With Boston having a chance to win two games at home and push the New York Yankees to a tie-breaking game for the American League Pennant I thought I would take a look at previous playoff games.
In real life there were 5 tiebreakers needed to decide a pennant prior to where I currently sit in 1965 with 4 of them being in the National League. In my sim there have been 8 times so far including a pair of three-way ties.
Here is a complete list and over the next few posts I will look at each of the tiebreaking games.
Code:
1925 AL Cleveland over St Louis
1933 NL 3 way tie with Pirates over Cardinals and Cubs
1937 NL Cubs over Giants
1939 NL Cardinals over Giants
1942 NL Cardinals over Pittsburgh
1943 AL Yankees over Cleveland
1957 AL 3 way tie Tigers beat Boston and Yankees
1961 NL Los Angeles over Cincinnati
1933 THREE WAY NATIONAL LEAGUE TIE
On the morning of Tuesday September 19, 1933 there were 2 days of games remaining in the season and the National League standings looked like this:
Code:
Standings Sept 19am
Chicago 86 65
Pittsburgh 86 66
St Louis 85 66
The Cubs and Cardinals had a doubleheader scheduled in St Louis for that day and then a single game the next day while Pittsburgh was in Cincinnati for a game each of the next two days.
Pittsburgh needed an rbi double in the top of the ninth inning from Gee Walker to beat the Reds 3-2 and give Paul Derringer (19-11) the victory over Red Ruffing (16-17) of Cincinnati. Meanwhile in St Louis the visiting Cubs took the opener 8-1 as Earl Averill homered and drove in a pair of runs. Chicago was very confident going into the second game with Guy Bush (26-7, 2.58) on the mound but their ace got into trouble early as the Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks in big part to Dale Alexander's 2-run double. St Louis starter Earl Whitehill (15-15) was cruising along until the 8th inning when Averill hit an rbi double and Wally Berger followed with his 20th homer of the season to cut the Cardinals lead to 4-3. Whitehill would regroup and get the final 5 outs to earn the complete game victory and set the stage for a very dramatic final day of the regular season.
Here are the standings after Tuesday's action with 1 game remaining for each club.
Code:
Chicago 87 66
Pittsburgh 87 66
St Louis 86 67
While the Philadelphia Athletics, who had long clinched the American League title, were enjoying a 9-0 season ending victory over Washington they had no idea who their opponent in the 1933 World Series would be. That all came down to the results of two games on Wednesday September 20th.
The Pittsburgh Pirates scored 5 times in the top of the second at Cincinnati and looked to be on track to earn at least a tie for the National League pennant. However the host Cincinnati Reds, at 55-98 and dead last in the league, wouldn't quit. Cincinnati nibbled back with a run in each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th innings including solo homers from Phil Weintraub and Tony Piet to cut the Pirates lead to 5-3 after five. When Pittsburgh added another run on Shanty Hogan's 6th inning rbi single the Pirates went up 6-3 but the Reds chased Pittsburgh starter Monte Pearson in the bottom of the 7th, scoring 4 runs to take a 7-6 lead. Jim Bottomley doubled in two runs and Phil Weintraub hit a two-run triple to give him 4 rbi's on the day. Cincinnati added another run in the bottom of the 8th and beat the Pirates 8-6.
The Pittsburgh loss meant a Chicago win would give the Cubs the pennant, while a St Louis win meant we had a 3-way tie for first.
In St Louis, you could not blame the faithful at Sportsman's Park for feeling their season was over after the Cubs took a 6-0 lead in the fifth thanks to a Wally Berger 2-run double. George Pipgras seemed to be cruising along on the hill for the Cubs allowing just 1 hit thru five. Pie Traynor got a pinch-hit single in the home half of the sixth but the Cardinals failed to take advantage.
In the bottom of the seventh the Cards finally strung some hits together. Lou Finney led off with a single and moved to second when Rick Ferrell worked Pipgras for a free pass. Dale Alexander hit a sharp single and Finney got the green light to round third and try to score.....but he was thrown out at the plate. St Louis did get one run as Charlie Gelbert delivered a 2-out single to cut the Cubs lead to 6-1. However, it seemed like a huge opportunity wasted by the Cardinals.
They would get another one, and take advantage fully this time. George Watkins led off the home 8th with a double and after singles from Jimmy Dykes, Sam West and Finney the score was 6-3 with runners on the corners. When the dust settled the Cardinals scored five times and the game was tied at 6.
It would stay that way until the bottom of the 12th inning when, with one out, Sam West reached on an error to give the Cardinals a base runner. Lou Finney then strolled to the plate to face Cubs reliever Whit Wyatt. Finney, a 23 year old outfielder who was acquired from the Athletics in the spring in a much criticized deal that sent 30 year old fan favourite Chick Hafey to Philadelphia, had a chance to prolong the Cardinals season. Finney had only started 63 games this season, batting .257 with 1 homer and 17 rbi's but those numbers changed in an instant as he connected on a 1-1 pitch and deposited it over the left field wall to give the Cardinals an 8-6 victory and force a 3-way tie.
That moment would be the peak of Finney's career as he would bounce back and forth between St Louis and the minors for the next decade, playing in just 329 career games. Although he would later be on the Cards roster for 4 World Series titles the only World Series action he ever got was with the A's in 1932.
THE PLAYOFF
With the three way tie it was decided Chicago would play again at St Louis with the winner facing Pittsburgh for the crown. The Cubs selected Johnny Allen (17-13) to start the game against 37 year old Tom Zachary (7-11) of St Louis. Chicago took a 3-2 lead thanks to Wally Berger's 21st homer of the season in the 4th inning to chase Zachary. Lon Warneke (21-11) took over on 2 days rest and combined with reliever Jim Peterson to hold the Cubs bats in check.
Rick Ferrell doubled in Sam West in the bottom of the 7th to tie the game and Lou Finney, who had reached on a error, would score the eventual game winner on a pinch-hit single from veteran Pie Traynor. The Cardinals would add an insurance run and then give the ball to Peterson who shut down the Cubs for his 10th save of the season.
ST LOUIS VS PITTSBURGH
With a trip to the World Series on the line the Pittsburgh Pirates and St Louis Cardinals met at Forbes Field. The Pirates had never won a pennant before dating all the way back to 1894. The Cardinals had good success in the twenties with 5 pennants and 3 World Series.
Paul Derringer (19-11) started for the Bucs in search of his 20th victory of the season. The 27 year old Derringer stalled on 19 wins each of the two previous years. His opponent would be Flint Rhem, a 32 year old who bounced around the minors for a decade before becoming a part of the Cardinals rotation last year. Rhem is 11-7 in 21 starts this season.
Both teams had a couple of baserunners in the early innings but Derringer and Rhem kept the game scoreless through three. An error from Cardinals 3B Dutch Holland would prove costly in the bottom of the fourth as that, combined with 2 walks, loaded the bases for Pittsburgh with one out. Don Hurst did the job for the Pirates, delivering a sacrifice fly to put Pittsburgh on the board. Rhem got out of the inning with no further damage but trailed 1-0 after four.
Another error, this time from St Louis shortstop Charlie Gelbert cost the Cardinals a run in the bottom of the fifth. Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Derringer was the beneficiary of Gelbert's gaffe, and he would score on a Gus Dugas single after Gee Walker had singled him to third. St Louis did get a key defensive play in that inning as Gee Walker, who had stolen second, tried to score on the Dugas hit as well but he was gunned down at the plate by leftfielder George Watkins. The Pirates led 2-0 after five innings.
In the seventh inning the Cardinals finally got some offense against Pittsburgh starter Derringer. With one out, St Louis catcher Rick Ferrell singled and moved to second on a single from Ab Wright. The Cardinals daringly executed a double steal successfully and pinch-hitter Ballplayer Schilling delivered a 2-run single to tie the game.
Pittsburgh would answer quickly as Gus Dugas smacked a one-out triple in the bottom of the seventh and he would score when Dick Bartell followed with a single making it 3-2 Pirates.
St Louis threatened in the 8th inning with 2 runners on and two out but Rick Ferrell was unable to deliver a clutch hit. Derringer retired the Cardinals in order in the 9th and Pittsburgh celebrated it's first-ever National League Pennant.
The Pirates would take game one of the series against Philadelphia but then lose the next four in a row. Pittsburgh would win the pennant again the following year but lose the World Series in 6 to the Boston Red Sox. The Pirates have never won a National League pennant since.
Here is Lou Finney, the hero of the game that forced baseball's first three-way tie. His real-life career was much better than what he accomplished in the sim.