Sudden Death Brings Postseason, Past and Present, to Life

The Brewers exult after Morgan's walk-off single (Photo: Getty).

Yesterday’s sudden death doubleheader in the baseball postseason had the feel of March Madness. While the Cardinals were rallying for what turned out to be the game’s only run in Philadelphia, the Brewers were enjoying a walk-off in Milwaukee. As remote controls worked feverishly across the country, baseball was in the midst of a 24-hour period in which three winner-take-all games would literally come down to the final at bat. Only twice before had more than one sudden death elimination game been played in one day (two on 10/15/2001 and three on 10/11/1981), but in none of those games did the tying run come to the plate in the last inning.

Nyjer Morgan’s game winning single in Milwaukee was only the 12th walk-off hit in a sudden death playoff series game (the 1972 NLCS also ended on a “walk-off” wild pitch), and the first since Aaron Boone’s 11th inning home run broke the hearts of Red Sox Nation in the 2003 ALCS. Earlier in the game, Willie Bloomquist’s RBI bunt single marked only the fourth occasion in which a road team staved off sudden death elimination with a run in the ninth inning, but that historical footnote was overshadowed by the Brewers’ eventual victory.

Sudden Death Walk-Offs in the Postseason

Date	Series	G#	Tm	Opp	Batter	Rslt	Pitcher	Inn
10/7/11	NLDS	5	MIL	ARI	Nyjer Morgan	1B	J.J. Putz	b10
10/16/03	ALCS	7	NYY	BOS	Aaron Boone	HR	Tim Wakefield	b11
11/4/01	WS	7	ARI	NYY	Luis Gonzalez	1B	Mariano Rivera	b9
10/14/01	NLDS	5	ARI	STL	Tony Womack	1B	Steve Kline	b9
10/26/97	WS	7	FLA	CLE	Edgar Renteria	1B	Charles Nagy	b11
10/8/95	ALDS	5	SEA	NYY	Edgar Martinez	2B	Jack McDowell	b11
10/14/92	NLCS	7	ATL	PIT	F. Cabrera	1B	Stan Belinda	b9
10/27/91	WS	7	MIN	ATL	Gene Larkin	1B	Alejandro Pena	b10
10/14/76	ALCS	5	NYY	KCR	Chris Chambliss	HR	Mark Littell	b9
10/13/60	WS	7	PIT	NYY	Bill Mazeroski	HR	Ralph Terry	b9
10/10/24	WS	7	WSH	NYG	Earl McNeely	2B	Jack Bentley	b12
10/16/12	WS	8	BOS	NYG	Larry Gardner	SF	C. Mathewson	b10

Source: Baseball-reference.com

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