Ranking MLB's Greatest Postseason Game 7's of the 21st Century

While there were no Game 7's in Major League Baseball's 2021, 2022 or 2024 postseasons, it sure feels like we are destined for at least one banger of a Game 7 this year, given the way things have been going thus far this October.

Before that seemingly inevitable do-or-die extravaganza arrives and forces us to consider where it ranks among the greatest in recent history, we figured it'd be helpful to put together that pecking order.

All told, there have been 21 Game 7's in the 21st Century, and they run the gamut from 11th inning walk-off drama to snooze fests that were basically over by the third inning.

We can at least mention all of them, though, before ranking and expanding upon the top seven. (Because, come on, why wouldn't this be a top seven?)

2004 ALCS: Boston Red Sox 10, New York Yankees 3

A historic result, no doubt, as Boston completed the only comeback from a 3-0 series deficit in MLB history. But after Game 4 went to 12 innings, Game 5 went to 14 innings and Game 6 provided the legendary "bloody sock" performance from Curt Schilling, this capstone ended up being...kind of boring. The Red Sox led 6-0 after the top of the second inning while the Yankees managed just one hit in the first six frames.

2007 ALCS: Boston Red Sox 11, Cleveland Indians 2

Yet another ALCS Game 7 blowout, courtesy of a Red Sox team that was on its way to a World Series sweep. At least this one was tight for a while, Boston leading just 3-2 heading into the seventh inning. However, a two-run home run by Dustin Pedroia in that inning followed by a six-spot in the eighth turned this into a total rout in which Cleveland never led.

2012 NLCS: San Francisco Giants 9, St. Louis Cardinals 0

Ah, the good ol' even-year Giants. After trailing 3-1 in the series, they won the final three games over the Cardinals by a combined score of 20-1. Yadier Molina went 4-for-4 in the decider, but the rest of the Cardinals lineup went 3-for-30 in one of the two Game 7 shutouts in the past 25 years. And, oh look, here comes the other one.

2017 ALCS: Houston Astros 4, New York Yankees 0

There have been some exceptional battles between these teams over the past decade, but this was not one of them. Not only did the Yankees fail to score, but there was only one inning in which they got a runner into scoring position, making what was a 4-0 deficit after five innings feel like much more of a blowout than it actually was.

2023 ALCS: Texas Rangers 11, Houston Astros 4

There have only been two instances in MLB history in which the road team won all seven games in a series. And in the span of four years, Houston was on the wrong end of both of those series. This one was never close, though. Texas led four pitches into the game, and the rout was officially on before Houston even batted in the fourth inning.

2003 NLCS: Florida Marlins 9, Chicago Cubs 6

The game after the Steve Bartman Game, Chicago did lead early in this one, with help from a game-tying two-run home run by Kerry Wood. (Brief pause to remember the good old days when pitchers aside from Shohei Ohtani had to also be hitters.) But with all the inevitability of a cursed franchise, the Cubs could only watch as the Marlins tacked on six runs in the middle frames while Chicago had a grand total of two base runners after the third inning.

2004 NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals 5, Houston Astros 2

For the second straight year, the NLCS ended in a Game 7 where one team took an early lead and then just forgot how to offense from there. Houston led 2-0 in the third inning before the Cardinals retired 18 of the final 19 Astros batters they faced, the lone exception coming on a two-out HBP. Meanwhile, a Scott Rolen home run off Roger Clemens gave the Cards the lead for good.

2011 World Series: St. Louis Cardinals 6, Texas Rangers 2

World Series Game 7's intrinsically pack a bigger punch and make up quite a bit of our top seven. But this one? Ehhh...

Game 6 was awesome, and the reason David Freese will never have to pay for a drink in St. Louis for as long as he lives. After an initial flurry of two runs apiece in the first inning of Game 7, though, Texas never much threatened to do anything. A Cardinals bases loaded walk followed immediately by a bases loaded HBP in the 5th inning kind of broke Texas' will to fight, mustering just one base runner in the final four innings.

2018 NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Milwaukee Brewers 1

In his final ride with the Dodgers, Yasiel Puig blew this game open with a two-out, three-run home run in the sixth inning. Dodgers relievers (including Clayton Kershaw) allowed just one hit across 4.1 innings of work.

2023 NLCS: Arizona Diamondbacks 4, Philadelphia Phillies 2

In each of the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings, the Phillies had a runner in scoring position with either zero or one outs. But they blew chance after chance, going 1-for-10 w/RISP, and failing to even score a run with the one hit. It was a close game, but just not a particularly memorable one for anyone other than Diamondbacks fans.

2008 ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays 3, Boston Red Sox 1

Game 5 of this series featured one of the wildest comebacks in postseason history, with Boston erasing what was a 7-0 deficit in the seventh inning. And the reigning champions tried to do it again, getting two on with one out in the seventh, loading the bases in the eighth and thrice bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth. 'Twas all for naught, though, as the Rays used five pitchers in the eighth inning alone while repeatedly wriggling out of jams.

2017 World Series: Houston Astros 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Lance McCullers Jr. plunked not one, not two, not three, but four of the first 12 Dodgers he faced. They never made him pay for his lack of control, though, not scoring their lone run until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Houston racked up five runs within its first 10 batters, chasing Yu Darvish from a game that was over in a hurry.

2020 NLCS: Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Atlanta Braves 3

A tense one for sure, in which Kiké Hernández hit the game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning before Cody Bellinger delivered the go-ahead solo shot in the seventh. After a wild double play at third base in the fourth inning, though, Atlanta's offense simply vanished, as Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Julio Urías went six hitless innings to close out the game. Yes, one of those hitless ABs was Mookie Betts robbing Freddie Freeman of a home run. But, let's be frank, the fact that this game was played in a sparsely populated Texas Rangers stadium really mitigated the memorability factor.

2020 ALCS: Tampa Bay Rays 4, Houston Astros 2

Houston almost became the second team to erase a 3-0 series deficit, but couldn't quite erase what was a 4-0 deficit in this game. They got two men on in the sixth, two more on in the seventh and brought the would-be tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings. Alas, they couldn't quite complete the journey from a 29-31 regular season record to the World Series.

Barry Bonds: Seven-time MVP; zero-time World Series champion.

This showdown with Troy Glaus, Francisco Rodríguez and the Rally Monkey was the only time Bonds got to play in a World Series. Goodness knows he did his part on the whole, going 8-for-17 with four home runs and 13 walks (seven intentional) for a 1.994 OPS.

In this decisive game, though, he was unable to save the Giants, managing just one ultimately harmless single.

All four of Bonds' plate appearances came with the bases empty, though, and it was instead the non-heart of the order that kept getting and blowing chances to drive in runs.

San Francisco's lone run came on an early sacrifice fly, while Anaheim's Garret Anderson delivered a bases-clearing double in the third inning from which the Giants never recovered.

They did have a big opportunity late, though. J.T. Snow and David Bell both reached base in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate with one out. But Tsuyoshi Shinjo struck out swinging before Kenny Lofton flew out to center to end the game for what is still the only World Series in Halos history.

Among ALCS/NLCS Game 7's in the past three decades that didn't go into extra innings, this one was indisputably the most enthralling.

'Twas a low-scoring affair, but not for lack of intrigue.

St. Louis' first run scored on a Ronnie Belliard safety squeeze.

New York's Endy Chávez made one of the greatest home run-robbing catches in postseason history, even turning a double play when Jim Edmonds got a little too confident that Scott Rolen's deep fly was irretrievable.

In the bottom of that sixth inning, the Mets loaded the bases with one out, only to come away with no runs. One of the batters who left the bases loaded was Chávez, who missed an opportunity for the greatest inning ever.

They went to the ninth inning tied at 1-1 before Yadier Molina deposited an Aaron Heilman 83 MPH cement mixer out of Chávez's reach over the left-field wall for a two-run home run.

But the Mets rallied in the bottom of the ninth against a rookie-year Adam Wainwright, who became the Cardinals closer at the end of the regular season due to a Jason Isringhausen injury.

Waino allowed back-to-back singles to open the inning and later walked Paul Lo Duca to load the bases for Carlos Beltrán—who had career-high marks of 41 home runs, 116 RBI and a .982 OPS that season. But Beltrán struck out looking on one of the greatest curveballs of Uncle Charlie's career to end the series, paving the way for the 83-win Cardinals to become the worst World Series champs of all time.

There was no killing the Cardiac Nats.

They rallied late against Josh Hader and the Brewers in the wild card game.

They came back from a 2-1 NLDS deficit against the 106-win Dodgers, tying Game 5 in the eighth and winning on a Howie Kendrick grand slam in the 10th.

So by the time they trailed 2-0 in the seventh inning of this Game 7, it was practically business as usual for a team that had rallied from a 19-31 start to make the postseason in the first place.

Anthony Rendon broke the seal with a solo home run off Zack Greinke, who had allowed just one single (and immediately erased it with a double play) through the first six innings. After a Juan Soto walk and a call to the bullpen, Kendrick gave them a lead with a two-run blast off Will Harris.

They tacked on one more in the eighth and another two in the ninth, but it didn't matter. Houston was unable to muster anything on offense in those final four innings.

What made this one extra special was it finished off the first ever "Road Series." It was already the first ever instance of a road team winning each of the first six games in a best-of-seven series in MLB, NBA or NHL history. And the Nationals made it a perfect seven-for-seven in the improbable home-field disadvantage department.

Two words: Mad Bum.

Madison Bumgarner was already one of the greatest World Series pitchers to ever live. During the Even-Year Giants' reign, he went eight scoreless innings in Game 4 of the 2010 Fall Classic, seven scoreless in Game 2 in 2012 and had allowed one run across 16 innings of work in Games 1 and 5 of this series, including a complete-game shutout in Game 5—the only such World Series performance in the past two decades.

All told, MadBum was at 31.0 innings pitched with a Salvador Perez solo home run in the seventh inning of a 7-0 game the only blemish against him.

And less than 72 hours after throwing the 117th pitch of that shutout, Bruce Bochy called upon Bumgarner for the save of all saves, coming out of the bullpen to start the fifth inning with a 3-2 lead.

Even on short rest, though, he was virtually unhittable. It got dicey for a moment with two outs in the ninth inning when Grégor Blanco misplayed a ball in center field, turning what maybe could have been a World Series-ending diving catch into three bases for Alex Gordon. But a few pitches later, Bumgarner got Perez to foul out to end the game.

He went five scoreless innings, allowing just a pair of singles, preserving the one-run lead with which he was entrusted.

Michael Morse drove in two of San Francisco's three runs in the first few innings. Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-3 and had 12 hits in the series, tied with teammate Hunter Pence in the latter category. But Bumgarner was one of the easiest ever choices for World Series MVP.

Most New York Yankees fans are hopelessly fed up with Aaron Boone as their manager, but will also never forget what he did for them in 2003.

Before this game could get to extra innings, though, you had Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar homering off Roger Clemens to give Boston a 4-0 lead, followed by Jason Giambi hitting a pair of solo home runs off Pedro Martínez to keep things interesting into the bottom of an eighth inning that would have haunted Red Sox faithful for a long, long time, had they not bounced back to win it all and break the Curse of the Bambino one year later.

Martínez was left in the game with 100 pitches and a 5-2 lead. For as dominant as he was outside of those Giambi blemishes—and for as unreliable as Boston's bullpen had been all season—you can appreciate why Grady Little wanted to stick with his three-time Cy Young winner, at least until one hitter reached base.

However, after retiring Nick Johnson to lead off the inning, Martínez allowed four consecutive hits—with a mound visit from Little in between the second and third hits, with Martínez then at 115 pitches—as the Yankees tied the game.

More than 20 years later, it's still regarded as maybe the biggest managerial miscalculation of all-time, setting the stage for Boone's magical moment.

In what became a battle of two of the most legendary pitches of the 2000s, Mariano Rivera's cutter held the Red Sox scoreless for three innings while Boone led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a walk-off home run off one of Tim Wakefield's patented knuckleballs.

One Game 7 dramatically ended a curse that had lasted for more than a century while another provided one of the most iconic moments in MLB history. Putting either one at No. 2 feels just wrong. Thus, we're going 1A and 1B on the 2001 and 2016 extravaganzas and you can decide for yourself which was greater.

In '01, the Evil Empire was at its peak. The Yankees have 'only' won five titles dating back to 1979, four of those coming in quick succession in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. And heading into this World Series against a franchise in just its fourth year of existence, it seemed inevitable that the Yankees would make it four rings in a row.

Arizona pummeled Andy Pettitte and Jay Witasick in Game 6 to force this Game 7, but when Alfonso Soriano homered off Curt Schilling in the eighth inning to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead with Mariano Rivera waiting in the bullpen, it sure looked like it was curtains for the Diamondbacks.

To that point in his postseason career, Rivera had made 51 appearances with a 0.70 ERA in 77.2 innings of work, blowing just one save more than four years prior in the 1997 ALDS. And after striking out Arizona's No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 hitters in the eighth inning, the ninth inning figured to be little more than a formality.

However, Mark Grace led off the bottom of the ninth with a flared single to center, followed by a Rivera throwing error on Damian Miller's sacrifice bunt. Tony Womack became the initial hero with an RBI double to tie the game, but it was Luis Gonzalez who delivered the bases-loaded, series-winning flare over the heads of a drawn-in infield.

Easily one of the biggest "I remember where I was when" moments in baseball history, and one the Yankees are still trying to recover from a quarter century later.

Not only did 2016's Game 7 result in Chicago's first World Series title in more than a century, but the game itself was just plain bonkers.

Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run for the Cubs, which is still the only leadoff home run in Game 7 in World Series history.

Jon Lester made his first relief appearance in nearly a decade and almost immediately uncorked a wild pitch that plated two Cleveland runs.

When Lester passed the baton to Aroldis Chapman with a three-run lead in the eighth inning, a Brandon Guyer double and a Rajai Davis home run—the only postseason home run of the light-hitting speedster's career—tied the game in a hurry.

But perhaps more memorable than anything was the 17-minute rain delay after the ninth inning.

The Jayson Heyward speech.

The Justin Klugh tweet.

The pressure cooker-level tension that could be felt from hundreds of miles away as the sky cried out for relief.

It felt like the game might never end.

They came back out for the 10th inning, though, and the Cubs quickly took a two-run lead. Rajai Davis delivered another RBI in the bottom of the 11th to make it 8-7 and to bring the winning run to the plate, but it was Kris Bryant to Anthony Rizzo to end the game, series and curse.