Every MLB Team’s Best Postseason Walk-Off In History

The now-or-never nature of postseason baseball lends itself to the game’s most iconic moments. Those often include walk-offs, which can force the next game in a high-stakes series or even secure a World Series title. Whether it was a grand slam, a bloop single delivered by a future Hall of Famer or a sac fly from the unlikeliest role player, each team can point to at least one pivotal postseason (or in some cases simply a decisive game) walk-off in its history. Here’s each team’s best: In 26 pinch-hit attempts with the Orioles in 1979, John Lowenstein had six hits and three RBIs. In Game 1 of the 1979 ALCS, Lowenstein subbed in for shortstop Mark Belanger in the bottom of the 10th inning with the score tied 3-3, with two outs and runners on first and second. He matched his season pinch-hit RBI total with one swing by sending a three-run homer that barely made it over the wall in left. The game-winner was hit off John Montague on a bender on the outside part of the plate, and Lowenstein poked it to left field just to the right of the 309-foot marker by the foul pole. Baltimore would go on to win the ALCS in four games. David Ortiz had 23 walk-off hits in his career, a total so high that it forced analytical minds to ponder whether clutch could actually be measured. The 2004 season was a highlight for Big Papi, who hit a two-run, two-out homer against the Angels to end the ALDS and send the Red Sox to the ALCS against the Yankees, when Ortiz, on back-to-back days, won games for Boston with walk-off hits. With the Red Sox staring down an 0-3 deficit in Game 4, Ortiz hit a 12th-inning, two-run walk-off against Paul Quantrill to give Boston a 6-4 win, then in Game 5 managed a 14th-inning single for another win, leading to the unprecedented series comeback and eventual first Red Sox World Series championship since 1918. Who else but Aaron Boone, and who else but the Red Sox? Boston managed to force a Game 7 in the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees with a 9-6 win in Game 6, and Game 7 was within their grasp, too, until Grady Little infamously left Pedro Martinez in to suffer at well over 100 pitches in his fourth time through the order and New York tied the game. In extras, the two sides remained scoreless with closer Mariano Rivera retiring six of the seven batters he faced, and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield coming on in relief with a successful 10th – but less successful 11th. Aaron Boone led off that inning and took Wakefield deep to punch a ticket to the World Series, once again leaving the Red Sox on the cusp but no further. Where to begin with this one. The Dodgers were ahead, 7-6, in the bottom of the ninth in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series against the Rays. Closer Kenley Jansen was on the mound, and while there were two runners on, there were also two outs. Kevin Kiermaier had singled and Randy Arozarena had walked, bringing up Brett Phillips. Phillips hit a single to center with two strikes, scoring Kiermaier with ease, but this is where things got weird. Center fielder Chris Taylor failed to corral the ball and knocked it to shallow right-center, caught up to it and immediately threw home with Arozarena trying to make it from first on the miscue. He knew he was cooked and started to head back to third, but it turned out catcher Will Smith did not have the ball, causing Arozarena to turn again and race home to score the winning run. “Touch em all, Joe!” is one of the most famous calls in history for a reason. Joe Carter did not hit a bigger home run in his life, true to the promise made by broadcaster Tom Cheek, but then again, few players ever have. Carter ended World Series Game 6 with a three-run shot off Phillies closer Mitch Williams, who had already allowed a walk to Rickey Henderson and a single to Paul Molitor in the inning. It marked just the second walk-off home run to end a World Series, and the first to be hit by a team trailing, as well. Carter hit 396 homers and another six in the postseason, but none is more special than one that ended a World Series. Astros closer Brad Lidge stood at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, and his fastball could reach up to 98 mph – back when that was not the norm. In Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, in a game tied 6-6 in the ninth, he came up against the visibly smaller Scott Podsednik, the White Sox outfielder and leadoff hitter who did not hit a single home run during the regular season. In Game 2 of the World Series, though, Scotty Pods launched a walk-off dinger against Lidge – his second of the playoffs, and the second walk-off blast allowed by the reliable Lidge that postseason – to win it for the White Sox. A scoreless game in the bottom of the 15th inning, with the Guardians up 1-0 in the series over the Rays – one more Cleveland win, and it heads to the ALDS. Standing in the way was ex-Guardians ace Corey Kluber, who was serving as a reliever for Tampa Bay, with the Rays already having gone through seven other pitchers to that point. Kluber started with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, but then Oscar Gonzalez strode to the plate to lead off the 15th. The rookie outfielder took the second pitch he saw, an 85-mph cutter that did not cut enough, and deposited it a few rows deep in left-center for the 1-0 win. Gonzalez later delivered another memorable walk-off hit against the Yankees in the ALDS (a Game 3 bases-loaded single in the ninth inning), but it is hard to argue that could top his homer against the Rays. What a game for Magglio Ordonez. The Tigers were up 3-0 in the ALCS against the Athletics, but the A’s were winning 3-2 in the sixth inning in Game 4. Ordonez led off the bottom of the frame and tied it with a line-drive homer off starter Dan Haren. With the game still 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Ordonez came up again, this time against closer Huston Street, and crushed a three-run homer to left field to send Detroit to the World Series for the first time since 1984. The Wild Card Game – also known as the Baseball Thunderdome, for the ball-knowers – no longer exists, but it served us heartbreaking baseball for a few years before it was replaced by the Wild Card Series. Such as in 2014, in one of the wildest postseason games ever played, one that showed the full potential of a game designed to take a fan base from excited to heartbroken in a matter of hours. The Royals took on the Athletics in Kansas City, and Oakland went up 2-0 in the first before K.C. took the lead in the third, 3-2, only for the Athletics to go up 7-3 in the sixth with a homer and a couple of singles. The Royals fought back to tie it in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, then both teams scored once in extras. Salvador Perez came to bat in the 12th with two outs and the score still 8-8, and walked it off against the third pitcher of the inning to send K.C. to the ALDS. This is a two-parter. Before Gene Larkin could walk it off in Game 7 against the Braves to secure the Twins second World Series championship in five years, Kirby Puckett had to ensure there was a Game 7 to win. And the future Hall of Famer did just that in Game 6, leading off the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off homer to left-center that ended a three-game winning streak for Atlanta and forced a Game 7. There, John Smoltz and Jack Morris dueled, with Smoltz throwing 7 1/3 dominant, scoreless innings, while Morris countered and then some by throwing a complete-game shutout of 10 innings. Morris got the win when Larkin came up after a pair of intentional walks to load the bases with one out and lifted a ball over the head of Brian Hunter head in left field – that was the ballgame, and the series. Part of the reason the Chicago Cubs went 108 years between championships is Bing Miller. The outfielder for the then-Philadelphia Athletics had his best season in 1929 by batting .331/.380/.489, serving as another important piece of a lineup that included future Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Mickey Cochrane. It was Miller, not any of the Cooperstown-bound trio, that closed out the 1929 Fall Classic: with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Miller laced a two-run double – his seventh hit of the series – to put the Athletics up 3-2 and clinch the title. The Astros won their first-ever World Series title in 2017, and got another shot at a championship in 2019. Jose Altuve was a significant reason for that, between batting .298/.353/.550 in the regular season and then posting OPS of 1.281 and 1.097 in the first two rounds of the postseason against the Rays and Yankees. The latter was felled by Altuve himself in the ALCS: the second baseman strode to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs in Game 6, with the Yankees having tied the game up 4-4 with a two-run blast from DJ LeMahieu in the top of the frame. Altuve had already doubled, walked and driven in two runs, and he drove in another two with a walk-off dinger off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. Jeff Mathis was not known for his bat. He was an (excellent) defense-first catcher playing for a manager who was a backstop in his playing days, and so it was fine for everyone involved that he never had even an average offensive season in his 17-year career. In the 2009 ALCS, however, it was the bat that stood out for Mathis. With the Angels and Yankees tied at four apiece in the ninth, Alfredo Aceves came on in relief in the 11th and allowed a single to Howie Kendrick before facing Mathis, who had entered as a defensive replacement earlier. Mathis inexplicably doubled by hitting a ball to the warning track just out of reach of Jerry Hairston Jr., who then collided with the fence. Kendrick scored from first amid the chaos, and Mathis was the offensive hero for one night. The first Division Series round of the Wild Card era delivered on its promise, with the Mariners and Yankees pushing things to a Game 5 after New York won the first two games of the series and then Seattle answered with two in a row itself. As if that was not enough, Game 5 went to extras: the Mariners tied the game in the bottom of the eighth when Doug Strange walked to score rookie shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner for this very purpose. In the 11th, starter Jack McDowell was still on the mound after entering in relief of Mariano Rivera in the ninth, and he took his second “L” of the series courtesy of a Joey Cora single, another by Ken Griffey Jr. and then what came to be known as “The Double” from Edgar Martinez. Both Cora and Griffey scored, and the Mariners had their first-ever postseason series victory. The Rangers already knew the pain of a World Series walk-off win, and inflicted it on the Diamondbacks in 2023. With the game tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 11th and Miguel Castro on the mound, Garcia got hold of a 97-mph pitch that caught way too much plate, even if it was not served to a guy who hit 39 regular-season homers and used his significant power to send it into the stands. It turned out to be an omen for the World Series itself. The Rangers were not to be denied here as they had been in previous Fall Classics, and dispatched Arizona in just five games. Francisco Cabrera appeared in just 12 games for the 1992 Atlanta Braves, and logged all of 11 plate appearances. His playing time did not increase in October, either, with Cabrera appearing in two games in the NLCS and coming to the plate twice. The second time was the one that mattered: with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 and Atlanta down 2-1 to the Pirates, Cabrera pinch-hit for reliever Jeff Reardon to face Stan Belinda, and he singled to left to drive in David Justice and Sid Bream, who just beat the throw home for the W. Cleveland was ahead of the then-Florida Marlins in Game 7 of the 1997 Series, in line to win its first championship since 1948. And then Craig Counsell happened – twice. First, he hit a sac fly to tie the game in the ninth, and then in the 11th inning, he reached on an error with one out against starter Charles Nagy, who had entered in relief to close out the 10th. Counsell moved to second on an intentional walk, to third on a force out at home to retire Bobby Bonilla, and then scored when Edgar Renteria singled to center with a looper up the middle that deflected off the top of the raised glove of Nagy – Cleveland was that close to winning it all. Instead, Renteria plated Counsell in extras, and the Marlins had their first-ever championship after a mere four-year wait. The result of Game 6 was not entirely on Bill Buckner, given reliever Calvin Schiraldi allowed three-straight singles before the ball went through the legs of Buckner, and a wild pitch from Bob Stanley tied the game 5-5 before Mookie Wilson ever put bat to ball. Still, though, it was Buckner letting the grounder off the bat of Wilson roll through his legs and into the outfield to score Ray Knight, which officially won Game 6 for the Mets and forced a Game 7, which New York also won – the Red Sox recovered eventually, but it took nearly another two decades, while the Mets got to fly a flag that flies forever right there in 1986. The Phillies were ahead of the Dodgers 2-1 in the 2009 NLCS, but Los Angeles had a chance to even up the series after taking a 4-2 lead in the top of the sixth against starter Joe Blanton. Second baseman Chase Utley drove in a run in the next frame to cut the lead in half, but neither team got on the board again until the bottom of the ninth. Closer Jonathan Broxton racked up two outs, but he also walked pinch-hitter Matt Stairs and hit catcher Carlos Ruiz with a pitch, bringing shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the plate. Rollins took the 1-1 pitch and drove it to the gap in right-center for a two-run double, giving Philadelphia the walk-off W and setting the stage for a Game 5 clinch. Thirteen is an unlucky number for some, but not Jayson Werth. In the 2012 NLDS, the Nationals were down two games to one to the Cardinals, and St. Louis had tied Game 4 1-1 in the third. Both teams remained scoreless until the ninth, when Werth led off the inning against Lance Lynn, who had just entered in relief. A 13-pitch at-bat ensued. The first two pitches from Lynn were strikes, with Werth taking both, then two waste pitches followed to try to get Werth to chase. Werth fouled off the fifth pitch, 97 mph in on the hands, then fouled off two more 97-mph offerings and one at 96 that was just out of reach of first baseman Allen Craig in the dugout. Werth just got a piece of an off-speed pitch from Lynn that followed, caught up to 96 once more with a foul and watched pitch No. 11 end up about as close to a low-and-outside strike as a pitch can get for ball three. The 12th was also fouled, and then Lynn caught middle-middle with No. 13; Werth lined it into the bullpen as if he had been waiting for it the entire time, forcing Game 5. Joe Morgan is one of the greatest second basemen in MLB history, and 1975 was his greatest season. That would be true taking just his regular season into account, but Morgan also posted a .974 OPS in an NLCS sweep of the Pirates, and then put the Reds up, two games to one, over the Red Sox in the World Series. In the 10th inning of a 5-5 Game 3, Boston reliever Roger Moret gave up a walk-off single to Morgan, a hard-hit ball over the head of Fred Lynn in center field. There is no dramatic Game 7 victory for the Reds without this Game 3 win, the first of back-to-back World Series championships for Cincinnati. The last World Series win for the Cubs before 2016 was in 1908, but the last World Series appearance before then came in 1945. Chicago nearly ended its unfortunate streak there, with more than a little help from 35-year-old Stan Hack. The veteran pushed the end of his last great season one game further, in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. Hack snuck a ball right past the shortstop into left field, breaking the tie with an RBI double and forcing a Game 7 against Detroit – the fourth hit of the day for Hack in five trips to the plate, and his third RBI. The 2008 season was the first time that the Brewers had even been to the postseason since 1982, and that ended abruptly in the (then) first-round NLDS. Milwaukee returned to the playoffs in 2011, and that run went significantly better, albeit still shy of a World Series. In a decisive Game 5 against the Diamondbacks, the Brewers allowed the tying run in the top of the ninth and then went down in order in the bottom of the inning, forcing a conclusion in extras. The Brewers did not have to wait long for one: outfielder Nyjer Morgan came to bat with one out and Carlos Goméz on first – then second after a steal – and skipped a single up the middle past the foot of closer J.J. Putz to eliminate the D-backs and reach the first-ever NLCS for Milwaukee. This was the first-ever World Series to end with a walk-off homer that ended the entire series in Game 7. Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski was not a bad hitter by any means, but he was not making any lists of players you would want up in the situation he found himself in, either, given he hit eighth more than anywhere else in the lineup in his career in the era before the DH. Tied 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth against the Yankees, Mazeroski came to the plate to face Game 4 starter Ralph Terry, who had come on in relief in the previous inning. He picked up his second loss of the World Series here, as Mazeroski swatted a pitch that caught far too much plate and sent it into the bleachers to net the Pirates a championship. Rangers fans, look away. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, down by two and facing down closer Neftalí Feliz and the end of St. Louis’ season, Cardinals third baseman David Freese continued what had already been a torrid World Series and hit a two-run triple to send the game to extras and prolong the Cards’ existence. Freese did not just give St. Louis a chance to win later, though: he also won the game for the Cardinals. In the 11th, Freese led off against Mark Lowe and, on a 3-2 count, crushed the next pitch to dead center and over the fence with room to spare. Freese won Game 6 for St. Louis, and then the Cardinals won Game 7 to complete the comeback as well. Luis Gonzalez had a career year in 2001, bashing 57 homers and driving in 142 runs while slugging .688. Even against the high-offense numbers of the era, Gonzalez managed an adjusted 174 OPS+ that would have ranked second among all hitters in 2026. It is not surprising, then, that it was Gonzalez who delivered the clinching hit in the World Series for the D-backs against the Yankees to keep New York from four-straight championships, but it is a little ironic that the slugger did it with a bloop that barely cleared the infield grass. You take what you can get against Mariano Rivera. It was not technically a postseason walk-off, since tiebreaking Game 163s – which no longer exist in the current playoff-eligibility setup – are counted as part of the regular season, both statistically and in the standings. A win-or-go-home extra game, though, has all the tension of a Game 7, and this 2007 showdown between the Rockies and Padres was no exception and more than worthy of standing as the finest walk-off moment for the Rockies. It was a back-and-forth affair that saw San Diego take an 8-6 lead after the top of the 13th, but Trevor Hoffman failed to close things out in the bottom of the frame: shortstop Troy Tulowitzki doubled in a run, then outfielder Matt Holliday tripled him in to tie the game. Then, infielder Jamey Carroll hit a sac fly that scored Holliday on a safe call at the plate that surprised the announcers. In 1988, Kirk Gibson hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run to win Game 1 of the World Series for the Dodgers despite suffering from multiple leg injuries. That was, without question, the greatest walk-off postseason hit for the Dodgers for decades – until Freddie Freeman managed to hit the one and only walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1 of the 2024 Fall Classic against the Yankees. After this one, Gibson himself said it was time to change the guard. Freeman, like Gibson, was injured: he suffered a sprained ankle that limited him in the NLDS and NLCS, and then broke the costal cartilage in his sixth rib taking batting practice – an injury that usually knocks players out for months. Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam with those injuries, drove in a record-tying 12 RBIs in the series and became the first player to homer in the first four games of a World Series. The Padres reached their first-ever World Series in 1984, and did so with the help of a walk-off by first baseman Steve Garvey. With the game tied 5-5 in the ninth, the Chicago Cubs had future Hall of Fame closer Lee Smith on the mound to keep San Diego from scoring, but he only managed to record a single out. Another future Cooperstown inductee, outfielder Tony Gwynn, singled to center to put the go-ahead run on, and then Garvey made sure there would not be a defensive play by going with an outside pitch the other way and sending it over the wall in right. The Padres forced a Game 5 en route to a series win. This technically was not a postseason game, but it would surely have felt like it back in 1951. The Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, as both teams were known then, finished the 1951 regular season in a tie at 96-58. The National League tiebreaker of the day was a three-game playoff series, and the winner of that was onto the World Series. The Giants won on the road in the first game, but were trounced in the second, 10-0, leaving a win-or-go-home third game at the Polo Grounds. The Dodgers began the bottom of the ninth up 4-1, three outs from the World Series, but Don Newcombe allowed a pair of singles to open the inning, then gave up an RBI double to Whitey Lockman, bringing up Bobby Thomson. If you know your baseball history, you know what happened next: the “Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” and repeated cries of the Giants winning the pennant.