The two most wonderful words in sports: Game Seven.
Baseball fans get to experience that epic feeling once again tonight as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays battle in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.
There are number of intriguing storylines weaving their way into tonight’s clash in Toronto. Can Shohei Ohtani put together one more magical performance and lead the Dodgers to their second consecutive championship? Will Vladimir Guerrero Jr. provide instant validation for the Jays signing him to a $500 million contract extension by bringing home the franchise’s first title in 32 years?
And perhaps even more intriguing: With the season coming down to one final game, who will ultimately be the hero … and who will be the goat?
It’s been a fantastic World Series, but will this Game 7 find a place among the other legendary ones we’ve witnessed? Here’s a list of this century’s top seven MLB Game 7s.
7. Red Sox vs. Yankees, 2004 ALCS
Drama had been building to a crescendo from the moment Dave Roberts stole second base in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 4 and the Red Sox rallied to stay alive. With a pair of walk-off wins in Boston, the Sox managed to get the series back to Yankee Stadium, where Curt Schilling’s gutty performance in the ‘Bloody Sock Game’ forced a winner-take-all showdown. Although it was a relatively anticlimactic 10-3 blowout, the Red Sox completing the only comeback in baseball history from a three games-to-none deficit and winning their first World Series since 1918 made it memorable.
6. Cardinals vs. Mets, 2006 NLCS
Not only was the series tied, but Game 7 was tied entering the ninth inning at Shea Stadium when unlikely hero — Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, a .216 hitter during the regular season — launched a two-run homer off Mets reliever Aaron Heilman to give his team a 3-1 lead. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, with the bases loaded and two outs, 24-year-old rookie Adam Wainwright freezes Mets star Carlos Beltran with what would become his trademark curveball to end the game.
5. Nationals vs. Astros, 2019 World Series
This World Series was unique in playoff history, with the visiting team winning all seven games. The clincher in Houston had the Astros and starter Zack Greinke taking a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning. But that’s when the Nationals’ bats awakened. Anthony Rendon broke up the shutout with a solo homer to left. Then, after a walk to Juan Soto led to a pitching change, Howie Kendrick hit an opposite-field fly ball down the line in right that clanked off the foul pole for a go-ahead home run. The Nats added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth for a 6-2 win and their first World Series title.
4. Yankees vs. Red Sox, 2003 ALCS
The prevailing storyline at the time was that you couldn’t call Yankees-Red Sox a rivalry because the same team always won. That was true from the previous century going back to the one-game AL East playoff in 1978, affectionately remembered in New York for Bucky Dent’s heroics (and remembered in Boston with a certain adjectival addition). The next dagger in Boston’s collective heart came with the game tied 5-5 in the 11th inning after the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera had pitched three scoreless innings. On the first pitch from knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, future Yankees manager Aaron Boone ended it in dramatic fashion with a walk-off homer.
3. Cubs vs. Cleveland, 2016 World Series
A series filled with momentum shifts had Cleveland up 3-1 and on the brink of winning the franchise’s first championship since 1948. But the Cubs had ghosts (and curses) of their own to exorcise, with a title drought dating back to 1908. Chicago rallied to force a winner-take-all clash in Cleveland. In Game 7, the Cubs had a three-run lead with four outs to go and closer Aroldis Chapman on the mound, but light-hitting outfielder Rajai Davis stunningly hit a line drive homer down the left-field line to tie the game.
The game remained tied and was headed to extra innings when rain arrived and forced the game to be delayed for 17 gut-wrenching minutes. Perhaps spurred on by veteran Jason Heyward’s rousing clubhouse speech, the Cubs scored twice in the top of the 10th and gave up just one in the bottom to wrap up the series on a slow roller to third baseman Kris Bryant.
2. Giants vs. Royals, 2014 World Series
Thanks to one of the greatest individual performances in postseason history, the San Francisco Giants claimed their third World Series title in five years by defeating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 7. The hero was the unhittable Madison Bumgarner who — after already notching the win in Games 1 and 5 — came back on two days’ rest to shut the Royals out over the final five innings of Game 7 and earn a save. Over his three appearances, he allowed just one earned run in 21 innings of work.
1. Diamondbacks vs. Yankees, 2001 World Series
The best Game 7 of all-time has to be the one that showed even the greatest closer baseball has ever seen isn’t always perfect. Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera cemented his reputation by being even more dominant in the postseason. With the Yankees clinging to a 2-1 lead, Rivera stuck out the side in the eighth inning, then came back out to slam the door in the ninth. But he gave up a single, misplayed a dribbler back to the mound and served up an RBI double to Tony Womack to tie things up. With the bases loaded, one out and the infield in, Diamondbacks slugger Luis Gonzalez hit a signature Rivera cutter off his fists that just barely floated into center field for the Series-winning hit.