25 greatest underdog moments in MLB postseason history

The first (and only) time that the cross-town rivals faced off in the World Series was in 1906. Boasting a roster that featured four future Hall of Famers, the Cubs won a record 116 games. Meanwhile, the White Sox owned the lowest batting average in the American League, earning them the nickname the “Hitless Wonders." However, they could pitch and did so in the Series, three times holding the Cubs to one run or fewer while breaking out to score eight runs in Games 5 and 6 to capture what is still one of the greatest upsets in World Series history.

After finishing 31.5 games out of first place in 1913, the Braves put on one of the greatest rallies in history the following season. Despite being 11.5 games behind the New York Giants on July 17, they launched on an unparalleled winning spree, going 61-16 for the rest of the year. Reaching the World Series, they faced with Connie Mack’s juggernaut Philadelphia Athletics team, who had won three of the previous four World Series. The “Miracle Braves” momentum did not stop however, as they swept the A’s to finish one of the greatest turnarounds in history.

By 1924, the Senators had long been a basement dweller in the American League, finishing over 20 games out of first place in five of their past seven seasons. This despite having the game’s dominant pitcher in Walter Johnson since 1907. The Senators finally broke through and reached the World Series for the first time against the New York Giants. The series went the distance, with Game 7 being decided in the bottom of the 12^th inning and the Senators finally capturing their elusive title.

Armed with AL MVP Hal Newhouser and the returning Hank Greenberg from World War II, the Tigers faced off against the Chicago Cubs in the Fall Classic. The Tigers had won just 88 games during the regular season, and only Greenberg (who was limited to 78 games) hit above .285. In the World Series (dubiously titled the “World’s Worst Series”), Greenberg drove in seven and hit two home runs to help Detroit to the title. The Series is also infamously known for the start of the "Billy Goat Curse," which would hang over the Cubs for another seven decades of World Series drought.

Thomson’s three-run walk off home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers endures as one of the greatest moments in MLB history. It capped a three-game playoff for the National League pennant, which followed the Giants winning 37 of their last 44 games to draw even with Brooklyn. Thomson’s hit came against Ralph Branca; a line drive into the left field stands at the Polo Grounds to cap a four-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Giants a 5-4 victory. It also doubled as the first nationally televised World Series game in history.

Although the Giants had won 97 games on the year, they were substantial underdogs to the 111-win Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series. The Indians boasted a potent offense, headlined by Larry Doby, Al Rosen and Bobby Avila, along with a pitching staff with three future Hall of Famers in Bob Feller, Early Wynn and Bob Lemon. But in the Series, Giants pitching held the Indians to a .190 average against and the Giants swept Cleveland 4-0. The ’54 Series also is when "The Catch" occurred; Willie Mays’ legendary snag of a Vic Wertz drive over 460 feet from home plate in Game 1.

After years of being New York’s third team, followed by a handful of seasons of coming up just short, "Dem Bums" finally got over the hump in the ’55 World Series. The Dodgers had lost to the Yankees four times between 1947 and 1953 in the World Series but finally got the best of them in ’55. Johnny Podres won MVP, winning Games 2 and 7. It would be the Dodgers' only world championship as residents of Brooklyn.

The Yankees dominated the early going of the 1960 Series, winning Games 2 and 3 by a combined score of 26-3. However, the Pirates hung in, winning tight contests in Games 4 and 5…before being thumped 12-0 in Game 6. But the Pittsburgh bats woke up in Game 7, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9-7 lead, which the Yankees would tie in the top of the ninth. Then to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Bill Mazeroski hit the only Game 7 walk-off homer in World Series history, fittingly capping one of the most up-and-down Series ever.

The O’s wasted no time in making their mark, with Frank Robinson connecting for a home run against Don Drysdale in the first inning of Game 1 and a 20-year-old Jim Palmer throwing a four-hit shutout opposite of two-time World Series MVP Sandy Koufax in Game 2. The O’s would sweep the Dodgers in dominant fashion, allowing them just two runs (both of which came in Game 1) over the four-game series.

Three years later, the Orioles would be on the opposite side of what is considered the greatest upset in MLB history. Baltimore was a 109-win juggernaut, while the young Mets had stunningly won 100 games in the first winning season in franchise history. The Mets capped their "miracle" season by beating the heavily favored Orioles in five games, with Jerry Koosman picking up two wins and Tom Seaver allowing one run over 10 innings of Game 4.

In Game 2 of the ’72 Series, Rudi was responsible for a pair of the most pivotal moments in World Series history. In the third inning, he connected for a solo homer to put the A’s ahead before making a game-saving catch against the left field fence to end a Cincinnati comeback. The A’s would win the Series four games to three, furthering how important Rudi’s two irreplaceable plays were.

In his 3,009 previous career at-bats, Smith had never hit a home run from the left side of the plate. That came to an abrupt end when Smith brought Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS to an end, hitting a home run that barely cleared the right field fence. The Cardinals won the game 3-2 as legendary announcer Jack Buck famously exclaimed, “Go crazy, folks." Smith would also win NLCS MVP, after hitting .435 in the series.

During the regular season, the Twins were outscored by 20 runs but still managed to win the AL West crown. They were massive underdogs against the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, but their bats got hot at the right time, erupting for 34 runs over five games to advance to the World Series. Home-field advantage worked in their favor against the Cardinals in a Series where the home team won every game. Frank Viola won both his starts at the Metrodome and brought the first title ever to Minnesota.

The Game 1 heroics of Kirk Gibson’s limp-off home run in his only at-bat is the enduring memory of this Series, and it put into motion one of the biggest upsets in recent history, against the formidable Oakland A’s. With the exception of Orel Hershiser’s dominant season, everything else about L.A. was average at best, as the Dodgers hit .248 as a team. But with the eventual NL Cy Young Award winner picking up two complete games victories, they sprung a huge upset over Oakland, four games to one.

Appearing in their third World Series in as many years, Oakland was a heavy favorite again in the 1990 Fall Classic. But Cincy swarmed the A's, and they never stood chance. Billy Hatcher hit a World Series-record .750 (including seven consecutive hits), Chris Sabo hit .563 with two home runs and Jose Rijo allowed one run over 15.1 innings, as the Reds swept the defending champion A’s.

The upstart Florida Marlins stunned the baseball world during their postseason debut. Just five years into their existence, they took down two of the game’s foremost powers. First were the 101-win Braves in the NLCS and then the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. In the bottom of the 11^th inning of Game 7, the 21-year-old Edgar Renteria lined a walk-off single to center to end the Series. In the process, the Marlins became the first wild-card team to win the World Series.

A few years later, another recent expansion team would rewrite the record books for quickest assent to becoming world champions. However, they were tasked with not only overcoming the three-time defending World Champion New York Yankees in the World Series but also having to go directly through Mariano Rivera to do it. After Rivera struck out three in the eighth inning, Arizona loaded the bases against him in the ninth, and Luis Gonzalez connected for a soft line drive over the pulled-in Yankee infield to clinch one of the most improbable titles in MLB history.

Perhaps the most modern of all underdog stories, the 2003 Marlins roster was over $100 million less than that of the formidable Yankees, who were pitted against them in the World Series. They also rallied from a 16-22 start to the year under interim manager Jack McKeon. Having reached the World Series with the aid of the “Bartman Game” in the NLCS, the Marlins were massive underdogs. But on the heels of a Josh Beckett Game 6 shutout and heroics from Ivan Rodriguez, the Marlins captured their second World Series title.

The term "team of destiny" gets thrown around a lot, but perhaps it was never more appropriately assigned than to the 2004 Red Sox. In the ALCS, they became the first team in pro sports history to rally from a 3-0 series deficit in a seven-game series, against the New York Yankees, winning two games in extra innings. Then in the World Series, they didn’t take their feet off the gas, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals and bringing the first title to Fenway Park since 1918.

After limping to the finish line in the regular season, just five games over .500, the Cardinals transformed into one of the greatest long shot champions of all time. Armed with a makeshift pitching staff built around Chris Carpenter and Jeff Suppan, and with a rookie named Adam Wainwright working as their closer, the Cardinals stunned both the Padres and New York Mets to reach the World Series. Once there, they made quick work of the Detroit Tigers, with the 5-foot-6 David Eckstein coming away as Series MVP.

There have been few teams that made the type of run that the Rockies did in redefining a season on the run. With 14 games left, they were 6.5 games back in the NL West. They would go on to win 13 of those contests and force a one-game playoff that ended in a controversial play at the plate in the bottom of the 13^th inning. Once in the playoffs, they swept both the NLDS and NLCS, capping an incredible run of winning 21 of 22 games —before being swept themselves, by Boston, in the World Series.

After managing to finish outside of last place only once in their first 10 years, the Tampa Bay Rays exploded into relevancy in 2008. Armed with young breakout talents like Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton, Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, David Price and Matt Garza, they surprisingly snatched the AL East title. Garza and Longoria had dominant performances in the ALCS and launched the Rays to their lone World Series appearance. Overall, it capped a 31-game turnaround from 2007.

After being 10.5 games out of the postseason in late August, the Cardinals rallied themselves into a playoff spot over the final five weeks of the season. After a grueling five-game upset of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS, then topping divisional rival Milwaukee in the NLCS, it appeared their fortune had run out in Game 6 of the World Series. But with two strikes and two outs in the ninth inning, David Freese tied the game with a triple into right field and two innings later, connected for a walk off home run. The Cardinals won Game 7 and captured the most exhausting of their 11 world championships.

While we had wild-card teams win the World Series before, there never had been a title-winner emerge from the second wild-card spot until the Giants did so in 2014. Winners of 88 games during the regular season, they rode the greatest postseason pitching effort in history — authored by Madison Bumgarner — to a third World Series title since 2010. Bumgarner was unconscious throughout October, posting a 6-1 record with a 1.03 ERA over 52.2 innings, capped by a Series-clinching five innings of shutout relief work in Game 7.

Although not underdogs in the traditional sense, the Cubs had become pro sports’ most notorious underdog. An elusive championship for the past four generations finally came home for the Cubs, on the heels of winning 103 games and the NL Central by 17.5 games. Following a game-tying Rajai Davis home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 — followed by a 17-minute rain delay before the 10 ^th inning — the Cubs didn’t let history slip away, a Ben Zobrist double putting them ahead for good. The Cubs finally rid themselves of the Curse of the Billy Goat and ended their 107-year championship drought.