2016 – Chicago Cubs 8-7 Cleveland Indians

To get to one of the greatest deciders in baseball history we have to go all the way back to … 2016. Last year’s World Series was between baseball’s finest losers: the Cleveland Indians hadn’t won a championship in 68 years while the Chicago Cubs’ drought went back 108 years. The Indians should have closed out the series after taking a 3-1 lead and made it a brilliant year for Cleveland sports – the Cavaliers had won the NBA title a few months before, ending the city’s long title drought. Instead, they let the Cubs back in and it came down to a decider at Cleveland’s Progressive Field.

The Cubs had a 6-3 lead in the eighth inning but the weight of history began to tell and the Indians clawed the game back to send the contest into extra innings. Just to increase the tension, it began to rain, leaving both teams – and sets of fans – to think about all those years of losing. The Cubs made the first strike with two runs in the 10th to make it 8-6. The Indians scored one and had the winning run at the plate but the Cubs edged home. Their long drought had ended. The Indians’ quest continues.

1991 – Atlanta Braves 0-1 Minnesota Twins

Four of the six games leading up the decider had been decided by a one-run margin, and two had gone to extra innings. So it was little surprise that Game 7 wreaked havoc on the nails of the American people. Again the game went to extra innings, and exactly zero runs were scored until the 10th when Gene Larkin’s pinch-hit single won the game, and the championship. Jack Morris had pitched the entire game for the Twins, and it was little surprise when he was named the World Series MVP.

1960 – Pittsburgh Pirates 10-9 New York Yankees

The New York Yankees blew away the Pirates three times in this World Series, battering their opponents 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. It was the other four games that were the problem. It was future Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski who would decide the series. Mazeroski was known for his defense but his walk-off homer in the ninth won it for the Pirates – the only time a Game 7 has been decided in such a fashion. The great Mickey Mantle said it was the only game in his entire career that had made him cry. Mazeroski should be ashamed of himself.

2001 – Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 New York Yankees

History suggested that the Yankees would take this: arguably the most famous team in America was taking on a franchise in just its fourth year of existence. Added to that, the series came in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York: a Yankees victory would be one for the entire city. Of course, the Diamondbacks won. And not with a line-drive homer, but a blooped single off from Luis Gonzalez. Baseball is obsessed with history, but history appears less interested in baseball.