Saturday night in Cleveland will add another page to the Division Series pressure file. The Guardians and White Sox are set for a winner-take-all American League Division Series Game 5, the 43rd such game since the best-of-five round arrived with the Wild Card expansion in 1995. The first pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, with TBS, truTV, UniMas and HBO Max carrying the game.
A Division Series can turn on a pitch, a bullpen phone call or one swing that follows a quiet night of missed chances. That has been true from the earliest Game 5s to the latest batch. Just one night before Cleveland’s coming showdown, the Tigers and Mariners stretched the format to an extreme: Jorge Polanco’s bases-loaded RBI single in the 15th inning ended a marathon that used 15 pitchers and produced 472 pitches.
Detroit had plenty of chances to finish it earlier. Tarik Skubal worked six innings and allowed one run while punching out 13. Kerry Carpenter reached six times and gave the Tigers a sixth-inning lead with a home run. Seattle answered in the seventh when Leo Rivas, 28 and appearing in only his 92nd Major League game overall, came off the bench and lined an RBI single on his first postseason swing. What began as Skubal against George Kirby also brought Logan Gilbert, Jack Flaherty and Luis Castillo out of their usual starting routines and into high-leverage relief work before Polanco finally sent Seattle through.
The Cubs and Brewers followed with a different sort of tension, a game built on openers and relief arms. Drew Pomeranz started for Chicago and Trevor Megill handled the first inning for Milwaukee. Four solo homers accounted for every run: Seiya Suzuki for the Cubs, William Contreras, Andrew Vaughn and Brice Turang for the Brewers. Vaughn’s fourth-inning drive stood as the difference. Jacob Misiorowski supplied four innings of one-run relief, and Abner Uribe got the final six outs for Milwaukee.
Recent October pressure
Cleveland knows how quickly a Game 5 can rewrite a club’s October history. In its first postseason series against the Tigers, the Guardians opened with a 7-0 win and knocked out Detroit opener Tyler Holton before he recorded an out. Then came consecutive 3-0 losses, one in Cleveland and one in Detroit. The Guardians survived Game 4, 5-4, and returned to Progressive Field with their season on the line. Eight Cleveland pitchers outlasted Skubal, Lane Thomas supplied a grand slam, and the Guardians moved on to meet the Yankees in the Championship Series. It also ended an eight-game losing streak in winner-take-all contests dating to the 1998 ALDS.
Another recent NLDS brought the Dodgers and Padres back together, their second Division Series meeting in three seasons. Los Angeles took a tight Game 1, San Diego answered with a 10-2 pounding at Dodger Stadium, then claimed Game 3 at home. The Dodgers forced the return trip with an 8-0 Game 4 win and completed the turnaround in Los Angeles. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered five scoreless innings, while Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández hit solo shots in a second straight Dodgers shutout.
The Yankees once needed no such late drama against Cleveland. After trailing 2-1 in that series, New York attacked early in the decisive game. Giancarlo Stanton’s three-run homer chased Cleveland’s starter after only one out in the first inning, and Aaron Judge added a solo homer in the second.
The 2021 Dodgers-Giants series carried the weight of a first postseason meeting between two old rivals and two teams with at least 105 victories. It ended 2-1 at Oracle Park. Cody Bellinger put Los Angeles ahead with a ninth-inning single, then Max Scherzer recorded the first save of his career after 431 Major League appearances. The Dodgers reached the NLCS for the fifth time in six seasons.
A year earlier, the Yankees and Rays brought a season-long grudge to San Diego. Mike Brosseau had narrowly avoided a 100 mph Aroldis Chapman fastball during a late-season benches-clearing incident in the Bronx. In Game 5, Brosseau and Chapman met again with the score tied in the eighth. Brosseau fell behind 0-2, fouled off four pitches, watched an inside fastball for ball three and then drove a 100.2 mph heater into the night. Tampa Bay reached its first ALCS since 2008.
The 2019 Nationals made a habit of surviving elimination, winning five such games on the road to a World Series title. Their most startling Division Series escape came against the Dodgers. Walker Buehler had put Los Angeles in position with 6 2/3 innings of one-run work, but Clayton Kershaw entered from the bullpen and allowed consecutive game-tying homers to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto on back-to-back pitches. In the 10th, Howie Kendrick hit a grand slam off Joe Kelly to stun a 106-win Dodgers club.
That same October, St. Louis turned its Game 5 in Atlanta into a historic rout. Yadier Molina’s walk-off hit had evened the series in Game 4, but the Cardinals wasted no time in the finale. They sent 14 hitters to the plate and scored 10 first-inning runs, matching the postseason record for runs in an inning. Braves manager Brian Snitker said he could not recall seeing that many hitters come up so quickly in the opening inning. Atlanta’s 12-run loss became the largest elimination-game defeat in postseason history and extended its series-losing streak to nine, dating to 2001.
Two years before that, the Yankees climbed out of an 0-2 hole against Cleveland, a club still carrying the memory of its 22-game regular-season winning streak and the pain of a World Series loss the year before. New York won Games 3 and 4 in the Bronx, then knocked Corey Kluber out in the fourth inning of Game 5 at Progressive Field. Cleveland pulled within a run, but Brett Gardner’s 12-pitch, two-RBI at-bat in the ninth gave the Yankees separation. New York became the 10th team, and the most recent at that point, to overcome an 0-2 Division Series deficit.
Chicago’s 2017 trip through Washington required a long Game 5 after Stephen Strasburg had thrown seven shutout innings in Game 4 while fighting the flu. The finale lasted four hours and 37 minutes despite going only nine innings. Max Scherzer worked in relief on two days’ rest, and Kris Bryant’s seventh-inning forceout created enough room for the Cubs. Wade Davis then retired Washington in order in the ninth to send Chicago to a third straight NLCS.
The Dodgers also escaped Washington in 2016. Down 1-0 in the seventh, Joc Pederson opened the inning with a homer, Yasmani Grandal walked on four pitches, Carlos Ruiz drove in a run and Justin Turner delivered a two-out, two-run triple. The Nationals scored twice in the bottom of the seventh and put the tying threat on base with two ninth-inning walks against Kenley Jansen. Dave Roberts called for Kershaw, who got Daniel Murphy to pop out for his first career save.
Toronto’s 2015 breakthrough remains one of the round’s defining images. The Blue Jays had lost the first two games at home in their first postseason appearance in 22 years, then won twice in Texas. Trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning of Game 5, José Bautista hit a three-run homer and punctuated it with the bat flip that became a permanent part of Blue Jays October lore. The clubs’ rivalry spilled into a benches-clearing confrontation the following season.
Elsewhere in that 2015 Division Series round, Daniel Murphy went 3-for-4 with a homer as the Mets beat the favored Dodgers. The blast was his second during what became a record streak of homering in six consecutive postseason games. Jacob deGrom, then in his second Major League season, outpitched Zack Greinke. Kansas City rode Johnny Cueto through Houston: after allowing two runs in the second, Cueto completed eight innings, struck out eight and retired 19 straight Astros at one point. It was the Royals’ only elimination game on the way to the World Series championship.
Detroit’s 2013 Game 5 win in Oakland belonged to Justin Verlander, who blanked the Athletics for eight innings, allowed two hits and struck out 10 of 27 hitters. The Tigers had eliminated Oakland in a winner-take-all game at the Coliseum for the second straight postseason. A year earlier, Verlander had gone even further, firing a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts to take Detroit to the ALCS after Oakland had won Games 3 and 4 at home.
From classic comebacks to the first Game 5
The 2013 Cardinals eliminated Pittsburgh behind Adam Wainwright’s only postseason complete game. Wainwright gave up one run on eight hits and struck out six in a game that lasted under three hours. Gerrit Cole threw five strong innings for the Pirates, but Andrew McCutchen went 0-for-4 and Pittsburgh’s first postseason appearance in 21 years ended after a 94-win season.
New York’s 2012 win over Baltimore rested on CC Sabathia’s 121-pitch complete game, a one-run effort that was the only complete game among his 24 postseason starts. Raul Ibanez and Ichiro Suzuki drove in runs, Curtis Granderson homered in the seventh, and the Yankees made their home-field advantage count after winning the AL East by two games.
St. Louis produced one of its most unlikely rallies in 2012 against Washington. With the Cardinals down to their last out, Daniel Descalso, a .227 regular-season hitter, hit a liner that struck shortstop Ian Desmond’s glove and brought home two runs to tie it. Pete Kozma followed with a two-run single. The comeback came despite Wainwright allowing six earned runs in only 2 1/3 innings, and it began a run of October frustration for the Nationals during the Bryce Harper years.
San Francisco, meanwhile, erased an 0-2 hole against Cincinnati by winning three times on the road. Buster Posey’s grand slam off Mat Latos capped a six-run fifth inning in Game 5. The Giants went on to claim the second of their three titles in five seasons.
The 2011 round offered several contrasting finishes. Detroit beat the Yankees in the Bronx when Don Kelly and Delmon Young homered in the first inning against Ivan Nova and Doug Fister worked five strong frames. Milwaukee, with the home team winning all five games in its series with Arizona, got Nyjer Morgan’s walk-off single in the 10th inning at Miller Park. St. Louis shocked the Phillies despite Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt anchoring Philadelphia’s rotation. Rafael Furcal opened Game 5 with a triple, Skip Schumaker drove him in, and Chris Carpenter threw a three-hit shutout. Halladay himself allowed only five baserunners after that first inning but took the loss.
Texas beat Tampa Bay in 2010 with the road team winning every game of the series. Cliff Lee threw a complete game with 11 strikeouts at Tropicana Field, beating David Price. The Rangers went on to their first American League pennant. In 2009, the Angels survived a ninth-inning Yankees threat against Francisco Rodríguez, who retired Hideki Matsui on a hard grounder with runners on first and second. Matsui had stranded runners in scoring position with two outs three times, and New York went 2-for-10 with men in scoring position despite three hits apiece from Derek Jeter, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi.
Houston’s 2005 Game 5 against Atlanta turned in the seventh. The Braves had forced the trip back to Turner Field with a ninth-inning Game 4 lead and were within a run after five innings in the finale. The Astros then collected six hits and five runs off Atlanta relievers in the seventh to reach the NLCS.
Boston came back from 0-2 against Oakland in 2003, winning two at Fenway Park before Pedro Martínez beat Barry Zito in the decisive game. Manny Ramírez’s three-run homer in the sixth put the Red Sox ahead, making them the fourth team to recover from an 0-2 Division Series deficit. That year’s Cubs stunned a 101-win Braves club behind Kerry Wood’s eight innings of five-hit ball and homers from Alex Gonzalez and Aramis Ramírez.
Minnesota’s 2002 win over Oakland included a ninth-inning exchange that nearly reversed the whole day. Brad Radke allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings, while Mark Mulder went seven and struck out nine. The Twins scored three in the ninth on A.J. Pierzynski’s two-run homer and a David Ortiz RBI double, then watched Mark Ellis hit a three-run shot for Oakland. Two popouts ended the rally. A year earlier, Barry Bonds’ fourth-inning homer helped the Giants beat Atlanta, which had surrendered a 2-1 series lead.
The Yankees’ 2001 comeback over Oakland ended with Mariano Rivera’s six-out save at Yankee Stadium, only weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Seattle’s record 116-win club also faced a Game 5 that October, beating Cleveland behind RBI singles from Mark McLemore, Edgar Martínez and Kenny Lofton, plus six innings of one-run, three-hit pitching from Jamie Moyer.
Arizona’s 2001 title run needed Tony Womack’s walk-off single against St. Louis. Curt Schilling threw a complete game and struck out nine, the first complete game of his postseason career. The Yankees reached that year’s World Series after responding to Oakland’s 10-run Game 4 win with six first-inning runs in Game 5. Tino Martinez cleared the bases with a double as Gil Heredia failed to escape the opening inning, though the Athletics fought back to within a run.
Cleveland endured one of the format’s crueler reversals in 1999, losing three straight to Boston after taking the first two at home. The Indians allowed 44 runs over those three losses, with Troy O’Leary’s seventh-inning three-run homer providing the deciding blow in Game 5. Two years earlier, Cleveland had been on the right side of a comeback, defeating the defending champion Yankees after falling behind 2-1. Manny Ramírez hit a two-run ground-rule double, scored on a Matt Williams single, and Jaret Wright and the pitching staff held New York to three runs despite 12 hits.
The first Division Series Game 5, in 1995, set a difficult standard. The Yankees took an 11th-inning lead against Randy Johnson in Seattle, but Edgar Martínez answered with a walk-off two-run double that scored Ken Griffey Jr. at the Kingdome. It ended the series, launched a Seattle celebration, and remains one of the signature moments in Division Series history.
That is the history waiting in the background when Cleveland and Chicago take the field Saturday. A Game 5 does not promise a classic. It simply gives both clubs the same narrow baseball bargain: nine innings, no tomorrow, and every October memory still possible.
