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.
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.
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. It was the first one-hit shutout in the postseason since Boston’s Jim Lonborg beat St. Louis in the 1967 World Series.
2010 - Rick Ankiel splashed a tiebreaking home run into McCovey Cove in the 11th inning, and Atlanta rallied from a late four-run deficit to beat San Francisco 5-4 in the 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.
2013 - Max Scherzer escaped a major jam in relief and the Detroit Tigers - helped by two fans who reached out to reel in Victor Martinez’s disputed home run - rallied past the Oakland Athletics 8-6 to force a decisive fifth game in their AL division series.
2013 - Shane Victorino’s infield single snapped a seventh-inning tie and journeyman Craig Breslow gave Boston a huge boost out of the bullpen, sending the Red Sox into the AL championship series with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
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Oct. 9
1910 - Nap Lajoie, in a batting race with Ty Cobb, had eight hits for Cleveland in a season-ending doubleheader with the Browns. The hits were tainted, however, with St. Louis third baseman Red Corriden playing 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.
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.
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.
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. Atlanta’s Adam LaRoche and Houston’s Lance Berkman each hit grand slams, making it the first postseason game to feature two grand slams.
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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.
1957 - Lew Burdette’s third victory of the World Series, a 5-0 decision over the New York Yankees, 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.
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.
1987 - Jeffrey Leonard homered for the fourth straight game as the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2, tying the NLCS at two games apiece.
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 straight in record style - routing the Cleveland Indians 23-7 to force a deciding fifth game in their first-round AL playoff series. John Valentin had two homers, a double and seven RBIs as Boston scored the most runs in a postseason game.
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. Cruz also hit a tying home run in the seventh inning. Cruz hit the first official game-ending grand slam. Robin Ventura sent a bases-loaded drive over the fence to finish a New York Mets victory against Atlanta in the 1999 NLCS, but was swarmed by teammates between first and second. Ventura never made it around the bases and was officially credited with an RBI single. His 15th-inning drive for a 4-3 Mets win in Game 5 became known as “the grand slam-single.”
2012 - Raul Ibanez lined a ninth-inning home run while pinch hitting for slumping Alex Rodriguez, then hit a leadoff homer in the 12th, to give the New York Yankees a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles for a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series.
2012 - Seth Smith, Coco Crisp and the never-say-die Oakland Athletics forced a Game 5 of their AL division series against the Detroit Tigers with their most memorable comeback yet. Smith hit a game-tying two-run double off closer Jose Valverde in the ninth inning and Coco Crisp capped the comeback with a two-out RBI single as the A’s staved off elimination for a second straight night with a 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the ALDS.
2013 - Justin Verlander pitched another Game 5 gem in Oakland while carrying a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, and Miguel Cabrera homered to lead the Detroit Tigers past the Athletics 3-0 and back into the AL championship series.
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