Oct. 6
1915 _ Philadelphia rookie Elmer Myers made a spectacular debut by striking out 12 Washington batters while allowing just two hits. Myers walked 5 in the 4-0 win his only game this year.
1926 _ Babe Ruth hit three homers to lead the Yankees to a 10-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth game of the World Series.
1948 _ In the opening game of the World Series, the Boston Braves beat Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians 1-0 with two hits and the benefit of a disputed call on a pickoff attempt in the eighth by Feller.
1963 _ Frank Howard led Los Angeles to a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees with a home run and a single, giving the Dodgers a four-game sweep in the World Series.
1966 _ Jim Palmer, 20, became the youngest player to pitch a World Series shutout as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-0. Sandy Koufax was the loser, his last appearance in the major leagues. Dodger outfielder Willie Davis committed three errors on successive plays in the fifth inning.
1978 _ New York survived George Brett’s three solo homers off to beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 at Yankee Stadium at take a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series. All three of Brett’s homers were hit off Catfish Hunter. Reggie Jackson had a solo homer, RBI single, and sacrifice fly to lead the Yankees
1983 _ Baltimore’s Mike Boddicker struck out a playoff-record 14 batters en route to a 4-0, five-hit victory over the Chicago White Sox in the second game of the ALCS.
1985 _ Phil Niekro of the New York Yankees became the 18th 300-game winner as he blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 8-0 on the last day of the season. At 46, he became the oldest pitcher to throw a shutout.
2003 _ The Boston Red Sox completed a three-game playoff comeback, beating the Oakland Athletics 4-3 in Game 5 of their AL division series.
2009 _ Alexi Casilla singled home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning to lead Minnesota to a 6-5 victory over Detroit, giving the Twins the AL Central Division title. The Tigers held a seven-game lead on the Twins on Sept. 6, but limped to an 11-16 finish.
2010 _ Roy Halladay pitched the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NL division series. Halladay allowed one runner, a walk to Jay Bruce with two outs in the fifth, and struck out eight.
2011 _ Detroit’s Don Kelly and Delmon Young hit back-to-back homers in the first inning, then Doug Fister and three relievers held off the high-powered Yankees _ barely _ and beat New York 3-2 in the deciding Game 5 of their AL playoff series.
2015 _ Houston’s Dallas Keuchel, pitching on three days’ rest, beat the New York Yankees 3-0 in the AL wild-card game.
2017 _ Yan Gomes singled home Austin Jackson from second base with none out in the 13th inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied from five runs down to stun the New York Yankees 9-8 and snatch a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series.
Today’s birthday: Jake Bauers 24.
Oct. 7
1904 _ Jack Chesbro got his 41st victory of the season as New York defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2.
1933 _ Mel Ott’s home run in the 10th inning to give the New York Giants for a 4-3 victory and the World Championship in five games over the Washington Senators.
1935 _ Detroit’s Goose Goslin drove in Mickey Cochrane with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Tigers a 4-3 win and the World Championship in six games over the Chicago Cubs.
1950 _ Rookie pitcher Whitey Ford, with ninth-inning help from Allie Reynolds, beat Philadelphia 5-2 to give the Yankees a World Series sweep of the “Whiz Kids.”
1952 _ Billy Martin’s running catch on a high infield pop with the bases loaded in the seventh inning snuffed a Dodgers rally and the New York Yankees went on to win Game 7 of the World Series 4-2. It was the fourth consecutive world championship for the Yankees.
1969 _ The St. Louis Cardinals traded outfielder Curt Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies in a blockbuster deal involving slugging first baseman Richie Allen. Flood will refuse to report to the Phillies and will take baseball to court over the reserve clause that binds a player perpetually to one team.
1975 _ The Boston Red Sox win 5-3 for a three-game sweep over the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship series. Carl Yastrzemski has two hits and made two great plays in the outfield to back pitcher Rick Wise.
1987 _ Don Baylor singled to break an eighth-inning tie and Gary Gaetti homered in his first two playoff at-bats as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in the opening game of the ALCS.
1995 _ Edgar Martinez of the Seattle Mariners hit a tie-breaking grand slam in the eighth inning and drove in seven runs _ most in a postseason game _ to lead the Mariners past the New York Yankees 11-8 and send the AL playoff series to a decisive Game 5.
1998 _ Chuck Knoblauch argued for an interference call at first base instead of picking up the ball while Enrique Wilson rounded the bases and scored to break a 1-all tie in the 12th inning of the Cleveland Indians’ 4-1 victory at New York in Game 2 of the AL championship series.
2001 _ San Diego’s Rickey Henderson became the 25th player with 3,000 hits and teammate Tony Gwynn ended his 20-year career by grounding out to shortstop in the ninth inning of a 14-5 loss to Colorado at Qualcomm Stadium.
2001 _ Barry Bonds wrapped up his record-breaking season with his 73rd homer and shattered the slugging percentage record that Babe Ruth had owned for 81 years. He finished the season with a slugging percentage of .863, easily surpassing the mark of .847 that Ruth set in 1920.
2010 _ San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum pitched a two-hitter and struck out 14 in a dominating postseason debut, and the Giants scored their only run after a questionable umpiring call to beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0 in Game 1 of their NL division series.
2011 _ Nyjer Morgan delivered an RBI single in the 10th inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 to send the Milwaukee Brewers to the NL championship series.
2013 _ Juan Uribe was unable to get a bunt down _ and then hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves and send Los Angeles into the National League championship series.
2014 _ The St. Louis Cardinals tagged Clayton Kershaw in the seventh inning for the second straight time, riding Matt Adams’ go-ahead, three-run homer to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a fourth straight trip to the NL Championship Series.
2014 _ Joe Panik scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Aaron Barrett’s bases-loaded wild pitch, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 to advance to the NL Championship Series.
2018 _ Wade Miley pitched masterfully into the fifth inning before turning it over to a lights-out Milwaukee bullpen, 38-year-old catcher Erik Kratz kept up his torrid hitting and the Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-0 to sweep their NL Division Series.
Today’s birthdays: Kohl Stewart 25; Mookie Betts 27; Mike Foltynewicz 28; Adrian Sampson 28; Alex Cobb 32; Evan Longoria 34.
Oct. 8
1908 _ The Chicago Cubs won the NL pennant when Mordecai Brown beat Christy Mathewson 4-2 in the playoff of the disputed game Sept. 23 when Fred Merkle failed to touch second base.
1915 _ The Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series game, a 3-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. Grover Cleveland Alexander allowed one run on eight hits and two walks.
1921 _ The New York Giants beat the New York Yankees 1-0 in the first “Subway Series” to take the World Series, five games to three. The only run of the game scored on a first-inning error by Yankees shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh.
1929 _ Howard Ehmke, a surprise starter for the Philadelphia Athletics, struck out 13 Chicago Cubs to win the opening game of the World Series 3-1.
1939 _ The New York Yankees took advantage of four errors to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 in 10 innings in Game 4 and win their fourth consecutive World Series. The Reds had a 4-2 lead going into the ninth inning.
1956 _ Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in World Series history for a 2-0 triumph over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sal Maglie, the opposing pitcher, gave up five hits.
1961 _ The Yankees’ Whitey Ford set a World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings by extending his streak to 32 innings in a 7-0 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 4.
1973 _ Rusty Staub’s two home runs powered the New York Mets to a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds and a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. Pete Rose of the Reds and Bud Harrelson of the Mets scuffled at second base in the fifth inning after Rose slid hard into the base.
1986 _ Mike Scott equaled a playoff record with 14 strikeouts and threw a five-hitter as the Houston Astros defeated the New York Mets 1-0 in the first game of the NLCS. Glenn Davis opened the second inning with a home run off Dwight Gooden.
2000 _ Bobby J. Jones pitched the sixth complete game one-hitter in postseason history as the Mets eliminated the Giants with a 4-0 win in Game 4 of their NL division series.
2011 _ Chris Carpenter tossed a three-hitter to outpitch Roy Halladay in a duel for the ages and St. Louis edged the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in the deciding Game 5 of their NL playoff series.
2016 _ Travis Wood took over when starter Kyle Hendricks got hurt and became the first relief pitcher since 1924 to hit a postseason home run, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2 for 2-0 NL Division Series lead.
2018 _ Manny Machado hit a three-run homer, David Freese came through again in the postseason and the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the NL Championship Series for the third year in a row, eliminating the Atlanta Braves with a 6-2 victory.
2018 _ Brock Holt became the first player to hit for the cycle in a postseason game and the Boston Red Sox routed the New York Yankees 16-1 to grab a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five AL Division Series.
Today’s birthday: Robbie Erlin 29.
Oct. 9
1910 _ Nap Lajoie, in a batting race with Ty Cobb, collected eight hits for Cleveland in a season-ending doubleheader with the Browns. The hits were somewhat tainted, however, as St. Louis third baseman Red Corriden played back as Lajoie bunted safely six times. Regardless, Cobb was awarded the batting title by a fraction of a point.
1916 _ Babe Ruth outpitched Sherry Smith of the Brooklyn Dodgers as the Boston Red Sox won the longest World Series game, 2-1 in 14 innings.
1928 _ Babe Ruth hit three home runs in a World Series game for the second time in his career as the Yankees beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3.
1934 _ Dizzy Dean of St. Louis blanked the Detroit Tigers 11-0 in the seventh game of the World Series.
1944 _ The St. Louis Cardinals beat St. Louis Browns 3-1 to win the World Series in six games. Max Lanier and Ted Wilks of the Cardinals combined on a three-hitter.
1958 _ Bob Turley of the Yankees pitched 6 2-3 scoreless innings in relief to beat the Milwaukee Braves 6-2 for the World Series title. New York became the first team since 1925 to win the World Series after being down 1-3.
1966 _ Baltimore’s Dave McNally finished off the Los Angeles Dodgers with a four-hitter for a 1-0 victory and a sweep of the World Series. Frank Robinson’s home run off Don Drysdale in the fourth was all the Orioles needed.
1977 _ The New York Yankees rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 and take the American League pennant in the fifth game of the playoffs.
1988 _ The Oakland Athletics completed a four-game sweep in the ALCS by beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1. Jose Canseco tied an AL playoff record with his third home run of the series and Dennis Eckersley set a major league playoff mark with his fourth save.
1996 _ Bernie Williams homered in the 11th inning to give New York a 5-4 victory over Baltimore in Game 1 of the AL championship series. The Yankees got a lot of help from a fan when Jeff Maier, 12, created a game-tying homer by Derek Jeter in the eighth when he reached out and grabbed a ball that was about to be caught by Tony Tarasco.
2005 _ Chris Burke hit a home run in the bottom of the 18th inning and Roger Clemens pitched three scoreless innings of relief in Houston’s 7-6, series-ending victory over Atlanta in the NLDS. The longest postseason game in history took 5 hours, 50 minutes to complete.
2018 _ Craig Kimbrel and the Boston Red Sox held off the Yankees’ ninth-inning rally that ended with a video replay, eliminating New York with a 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the AL Division Series.
Today’s birthdays: Jake Lamb 29; Tim Melville 30; Starling Marte 31; Derek Holland 33; David Phelps 33; Chaz Roe 33.
Oct. 10
1904 _ Boston clinched the pennant on the last day of the season when Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders threw a wild pitch in the ninth to allow the winning run to score from third.
1920 _ The Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-1 in the fifth game of the World Series. For the Indians, Elmer Smith hit the first Series grand slam and Jim Bagby, the winner, hit the first Series homer by a pitcher.
1924 _ The Washington Senators won their only championship by defeating the Giants 4-3 in 12 innings. The winning run scored when a ball hit by Earl McNeely bounced over third baseman Fred Lindstrom’s head.
1926 _ Grover Alexander, 39, saved Game 7 and the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, fanning Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and pitching 2 1-3 hitless innings. The game ended with Babe Ruth being thrown out trying to steal second base. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Ruth walked for the third time, having homered in the fourth inning.
1931 _ The St. Louis Cardinals held on to beat the Philadelphia A’s, 4-2 in Game 7 of the World Series. The Athletics rallied for two runs and had two runners on base with two outs in the ninth inning when Cardinals reliever Bill Hallahan got the final out for the win.
1937 _ New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez drove in the winning run for a 4-2 win over the New York Giants and the World Series title in five games.
1945 _ The Detroit Tigers scored five runs in the first inning of Game 7 of the World Series en route to a 9-3 win over the Chicago Cubs and the World Championship.
1957 _ Lew Burdette’s third victory of the World Series, a 5-0 decision over the New York Yankees in Game 7, gave the Milwaukee Braves the championship.
1968 _ Mickey Lolich won the World Series for the Detroit Tigers by defeating Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in Game 7. It was Lolich’s third win and came after the Tigers had lost three of the first four games.
1973 _ New York’s Tom Seaver pitched the Mets into the World Series with a 7-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
1980 _ Kansas City’s George Brett hit an upper deck three-run homer off relief ace Goose Gossage to give the Kansas City Royals a 4-2 victory and a three-game sweep of New York Yankees in the ALCS.
1990 _ The Oakland Athletics swept the Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant and their third straight trip to the World Series with a 3-1 victory. MVP Dave Stewart won for the eighth straight time in head-to-head matchups with Roger Clemens, who was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes with umpire Terry Cooney.
1999 _ One night after winning their second postseason game in 20 tries, the Boston Red Sox made it two in a row in record style _ shocking the Cleveland Indians 23-7 to force a deciding fifth game in their first-round AL playoff series.
2011 _ Albert Pujols had one of the biggest postseason nights of his career in Game 2 of the NL championship series, going 4 for 5 with a home run, three doubles and five RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3 to even the series at 1-1.
2011 _ Nelson Cruz hit the first game-ending grand slam in postseason history, lifting the Texas Rangers over the Detroit Tigers 7-3 in 11 innings for a 2-0 lead in the AL championship series.
2016 _ Joe Panik doubled off the wall in right-center field to drive in Brandon Crawford with the winning run in the 13th inning, and the San Francisco Giants staved off elimination yet again by outlasting the Chicago Cubs 6-5 in Game 3 of their NL Division Series.
Today’s birthdays: Genesis Cabrera 23; Garrett Hampson 25; David Bednar 25; Sean Murphy 25; Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 26; Kolten Wong 29; Jeurys Familia 30; Isaac Galloway 30; Andrew McCutchen 33.
Oct. 11
1906 _ Ed Walsh of the Chicago White Sox pitched a two-hitter over the Chicago Cubs for a 3-0 win and a 2-1 lead in the World Series.
1913 _ Eddie Plank tossed a two-hitter against the New York Giants to give the Philadelphia Athletics a 3-1 victory and the World Series in five games.
1943 _ New York’s Spud Chandler shut out the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 as the Yankees won the World Series in five games. Chandler gave up 10 hits and stranded 11 runners. Bill Dickey’s two-run homer in the sixth inning was the difference.
1967 _ Rico Petrocelli’s two home runs led the Boston Red Sox in an 8-4 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals and forced a seventh game in the World Series.
1972 _ Bob Moose’s wild pitch in the ninth inning allowed George Foster to score the winning run as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 and captured the NLCS in the fifth game.
1985 _ George Brett’s four hits, including two homers, led the Kansas City Royals to 6-5 comeback victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the third game of the ALCS.
1999 _ The Boston Red Sox outslugged the Cleveland Indians 12-8 to win Game 5 of their first-round playoff and advance to the AL championship series. Pedro Martinez struck out eight in six hitless innings of surprise relief and Troy O’Leary twice thwarted the Indians’ strategy to intentionally walk Nomar Garciaparra by hitting two homers and driving in seven runs.
2006 _ A small plane carrying New York Yankee Cory Lidle slammed into a 40-story apartment building in Manhattan, killing the pitcher and his flight instructor Tyler Stanger.
2013 _ Carlos Beltran capped his latest scintillating postseason performance with an RBI single in the 13th inning that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in the NL championship series opener.
2016 _ Javier Baez’s tiebreaking single capped a four-run rally in the ninth inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in Game 4 to win their NL Division Series.
2017 _ Didi Gregorius homered twice off Corey Kluber as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 5-2 in Game 5 to complete their comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the Division Series and dethrone the AL champions.
Today’s birthdays: Grayson Greiner 27; Gio Urshela 28.
Oct. 12
1916 _ The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in five games with a 4-1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Ernie Shore pitched a three-hitter for Boston.
1920 _ Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski won his third game in the World Series as the Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 3-0 and won the championship, five games to two.
1929 _ The Philadelphia Athletics, trailing the Chicago Cubs 8-0 in the fourth game of the World Series, scored 10 runs in the seventh inning to win 10-8.
1967 _ Bob Gibson pitched a three-hitter against the Boston Red Sox to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 7-2 win and the championship in seven games.
1977 _ The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees 6-1 to even the World Series after two games. Catfish Hunter, who had not pitched in over a month, started the game for the Yankees. Ron Cey, Steve Yeager and Reggie Smith all homered and knocked out Hunter in the third inning.
1982 _ Paul Molitor of Milwaukee had five hits, a World Series record, in the 10-0 opener over the Cardinals in St. Louis. Mike Caldwell tossed the shutout for the Brewers.
1986 _ The California Angels were one pitch away from their first pennant when they let the Boston Red Sox back into the American League playoffs with an 11-inning 7-6 victory in Game 5.
1987 _ The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 9-5 and won their first American League pennant in 22 years. The Twins, with the worst road record of any pennant or division winner in history (29-52), took two of three in Detroit to win the best-of-7 playoffs in five games.
1993 _ The Toronto Blue Jays, behind the strong pitching of Dave Stewart, beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 to win the American League pennant in six games.
2003 _ Josh Beckett threw his first complete game in 51 career starts, allowing two hits and striking out 11, as Florida shut out Chicago 4-0 in Game 5 of the NLCS. Beckett tied an NLCS record for fewest hits allowed in a complete game.
2005 _ The Chicago White Sox tied the AL championship series with a disputed 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski appeared to strike out against Angels reliever Kelvim Escobar to end the ninth inning, but plate umpire Doug Eddings ruled Angels catcher Josh Paul dropped the third strike and Pierzynski reached first base. Pablo Ozuna, who ran for Pierzynski, stole second and scored on Joe Crede’s double into the left-field corner.
2010 _ Cliff Lee tossed another postseason gem and Texas won a playoff series for the first time, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 in a decisive Game 5 of the ALDS. It was the first time in major league history that the road team had won every game in a postseason series.
2013 _ Anibal Sanchez and four Detroit Tigers relievers came within two outs of the first combined no-hitter in postseason history, striking out 17 to beat the Boston Red Sox 1-0 in the AL championship series opener. Boston was hitless until Daniel Nava singled off Joaquin Benoit with one out in the ninth. Jhonny Peralta had an RBI single off Jon Lester in the sixth for the game’s only run.
2017 _ Addison Russell drove in four runs, Wade Davis earned a seven-out save, and the Chicago Cubs reached their third NL Championship Series in a row by edging the Washington Nationals 9-8 in a thriller of a Game 5.
Today’s birthdays: Ketel Marte 26; Sal Romano 26; Jandel Gustave 27; JT Riddle 28.
END ADV
Please read our comment policy before commenting.