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.
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