Love in the Time of Rougned Odor: What's the Wildest Game You've Ever Seen?

There was some talk in the general baseball thread about how crazy today's Yankees/Red Sox game was. So here's a thread for just that. I took the first half of the thread title from Posananki and Michael Schur's Substack column on 2015's bat-flip game. The game can be one you saw in person or just on TV. I'll name three:

1) Yes, the bat-flip game, even if it was more an incredibly wild inning than a full game (two innings if you count Edwin's HR that tied the game).

2) G4 of the 1993 WS, where the Jays beat the Phillies 15-14 (still the most combined runs in one game). The Jays were down 12-7 and 14-9 at different points.

3) G6 of the 2011 WS, Cardinals over the Rangers 10-9--the David Freese game. The Rangers were twice within one pitch of winning the series, I think.

The two most famous G6s--1975 and 1986--I don't think either was as wild as those three. 1975's may have been the best game I've ever seen, the highwater mark of baseball in the 20th century even, and 1986's obviously had one of the craziest endings ever. In its own way, G7 of the 1985 WS--the Royals blowing out the Cardinals after Denkinger's blown call in G6, with Joaquín Andújar's meltdown--was pretty wild. I read a book on the 1979 game where the Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22, but I didn't actually see it.

It’s a cliche, but game 1 of the 88 World Series was a high water mark. It’s the last game I remember watching with my grandfather. After Gibson hit the HR, we just stared at the screen and then at each other, like, Did that really happen?

Game 3 of the 72 Series, the fake intentional walk of Johnny Bench. The first Series I have any memory of, although at 7 my understanding of the game was pretty rudimentary.

This year, I saw the visiting Tigers hit two grand slams against the Rockies. Doubt I’ll ever see that in person again.

Talk of the A's dynasty reminds me of this, G2 of the '73 Series, Mets over the A's 10-7:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK197310140.shtml

I was watching but remember absolutely nothing except one image: Willie Mays, on his knees at home plate, I believe pleading with the umpire to get a call. At 4:13, I think it was the longest WS game ever played. We didn't know that in 2022, that'd be about normal for a low-scoring pitcher's duel.

Here’s a pretty good article about that

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/8/30/23329319/willie-mays-san-francisco-giants-new-york-mets-world-series-number-retirement

I love the pic of Mays stroking Tenace’s moustache

Wow, thanks. I guess that image is famous--I'm probably remembering the photo more than the actual game.

Another game I've mentioned before, the Ernie Whitt game against Boston in '89 where the Jays were down 10-0 and won 13-11. Whitt's grand slam (off Lee Smith) put them ahead 11-10. In the comments, someone points out that Ward finished up with three scoreless innings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMS9vVXgpus

Two other things. Kubek mentions that Whitt is the last original Blue Jay at that point, and it checks out--he was there in '77 when we got the franchise, still there in '89. He also points out that this would be Toronto's 12th straight win against the Red Sox.

Nice thread idea. I only have the two examples I’ve watched but hope to have more soon.

G6 of the 1986 WS wasn't a crazy game overall, just the ending was wild.

If we're talking about the whole game, then G6 of the 2011 WS is tough to top. Nearly every inning had strange, controversial, second-guess worthy moments.

Wild regular season games are probably a different category, every team has a bunch of them that only their fans will remember. I remember the '89 Jays comeback vs Boston like it was yesterday, but fans of other teams won't have heard of it.

If you go back further there are probably some Games of The Week that many fans remember, back when nationally televised games of the week were a big thing. Kind of like how notable Monday night games in the NFL get remembered for years, baseball has no regular season equivalent any more.

The Freese game is hard to top. There’s a video out there somewhere entirely comprising fan reactions to the key moments, it’s incredible

If we’re talking Boston ‘86, I prefer to remember Game 5 of the ALCS, when the Angels were one strike away from going to the World Series but Dave Henderson changed everything with one swing. I remember him leaping after hitting it, halfway down the first-base line, an unconscious leap of pure joy. I still remember where I was and who I was with. Great article about it here, from the Angels’ point of view:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-10-12/1986-alcs-angels-red-sox-game-5-donnie-moore-dave-henderson-al-michaels

The Donnie Moore game, looked at from another vantage point. Even though I didn't have a passionate rooting interest (mild one for the Rangers), agree that the Reese game might be objectively hard to top.

Another real wild regular-season game I watched (NBC's Saturday afternoon game):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN198406230.shtml

12-11, Cubs over Cardinals, the game where Ryne Sandberg hit two game-tying extra-inning HR (both off Sutter). He was already in the midst of an MVP-type season, but that was the game where everybody discovered who he was.

I know about the Sandberg game, even though I never watched it. Do these games still happen -- a single game where a player breaks through nationally and everyone discovers who he is? When, for example, did "everyone" discover Mike Trout? He had a few HR robberies in CF during his rookie year. Is that the answer?

yankees over mets in june 2009, game ended on a walk-off dropped pop-up

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/198307-yankees-1-luis-castillo-1

my first thought was also the David Freese game, felt like something out of a movie. specifically something like Air Bud

Do these games still happen -- a single game where a player breaks through nationally and everyone discovers who he is?

Good question. Probably impossible now, unless it's a post-season game. More likely, I would think, it would happen by way of a YouTube clip, like Elly De La Cruz's cycle.

Some things that make up wild games:

1) numerous lead changes
2) lots of runs by both teams
3) epic comebacks
4) bench-clearing brawls (Pedro-Zimmer? never saw the actual game)
5) crazy endings
6) famously blown calls (especially if it involves Earl Weaver or Billy Martin tossing bases into the dugouts or bats onto the field)
7) stuff that's never happened before, or at least happen so infrequently that you've never seen it
8) setting fire to disco records (unfortunate as it was)
9) cheap beer

The bat-flip game had two instances of #7 for me: Martin's botched throw back to the mound, obviously, but also, I don't think I've ever seen a team make three errors in an inning on such routine plays. That has to be the wildest inning ever, capped off by Bautista's HR. The whole game, no.

craziest game i ever saw in person was at camden yards for NYY-BAL on 16 august 2003

orioles batted out of order in the first and i was apparently the only person in the ballpark who knew, because i was keeping score. (it was never announced and joe torre didn't catch it, allowing the o's to score an illicit run.)

mariano rivera blew a save in the ninth, yielding a game-tying leadoff homer to luis matos

yankees went ahead in the 12th on a jason giambi homer. with two outs in the bottom of the 12th, jack cust drew a walk. larry bigbie doubled to right and cust, trying to stop after rounding third, fell down and was caught in a rundown. somehow this ultimately resulted in no one covering home for the yankees and cust had a clear path to tie the game . . . but fell on his face about 20 feet short of the plate and was tagged out. yankees 5, orioles 4

recap: https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/230816101
box: https://www.espn.com/mlb/playbyplay/_/gameId/230816101

lol video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMkqvmobA48

Perfect illustration of #7: I've never seen a guy fall down twice making the last out of a game.