit from Baylor, a walk to Evans and an RBI groundout from Gedman. With two outs, Boggs slapped a two-run single and it was 3-0.
Boston missed a chance in the third, when a Baylor double keyed a second and third situation with one out. But Evans couldn’t pick up the RBI and Candelaria escaped. But the roof finally fell in on the Angels in the fourth.
A fly ball off the bat of Henderson turned into an error by Pettis and Henderson ended up on third. Owens singled in the run. After a walk and two outs, Rice came to the plate. He smashed a three-run homer sending Fenway into a frenzy and at 7-0, this American League Championship Series was all but over.
Evans tacked on another home run in the seventh and Clemens pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and left after an eighth-inning single that the Angels turned into a meaningless run. The 8-1 final sent the Red Sox to the World Series for the first time since 1975. And it would be another chapter to the Angel history of heartbreak.
Barrett was named ALCS MVP, going 11-for-30. Other good contributors were Owen, whose 9-for-21 was a boon to the lineup out of the 9-hole. Gedman had ten hits and Baylor added nine of his own. On the Angel side, Boone went 10-for-22 and had the team closed it out in Game 5, Witt would almost certainly have been named series MVP.
The most notable struggle came from McCaskill, an integral part of the California rotation all year, but who only worked nine innings combined in his two starts and gave up 13 runs. And the loss of Joyner is a big what-might-have-been for Angels fans.
This American League Championship Series was just one-third of the most incredible October baseball has ever seen. The NLCS provided similar high-stakes drama between the Mets and Astros. And the World Series has a unique place in the game’s history, as it would be Boston’s turn to connect with a heritage of heartbreak, getting to one strike of winning the World Series before a series of unfortunate events, highlighted by a famous error from Buckner, took it away.
Even amidst the ending that Red Sox fans lived with for eighteen years, Henderson still remained a hero in the area for his vital role in the amazing ALCS battle.
There are times when a perceived mismatch leads to a magical upset or at least a riveting moment when a favorite has to turn back a determined challenger. The 1984 ALCS between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals was not one of them. The Tigers came in a heavy favorite, and while the Royals were able to make a couple of the individual games very good, the outcome of the series was never in doubt.
1984 was the last year the LCS round was still a best-of-five affair. Homefield advantage was determined by a rotation system, so the series would open with two games in Kansas City on a Tuesday & Wednesday. After a day off for travel, the balance of the series would be played in Detroit. You can read more about the season-long paths each team took to its division title at the links below. This article will focus strictly on the games of the 1984 ALCS.
Each team had its ace ready, Detroit with Jack Morris and Kansas City sending Bud Black. The Tigers wasted little time getting after Black and sending a clear message about their status as the top-heavy favorite to win the World Series.
Lou Whitaker led off the ALCS with a single and Alan Trammell promptly tripled him home. A sac fly from Lance Parrish had Detroit up 2-0 before anyone was even settled in. Larry Herndon and Trammell each hit leadoff homers in the fourth and fifth inning to extend the lead to 4-zip. Another run came in the seventh when Whitaker took second on a misplayed liner to right and quickly scored on a base hit from Trammell.
Morris was rolling and the 5-0 lead was plenty, but the Tigers tacked on three more runs, including another leadoff homer, this one from Parrish. The Royals avoided a shutout with a run in the seventh but that was all they achieved. The final was 8-1.
Detroit went to 18-game winner Dan Petry in Game 2. Kansas City had a 20-year-old kid who had both started and relieved throughout 1984 and pitched pretty well. His name was Bret Saberhagen. The Tigers wasted no time jumping on the kid. After a one-out error, Detroit pounced with back-to-back doubles from Kirk Gibson and Parrish. The Royals again faced a 2-0 deficit before coming to bat.
Gibson padded the lead with a one-out solo blast in the third. It looked like the rout was on. But Saberhagen settled in and Detroit stopped scoring. Meanwhile, the K.C. offense started grinding its way back.
Pat Sheridan worked a one-out walk in the fourth and took third on a base hit by George Brett. A productive ground ball from Jorge Orta put the Royals on the board. In the seventh, Steven Balboni singled with one out. A forceout replaced him on the basepaths with Frank White and Dane Iorg’s pinch-hit single cut the lead to 3-2.
Detroit closer Willie Hernandez would won both the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1984, and he came on in the eighth inning. Kansas City, fighting for its life, found a way to tie the game. Lynn Jones singled to start the frame. Hal McRae, a veteran of K.C.’s four ALCS battles from 1976-80 had lost his power by this stage of his career, but he still came through here with a game-tying double. Kansas City had gotten to Hernandez and still had their own great closer, Dan Quisenberry in the pen.
Tiger manager Sparky Anderson cut his losses on Hernandez and went to Aurelio Rodriguez. The move came through, as Rodriguez tossed two shutout innings, matching zeroes with Quisenberry as the game went to the 11th.
Parrish led off the Detroit half of the eleventh with a single. A sac bunt by Darrell Evans was booted by catcher Don Slaught and now there were runners on first and second. Ruppert Jones bunted both over and John Grubb came up with the biggest hit of this ALCS, a two-run double off Quisenberry. Kansas City rallied in the bottom of the inning, putting two on with two outs. Jones came to the plate and lifted a long fly ball to right. But there was no walkoff magic…just a flyout to Gibson. Rodriguez finished the job in the 5-3 win.
Detroit took the field on Friday night knowing they had three cracks at home to clinch their first pennant since 1968. Milt Wilcox got the ball for the Tigers and pitched the game of his life.
Wilcox threw a three-hitter, with no Royal batter ever making it to second base. And it turns out he needed to be just that great, because K.C. lefty Charlie Liebrandt was almost as good.
Detroit mounted a soft rally on the second. An infield hit by Barbaro Garbey started it. After a forceout, an Evans single put runners on the corners and Marty Castillo’s productive groundball out brought in the run. The Tigers threatened again the next inning, with Gibson on third and one out. But Leibrandt struck out Parrish and was able to escape.
The rest of the game was the two pitchers putting on a show. The 1-0 lead held and Hernandez came on for the ninth. When he got Darryl Motley to pop up to third, the city of Detroit could celebrate. Gibson was named ALCS MVP, going 5-for-12 with a home run and two RBI.
As series MVP honors go, those numbers are pedestrian. But no pitcher had to go more than twice, no reliever dominated and Trammell was the only other everyday player to have an impact going 4-for-11. Trammell was the difference in Game 1, but Gibson was in the much more competitive Game 2 that all but clinched the series.
Detroit was able to keep right on celebrating through the World Series, as they rolled through the San Diego Padres in five games to win what is still their most recent title (though the franchise won AL flags in 2006 and 2012).
Kansas City would get its own chance to celebrate—one year later they would be back and win the World Series themselves. But 1984 belonged to Detroit.
The Baltimore Orioles had made the American League Championship Series a regular part of their schedule in the early 1970s with five appearances from 1969-74. After a three-year hiatus, the Orioles returned to the 1979 ALCS. The California Angels were novices at this postseason baseball thing, having won their first AL West title. It was Baltimore who had the upper hand in a series whose individual games were much more competitive than the series result as a whole.
You can read more about the regular season paths each team took to its division title and the years enjoyed by the key players. This article’s focus is on the games of the 1979 ALCS itself.
The series that was then a best-of-five affair opened in Baltimore by virtue of the rotation system that existed. The first two games would be in Charm City, with the balance of the ALCS played out in Anaheim over the weekend.
Two future Hall of Famers took the ball in Game 1. Jim Palmer was on the mound for the Orioles against the Angels’ Nolan Ryan. California got to Palmer with two outs in the first, as Dan Ford hit a solo home run. Two innings later, the Angels attacked again with two outs and again it was Ford doing the damage. After a base hit by Rick Miller and a walk to Carney Lansford, Ford drilled an RBI double for a two-zip lead.
California second baseman Bobby Grich was a former Oriole and he helped his old team in the bottom half of the third with an error that triggered a Baltimore rally. Rick Dempsey hit an RBI double and light-hitting shortstop Mark Belanger tied the game with a two-out RBI single.
The Angels should have gotten to Palmer again in the fourth when Rod Carew led off with a double and there were quickly runners on the corners with no one out. But Palmer escaped and his team took the lead in the inning’s bottom half. Pat Kelly drew a walk, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a sac fly from third baseman Doug DeCinces.
Carew, one of the best pure contact hitters to ever play the game singled in the sixth and scored the tying run on a double by Grich. The Orioles were in position to get the lead right back when they put two on with one out. But Ryan induced Lee May to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Palmer was now dialed in and rolled through the ninth, keeping the Angels at bay. Ryan left after seven, but John Montague kept the Orioles under control in the eighth and ninth. The game went into extra innings.
California went quietly in the top of the 10th against reliever Don Stanhouse. DeCinces led off the home half of the inning. DeCinces would soon leave Baltimore via free agency to join these same Angels, but tonight he was just a thorn in the side of California manager Gene Mauch. DeCinces began the 10th with a single and was quickly bunted up to second. With two outs, Montague intentionally walked leadoff hitter Al Bumbry.
John Lowenstein, a platoon outfielder and left-handed hitting specialist was up. He launched a three-run blast to win the game 6-3. Lowenstein was the hero, but Baltimore pitching had been decisive—over the last four innings, California managed just one hit, a single by Carew.
Game 2 was a late Thursday afternoon start, beginning shortly after 3 PM, so there was no time for the Angels to lament their Game 1 fate. Especially not when Baltimore was coming back with soon-to-be Cy Young Award winner Mike Flanagan.
The second game started just like the first—with a two-out solo blast from Ford to get the Angels a quick 1-0 lead. But this one quickly got away from California starter Dave Frost when it was time for him to take the mound.
Bumbry led off with a single and then stole second. Subsequent singles by Eddie Murray, Kelly, DeCinces, two walks and an error produced four runs. In the bottom of the second, Bumbry walked and again stole second. After he scored on a base hit from Kiko Garcia, Frost was out and Mark Clear was in.
It didn’t help. After a single from Ken Singleton, Murray delivered a three-run jack and this game was blown wide open early 8-1. When DeCinces led off the Oriole third with a walk and scored on consecutive two-out singles from Bumbry and Garcia, it looked like just another meaningless run that made it 9-1. It turned out to be incredibly important.
Flanagan cruised through five. The Angels touched him again in the sixth when Carew doubled and came around on a single form Lansford. In the seventh, singles from Don Baylor and Brian Downing led to a Grich sac fly and it was 9-3. Still nothing to suggest a game was in the offing.
The top of the eighth was when it got interesting. Flanagan issued a leadoff walk. After an error, Lansford drove in a run that made it 9-4 and left runners on the corners. Baylor, who would win the AL MVP award from the DH spot this year, drove in another run with a single that moved Lansford to third and chased Flanagan. Downing hit a sac fly.
Baltimore might have put the game away all over again after two bunt singles opened the bottom of the eighth, but they couldn’t get anything across. It set the stage for a dramatic ninth inning.
Stanhouse walked the leadoff man, Larry Harlow, and then gave up a one-out double to pinch-hitter Willie Davis. California had made it all the way back to have the tying run at the plate. Carew grounded out. One run scored, but the Angels were down to their last breath. Ford was up and he singled the other way. The hit cut the lead to 9-8 and on a futile throw to third, Ford moved up to second. The winning run was improbably in scoring position.
Oriole manager Earl Weaver ordered an intentional walk to Baylor, preferring to take his chances with Downing. The move paid off. Downing bounced a grounder to DeCinces who stepped on third. Baltimore survived a hair-raising 9-8 finish.
A rain-out had delayed the opening of the ALCS by a day, so the normal day off for travel was not in place. The teams headed west and were back on the field for Friday night, an early evening start locally and prime-time in the East. The Orioles sent Dennis Martinez out to try and clinch their first pennant since 1971. Frank Tanana, the Angel lefty, had his team’s season in his hands.
For the third straight game, California scored in the first inning and though it wasn’t Ford hitting a home run, the rightfielder was still in the middle of it. After Lansford singled and stole second, Ford picked him up with a base hit. The 1-0 lead held until the top of the fourth, when Singleton doubled and consecutive singles from Murray and May tied the game.
Baylor did not have a good ALCS, going just 3-for-16. His biggest hit came in the bottom of the fourth in Game 3 when he homered for a 2-1 lead. The Angels had a great chance to extend the lead in the bottom of the fifth when the bases were loaded with one out. Alas, Ford finally came up short, hitting into a double play.
In the top of the sixth, Baltimore made it hurt. Singleton and Murray singled and May drew a walk to load the bases with none out. DeCinces sac fly tied the game and moved Murray to third. Now it was California’s turn to come up big defensively. Rich Dauer hit a fly ball to center that Murray tried to tag up on. Miller gunned him down at the plate and kept it a 2-2 game.
It didn’t stay that way long though. Bumbry lashed a one-out triple in the seventh and scored the go-ahead run. In the meantime, Martinez was cruising, having set down ten in a row heading into the ninth inning. Then he got Baylor to start the final frame.
Carew wasn’t going quietly and he went the other way for a double into the left-center gap. Weaver called for Stanhouse. The reliever walked Downing, but Grich to hit a lazy fly ball to center. Unbelievably, the reliable Bumbry dropped it and the game was tied. Harlow then doubled and the Angels had stolen a 4-3 win.
All three games had been heartstoppers. Bumbry was on a big hook if his team didn’t close out this ALCS. But he and all of Baltimore could soon breathe easy. Because the thrill-a-minute baseball that marked the first three games was about to come to a screeching halt on Saturday afternoon.
Baltimore got after California starter Chris Knapp in the third for two runs. A base hit, a walk and a bunt single led to a Singleton sac fly and RBI hit for Murray. Even though Gary Roenicke hit into a double play the Orioles already had enough runs for lefty Scott McGregor.
DeCinces and Dempsey each doubled in the fourth to make it 3-0. The Angels rallied in the fifth, when singles by Downing and Grich helped load the bases with none out. But a Miller fly ball wasn’t deep enough to score a run and McGregor then induced a double play ground ball. The 1979 ALCS effectively ended at this point.
Baltimore blew it open in the seventh. Singleton and Roenicke each had RBI singles and Kelly delivered the coup de grace with a three-run blast that opened an 8-0 lead. McGregor completed a six-hit shutout and the Orioles were returning to the World Series.
The American League was still a year away from voting an LCS MVP, so this honor is left vacant. If we can fill it retroactively, the pick would be Murray. He was 5-for-12, homered and the multiple intentional walks he kept getting underscored how much California feared him and got his OBP for the series to .588.
Other heroes included Dempsey, who went 4-for-10 with two doubles and Singleton was 6-for-16. On the California side, Carew had seven hits and Ford’s consistent first-inning dominance always had the Angels in games.
Baltimore briefly kept their momentum going in the 1979 World Series against Pittsburgh. The Orioles grabbed the first two games at home and led the series 3-1, with Murray again hitting the ball well. But the first baseman’s fortunes tracked those of the team. He began to slump, the rest of the offense went with him and the Pirates won the final three games.
The 1979 ALCS wasn’t the last we were going to see of either franchise. The Angels returned here in 1982and again in 1986, though each loss got progressively more heartbreaking and it wasn’t until 2002that they finally put their demons to rest and won it all.
The Orioles would not wait nearly as long—this core group of players, augmented by a young shortstop with the name of Ripken, would win it all in 1983.
