The Best Series in the History of Sports?

The Game Room
1

This question is brought on by the current Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics series. I’m not saying it is the best series ever, but I think it is one of the best. Tons of overtime games, going all the way to the seventh game, intensity, unexpected players stepping up, last second shots, and so much more. What do you folks think? Baseball, basketball, hockey, or any other sport, what is your call on the best series ever? Hopefully not just the series with the best game, I’m looking for a series packed full of exciting, close games. Here are two of my nominations.

Basketball - 2009 Chicago Bulls - Boston Celtics
Baseball - 2004 New York Yankees - Boston Red Sox

2

Well, do you consider a great Tennis final a “series”?

Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon Final was mind boggling.

Seriously, watch and enjoy

3

I think so. It may all happen in one outing, but it is multiple games and sets, each with their own dynamic. So, yes, I think that is definitely a good call.

4

Baseball: 1986 Houston vs. NYM was a classic. Four one run games, with the last two going 12 and 16 innings respectively.

The 1975 Red Sox-Reds WS had five one run games including the famous 12 inning game six (Carlton Fisk homerun).

5

We’ll argue baseball series for months, but I thought it was just assumed that the 1991 World Series was the best ever played.

In hockey, you won’t top the Summit Series.

6

No question, the best series ever was the performance by Secretariat in 1973. Like the Kentucky Derby, where he was still speeding up at the end of the race! And the Belmont, where he was so far ahead of the other horses that they didn’t even show in the camera shot. Or his last race, the Canadian Intl, where he again ran away from the rest of the field. An absolutely incredible year!

7

I’m not a BoSox fan, but their last 8 games of 2004 was the most exciting baseball I’ve seen. After they beat the Yankees, I truly felt that the St. Louis Cardinals hadn’t a chance in hell, that they were facing a true Team of Destiny. And I was right.

8

I’ll agree that the Celtics -Bulls series will be on ESPN Classic, and deservedly so. The Federer/Nadal match was one I happened to catch (not being a tennis fan) and I was mesmerized.

But the best series of my lifetime is the 2001 World Series. It isn’t close, either. It had everything, literally everything, you could want from a series, and the only reason I think most people overlook it is because the Yankees, the most popular baseball team, lost. But for me, good triumphed over evil.

Go back and check it out. Keep in mind the backdrop for this series. It was a month after 9-11, and everyone considered the Yankees, “America’s Team.” I distinctly remember people claiming that for the Diamondbacks to even take the field was traitorous and unamerican.

Games 1 and 2 featured masterful pitching performances, some of the best in Series history. Randy Johnson’s 11 K 3 Hit complete game shut out in game 2 is still one of the most incredible feats I’ve seen. People were thinking the Yankees would be swept after game 2. They came back in game 3 (Clemens was fantastic in a playoff series? Really?!) and Rivera’s 2 inning save with 4 Ks showed how if he is given a lead into the ninth, the DBacks have no shot.

Game four, Schilling comes back on four days’ rest and pitches a gem; 7 innings, 3 hits, 9 strikeouts. Then, with the DBacks up 2 in the bottom of the ninth. and with 2 outs and one man on (seriously…) Tino Martinez hits a home run. A miraculous, once in a lifetime event. Then in the bottom of the tenth, ANOTHER, two-out home run, walk off variety. This might be one of the best games in the history of the World Series.

Game five, Yankees just tied the series at 2 all. After one of the best games of all time, what could possibly top it? How about another two-out, bottom of the ninth, game tying home run by the Yankees?! Honestly?! How did this happen, AGAIN? And then… the Yankees won in the 12th inning on a single scoring a man from second. Great game in a series of nothing but great games…

…except for game six. Yankees up 3-2, and now the world is practically celebrating, but the heroes of games 1 and 2 are coming back; johnson in game 6, and Schilling in game 7… The DBacks stormed back, leaving no room for 9th inning heroics, and won a snoozer 15-2. Even the boring games featured excitement: 17 runs! This is going 7…

Game 7. Who else? Schilling starts again, his third of the series. Seven innings, 9 strikeouts, and locked in a 1-1 duel, he goes into the eighth and gives up the go ahead home run. Randy Johnson comes in relief in the eighth, on no rest, and closes out the inning. Coming in to close out the game in the bottom of the eighth, up 2-1, is the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera

Bottom of the eighth. Strike 1, 2, 3, 1 out. Strike 3! Two outs. Strike 3! Game over…
Johnson gets the Yankees 1, 2, 3 in the ninth to give the DBacks one last chance against Rivera. And wouldn’t you know, in the bottom of the ninth, the DBacks score 2 runs to win the series, to give some much needed payback and their first ever series win. Whew!

9

Luis Gonzalez restored my faith in baseball. Seriously.

The other baseball series that comes to mind was division series between Mariners vs Yankees in 1995 right before the modern Yankee dynasty was born. At this point the Yankees hadn’t been in the post-season in 14 years while the Mariners had never been.

The Yankees won a slugfest in game 1 9-6 behind David Cone despite 2 home-runs from Ken Griffey Jr.

Game 2 was nodded at 4-4 heading to the twelve. Griffey gave the Mariners back the lead by homering. In the bottom of the innings the Yankees tied it back up on Sierra double, but Bernie was thrown out at the plate so on we went. Finally in the 15h, Leyritz hit a walk off two run home-run. This game also featured the only post-season home-run of Don Mattingly’s career.

Game 3 went back to Seattle with the Mariners up against the wall. They took it behind Randy Johnson 7-4. 4 runs was the fewest runs either team scored in this series, 11 combined runs tied a series low, and a margin of 3 tied the biggest end of game deficit.

In Game 4 the Yankees jumped out to a 5-0 lead early thanks to an O’Neil home-run and a Mattingly 2 run single. The Mariners battled back though, and got within one in the third thanks to a 3 run shot from Edgar Martinez and a sac fly. The Mariners tied it in the fifth and a solo shot from Griffey gave the Mariners the edge in the 6th. The Yankees tied it in the 8th, but the Mariners broke it open in the bottom of the inning thanks to a grand slam from Edgar, giving him 7 rbis on the day, and a solo shot by Buhner. The Yankees didn’t go out quietly though scoring 2 in the ninth and getting Bernie Williams up as the tying run before he flew out.

The decisive game 5 stayed in Seattle as baseball was still using the 2-3 format. It was 2-2 after 5 when a 2 run Mattingly double gave the Yankees the lead. They kept the league until the bottom of the 8th when a Griffey home-run, his 5th in this 5 game series, halved it. The Yankees left starter David Cone in despite throwing 140+ pitches and he walked in the tying run. Both team threatened in the ninth, but neither scored. As the game hit extra innings both teams brought in starters, Jack Mcdowell and Randy Johnson respectfully. The Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th on a single by Velarde. The Mariners came up in the bottom of the inning three outs from elimination. Singles from Cora and Griffey put runners on first and third with Edgar coming up.

—Dave Niehaus, play-by-play announcer for the Seattle Mariners, calling the game-winning double by Edgar Martínez.

Thanks to Wiki for refreshing my memory. Just a fantastic series and quite possibly the best I’ve ever seen.

10

If were getting into pre-World Series serieses, the 1980 NLCS between the Phillies and Astros was about as close as a series can possibly be.

Fought between two teams who’d already had a lot of excitement - they both won razor thin pennant races - the first game was a 3-1 pitching duel and every game after that went into extra innings, four games in a row, and ending with a wild fifth game that saw the Astros up 5-2 in the eighth, the Phillies score five runs to lead 7-5, the Astros come back to tie it, and the Phillies finally win it in extra innings. The Astros had two runners thrown out at the plate in that game.

11

For the NBA, I have to go with the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and the '76-s:

Boston 3-1 down, squeak out a home win, then go to Philly, pull another squeaker, and win the 7’th game by one point, and I remember the 'Sixers last play, alley-hoop attempt from Bobby Jones to Doctor J – ball hit the rim on the way to The Doc’s hands… Celtics win!

I was there. Heart attack city all the way…

12

2004 Sox-Yankees ALCS, among American sports, without doubt. The first time I’ve ever given a shit about baseball.

13

The 2001 World Series was great and if you’re a baseball fan, I encourage you to rent the DVD set of the series. You probably didn’t see a lot of the series as it was interrupted many times during the post Sept. 11 anthrax scare as well as other news.

I’m hoping the D-backs can get another series win soon. That was such a great win and yet it was completely overshadowed by all the news at that time. I don’t want to ever see another November World Series again.

14

2004 ALCS, Red Sox - Yankees.

So there.

15

If tonight’s game 7 is good, then I think that this series is up there with the best ever played, in any sport. One problem though is that it’s a first round series, and it’s fairly likely that it won’t end up mattering too much to the eventual championship.

16

1960 World Series Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Yankees.

First series to end on a home run.

Pirates vastly dominated by the Yankees yet still won.

From Wiki.

17

With the exception of the 5th set, when Federer began to crack, the things that makes last year’s Wimbledon Final the greatest match/series in sports history are:

  1. Both men were playing their top game.

  2. The men are perhaps the top two tennis players of all time(and certainly the best two active players).

  3. The had a history of matches before, with Roger winning on most surfaces and Nadal winning on clay.

  4. Roger was on his best surface and Nadal was trying to win his first major not on clay(the French).

  5. Expectations were huge and hype was way, way, up.

  6. It was the final match on that court before they added the roof. It was literally the last match on that court that could have any rain delays. It was nearly dark out when they finished.

I could go on, but if you didn’t get to see that match, try to tape/DVR it off ESPN classic sometime, even if it is just a summary version. It was one of the few times I’ve watched something live and thought, “I just saw one of the greatest sports matches of all time.”

Stunning tennis, amazing plays, and huge drama.

18

I agree with this. Granted, I was a 13-year old Twins fan at the time, so I’m extremely biased, but it was simply fantastic. The home team won every game. Five of the games were by 1 run (3 were in extra innings, and Atlanta got a win in the bottom of the 9th in game 3). It had controversy (the Braves & their fans erroneously claiming Hrbek pulled Gant off 1st base :slight_smile: ), a great storyline (two worst-to-first teams), the Homer Hankies, the Tomahawk Chop, Kirbyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Puckett’s Game 6 heroics, and hometown boy Jack Morris giving the single best big game performance I’ve ever seen (Game 7, 10 shutout innings). I could go on, but for someone who worshiped Puckett, Game 6 is magic and always will be.

19

The 2004 ALCS was great fun for Boston fans, but hardly ranks as a great series. After all, games 6 and 7 were sorely lacking in drama. The Yankee starters, respectively, were Jon Leiber and Kevin Brown… it wasn’t as though the Red Sox had to overcome quality pitching. As for the bloody sock drama, who knows? It was Schilling, perhaps the biggest phony to ever wear a major league uniform. It wouldn’t surprise any impartial viewer that the whole thing was a scam.

20

I’m from Detroit and I have to say, that was a great series. The only bias I have is that Jack Morris was a great Detroit Tiger first.

Amazing, amazing, series.