Tournament of World Series Champions

[Det42]

I just got OOTP 17 last week and was immediately hit with an idea, which I shared on the forums of a league that I'm in. Shortly afterward, someone suggested I should think about sharing it here. I tell you all that so you know why I'm already a good distance into the first round of my tournament before I even posted here...

Also, I had already gotten a few series in before someone asked for screenshots (I have no idea why I hadn't thought of that), so some of the early ones don't have any. Sorry about that.

Anyway, here's what I'm doing: I'm taking all 111 World Series champions and putting them in a tournament to see who really is the best. If you're at all interested how I determined their starting points, my ranking system was mostly arbitrary. I used regular season winning percentage as the #1 factor; the better they did in the regular season, the better the rank. The first tie breaker was number of losses in that year's World Series. Potentially tough for the few teams that played best-of-nine, but I couldn't think of anything else at the time. Especially considering the second tie breaker is a random number generator. The higher ranked team gets home field AND strategy set up in their year. If the higher ranked team is one of the teams that won a best-of-nine World Series, the series will be best-of-nine, otherwise it will be best-of-seven.

I had considered doing "play-in" series based on the league champions of 1904 and the final standings and playoff format of 1994, but I decided against it. Since this is about World Series champions, it didn't feel right to include teams that didn't win one.

Since there are fewer than 128 teams, the following teams got first round byes (listed from #1-17 ranking)
1909 Pirates
1927 Yankees
1907 Cubs
1998 Yankees
1939 Yankees
1932 Yankees
1929 A's
1912 Red Sox
1942 Cardinals
1905 Giants
1919 Reds
1944 Cardinals
1910 A's
1961 Yankees
1915 Red Sox
1911 A's
1970 Orioles

I've attached a file showing the bracket at the start of the tournament.

[Det42]

Here are all of the results from series I don't have a screenshot for (again, sorry about that).

1953 New York Yankees (#27) 4, 1990 Cincinnati Reds (#102) 2
MVP: Yogi Berra (NYY 1953) .400/.433/.880, 4 HR, 13 RBI, Grand Slam 1st inn. Gm 3 (but the Reds came back to win it in the 9th)
This one was back and forth, at least for the first 4 games. Then the Yankees won 3 in a row.
Scores:
NYY 7 Cin 2
Cin 9 NYY 7
Cin 6 NYY 5
NYY 7 Cin 4
NYY 5 Cin 3
NYY 8 Cin 7
The 1953 Yankees' next opponent will be the winner of the 1951 Yankees / 1926 Cardinals matchup.

1958 New York Yankees (#79) 4, 1995 Atlanta Braves (#50) 1
MVP: Elston Howard (NYY 1958) .625/.625/.917, 1 HR, 15 RBI
An absolute cakewalk for the Yankees, who won games 2 & 3 by a combined score of 29-1. The Braves' vaunted pitching core of Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine were knocked around easily, especially Smoltz. The only exception was a great game by Maddux in Game 4, the Braves' only win.
Scores:
NYY 4 Atl 1
NYY 17 Atl 1
NYY 12 Atl 0
Atl 4 NYY 1
NYY 10 Atl 4
The 1958 Yankees' next opponent will be the 1915 Red Sox, who had a 1st Round bye.

1941 New York Yankees (#25) 4, 2003 Florida Marlins (#104) 0
MVP: Joe DiMaggio (NYY 1941) .438/.550/.688, 1 HR, 5 RBI
A fairly easy sweep for the '41 Yankees. The Marlins looked like they'd let themselves back into the series in Game 3, when they came back from a 7-0 deficit with 5 runs in the 7th and 2 runs in the 8th to tie it up, only to give up the game winning run another 8 innings later in the 16th. That's also 3 straight series invloving a Yankees team, and 3 straight Yankees wins.
Scores:
NYY 11 Fla 2
NYY 6 Fla 0
NYY 8 Fla 7 (16)
NYY 2 Fla 1
The 1941 Yankees' next opponent will be the winner of the 1968 Tigers / 2012 Giants matchup.

1921 New York Giants (#61) 5, 2004 Boston Red Sox (#68) 4
MVP: Irish Meusel (NYG 1921) .439/.439/.659, 1 HR, 10 RBI
Our first series that guarantees the Yankees won't win (although a New York team still did), and also our first 9-game series, which went to the wire. If it had been 7, the Red Sox would've won it. It looked like a close series of lopsided games, as 4 of the first 5 games were blowouts, 2 for each side. The Red Sox's real-life comeback spirit showed itself in Game 6, when they went into the 7th inning down 3-0 and came out of it leading 4-3 and took a 4-2 lead in the series. But allowing 3 runs to the Giants in the 10th inning of Game 7 started a string of 3 straight Giants victories. Pedro Martinez dominated his Games 1 and 4 starts, and did well in the deciding Game 9, but it wasn't enough.
Scores:
Bos 12 NYG 3
Bos 13 NYG 6
NYG 8 Bos 0
Bos 3 NYG 0
NYG 11 Bos 3
Bos 4 NYG 3
NYG 11 Bos 8 (10)
NYG 4 Bos 1
NYG 7 Bos 1
The 1921 Giants' next opponent will be the 1998 Yankees, who had a 1st round bye.

1993 Toronto Blue Jays (#86) 4, 1956 New York Yankees (#43) 0
MVP: Rickey Henderson (Tor 1993) .333/.579/.833, 2 HR, 4 RBI
There technically can't be any upsets when every team is a champion, but this one is close. Especially considering it was a clean sweep of part of the Yankee dynasty of the 1950s. MVP Rickey Henderson started out the series with a home run, and it was all Toronto from then on. Yankees legend Whitey Ford lost both Games 1 and 4, and Mickey Mantle hit a paltry .125. The series ended, much like the 1993 World Series, with a walk-off home run. This time it was a Devon White solo shot.
Scores:
Tor 4 NYY 3
Tor 7 NYY 1
Tor 5 NYY 3
Tor 4 NYY 3
The 1993 Blue Jays' next opponent will be the winner of the 1930 A's / 2011 Cardinals matchup.

1954 New York Giants (#41) 4, 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers (#88) 2
MVP: Don Mueller (NYG 1954) .615/.630/.615, 0 HR, 2 RBI
It was a back and forth series, but in the end the Giants were too strong. Their pitching was fantastic, with 4 complete games, and it doesn't hurt that Willie Mays, Monte Irvin and Al Dark all hit over .350, and none of them even came close to Mueller's 16-for-26 series (.615).
Scores:
NYG 6 LAD 1
LAD 4 NYG 1
NYG 10 LAD 4
LAD 2 NYG 1
NYG 7 LAD 5
NYG 5 LAD 0
The 1954 Giants' next opponent will be the winner of the 1928 Yankees / 1985 Royals matchup.

1975 Cincinnati Reds (#19) 4, 1987 Minnesota Twins (#110) 0
MVP: Johnny Bench (Cin 1975) .526/.550/1.105, 2 HR, 10 RBI
The Twins were no match for the power of the Big Red Machine, going down quickly in 4 straight. A 9th inning comeback in Game 3 fell short, otherwise they may have extended the series a bit.
Scores:
Cin 10 Min 1
Cin 9 Min 5
Cin 8 Min 7
Cin 7 Min 2
The 1975 Reds' next opponent will be the winner of the 1946 Cardinals / 1962 Yankees matchup.

1950 New York Yankees (#35) 4, 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers (#94) 0
MVP: Yogi Berra (NYY 1950) .500/.571/1.063, 2 HR, 10 RBI -- 1953's Yogi Berra has also been MVP
Only Game 2 was ever in doubt, with it going back and forth a number of times. The Yankees had a 6-1 lead, but the Dodgers scored 4 in the 5th and 3 in the 6th to make it 8-6. But then the Yankees scored 3 in the 8th to take the lead back, 9-8. Then the Dodgers scored in the top of the 9th to tie it at 9. Then in the bottom of the 9th, a walk and an error put the Yankees' Johnny Hopp on 3rd, and Yogi Berra hit a walk-off single to win it 10-9. Pitching phenom Fernando Valenzuela was rocked in both of his starts, despite only giving up 1 earned run in Game 4. With 2 out in the 3rd, Johnny Hopp hit a routine grounder that should've ended the inning harmlessly, but 2B Steve Sax mishandled it. The Yankees then scored 8 times before the inning finally ended.
Scores:
NYY 5 LAD 0
NYY 10 LAD 9
NYY 4 LAD 1
NYY 16 LAD 3
The 1950 Yankees' next opponent will be the winner of the 1917 White Sox / 2001 Diamondbacks matchup. (See below)

1977 New York Yankees (#54) 4, 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers (#75) 1
MVP: Graig Nettles (NYY 1977) .474/.500/.684, 1 HR, 8 RBI
Two straight Yankees/Dodgers series, two straight fairly easy Yankee victories, despite the fact that this time they went up against the likes of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills. You can't blame it on Koufax, as both games against Yankee ace Ron Guidry were epic pitching duels, with Koufax giving up only one run in 17 innings (Game 1 1-0 loss), while striking out 20 and getting the Dodgers' only win in Game 4. Guidry struck out 15 in his matching 17 innings, only giving up the 2 runs the Dodgers scored in Game 4.
Scores:
NYY 1 LAD 0
NYY 5 LAD 2
NYY 9 LAD 2
LAD 2 NYY 0
NYY 7 LAD 3
The 1977 Yankees' next opponent will be the 1919 Cincinnati Reds, who had a 1st round bye.

[Det42]

And now for the ones with screenshots...

1917 Chicago White Sox (#30) 4, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks (#99) 2
MVP: Shoeless Joe Jackson (CWS 1917) .421/.560/.737, 1 HR, 3 RBI
A closely contested series against 2 teams from very different eras. The home team won each of the first four games, with Chicago finally breaking the streak in Game 5 en route to an 8-4 road win, including scoring 6 runs in the 2nd inning. Game 6 was an easy win for the White Sox, winning 7-2. Randy Johnson was brilliant in this series, but it wasn't enough.
Scores:
CWS 5 Arz 2
CWS 2 Arz 1
Arz 10 CWS 3
Arz 4 CWS 1
CWA 8 Arz 4
CWS 7 Arz 2
The 1917 White Sox's next opponent will be the 1950 Yankees, who just swept the 1981 Dodgers in 4 games.

[Det42]

1928 New York Yankees (#24) 4, 1985 Kansas City Royals (#105) 0
MVP: Joe Dugan (NYY 1928) .500/.529/.625, 0 HR, 3 RBI
Despite the fact that it was a sweep, and the fact that Game 3 was a blowout, this was an incredibly close contest. Even Game 3 was 1-1 until the 8th inning, when the Yankees scored 6. The Royals were in every game, but the Yankees were just better. And that's with Babe Ruth only getting 3 hits the entire series, all singles.
Scores:
NYY 6 KC 5
NYY 4 KC 2 (10)
NYY 7 KC 1
NYY 2 KC 1
The 1928 Yankees' next opponent will be the 1954 Giants, who beat the 1988 Dodgers in 6 games.

[Det42]

1903 Boston Americans (#23) 5, 1974 Oakland Athletics (#106) 1
MVP: Cy Young (Bos 1903) 2-0, 18.0 IP, 10 HA, 0 BB, 10 K, 0.00 ERA
Boston dominated the series, but Oakland was in most of the games. Both Games 2 and 3 were won on walk-off hits, and Catfish Hunter only gave up one run in Game 4. Unfortunately for him, he was facing MVP Cy Young, who was virtually untouchable in each start.
Scores:
Bos 9 Oak 1
Bos 4 Oak 3
Bos 2 Oak 1 (10)
Bos 1 Oak 0
Oak 5 Bos 2
Bos 7 Oak 4
The 1903 Americans' next opponent will be the winner of the 1949 Yankees / 1991 Twins matchup.

[Det42]

1949 New York Yankees (#42) 4, 1991 Minnesota Twins (#87) 3
MVP: Bobby W Brown (NYY 1949) .577/.645/.769, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Let's hear it for the home team! This series went the distance due to the fact that the home team won every game. New York won two 1-run games at home, looking pretty good in the process. But the Twins not only looked like they were going to make a series of it with two 4-run wins, but Brian Harper's 5 hits and Kirby Puckett's 2 home runs and 7 RBI in Game 5 led to a 14-1 thrashing that made it look like the Twins were in complete control. But it was not to be, as the Yankees seized control back in New York, and never let go.
Scores:
NYY 2 Min 1
NYY 5 Min 4
Min 7 NYY 3
Min 5 NYY 1
Min 14 NYY 1
NYY 8 Min 3
NYY 3 Min 1
The 1949 Yankees' next opponent will be the 1903 Boston Americans, who just beat the 1974 A's in 6 games in a best-of-nine.

[Det42]

1934 St. Louis Cardinals (#52) 4, 1933 New York Giants (#77) 2
MVP: Jack Rothrock (SL 1934) .364/.440/.909, 3 HR, 8 RBI
A matchup between two World Series winners from consecutive years, the Giants and Cardinals played each other fairly evenly, won by the Cardinals with an 11th inning walk-off hit by Burgess Whitehead.
Scores:
SL 14 NYG 2
NYG 5 SL 3 (10)
SL 8 NYG 1
NYG 4 SL 3
SL 10 NYG 4
SL 8 NYG 7 (11)
The 1934 Cardinals' next opponent will be the 1910 Philadelphia A's, who had a 1st round bye.

[Det42]

1920 Cleveland Indians (#37) 5, 1945 Detroit Tigers (#92) 1
MVP: Hank Greenberg (Det 1945) .417/.462/.750, 1 HR, 5 RBI
While the Tigers dominated Game 2, the Indians dominated the rest of the series, easily winning it 5-1. Elmer Myers won two games, and Stan Coveleski struck out 13 in 19.2 innings (over 2 games). Despite his team losing 5 out of 6, the Tigers' Hank Greenberg was named MVP.
Scores:
Cle 5 Det 4 (12)
Det 8 Cle 1
Cle 9 Det 3
Cle 4 Det 2
Cle 5 Det 2
Cle 3 Det 2
The 1920 Indians' next opponent will be the winner of the 1940 Reds / 1959 Dodgers series.

[Det42]

1967 St. Louis Cardinals (#48) 4, 2007 Boston Red Sox (#81) 2
MVP: Dick Hughes (SL 1967) 2-0, 0.56 ERA, 16.0 IP, 4 BB, 11 K
Neither Lou Brock nor Orlando Cepeda had a good series, but the Cardinals proved to be too strong. The Red Sox showed some of the come back spirit of the Red Sox teams of the era, going down 3-0 in the series and winning the next two. But Dick Hughes' 2-hit, 9 strikeout performance in Game 6 brought the series win for the Cards.
Scores:
SL 2 Bos 0
SL 3 Bos 2
SL 2 Bos 1
Bos 10 SL 4
Bos 6 SL 2
SL 1 Bos 0
The 1967 Cardinals' next opponent will be the 1970 Orioles, who had a 1st round bye.

[Det42]

1963 Los Angeles Dodgers (#64) 4, 1989 Oakland Athletics (#65) 0
MVP: Don Drysdale (LAD 1963) 1-0, 9.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 4 HA, 1 BB, 6 K
The A's kept two of the games close, but the Dodgers were the better team for the entire series. Jim Gilliam hit .412, Sandy Koufax won 2 games, and Don Drysdale threw a 4-hit complete game shutout.
Scores:
LAD 6 Oak 2
LAD 2 Oak 0
LAD 12 Oak 1
LAD 3 Oak 2
The 1963 Dodgers' next opponent will be the 1909 Pirates, who had a 1st round bye as the #1 seed in the tournament.

[Det42]

1984 Detroit Tigers (#33) 4, 2010 San Francisco Giants (#96) 2
MVP: Howard Johnson (Det 1984) .375/.423/.708, 2 HR, 6 RBI
The Tigers looked to be on their way to an easy victory with wins in the first three games (two of which were big), but Juan Uribe's walk-off homer in Game 4 avoided the sweep, and Matt Cain kept the Tigers down in Game 5. However, Milt Wilcox took no-hitters into the 7th inning of both Games 3 AND 6 to help the Tigers avoid a collapse. (Game 3 ended up a 2-hitter, and Game 6 a 3-hitter. Wilcox did give up a run in the 3rd inning of Game 6 on 2 walks, a fielder's choice and a sac fly)
Scores:
Det 17 SF 5
Det 6 SF 4
Det 6 SF 0
SF 3 Det 2
SF 5 Det 3
Det 5 SF 1
The 1984 Tigers' next opponent will be the winner of the 1908 Cubs / 1996 Yankees series.

[Det42]

1980 Philadelphia Phillies (#103) 4, 1931 St. Louis Cardinals 2
MVP: Manny Trillo (Phi 1980) .440/.440/.960, 2 HR, 5 RBI
Our first triple-digit-ranked winner, the 1980 Phillies upset the heavily favored 1931 Cardinals behind Manny Trillo, Steve Carlton and Lonnie Smith, among others. St. Louis had a good chance of leading the series 2-1 after Game 3, with a 9th inning comeback that erased a 3-1 deficit and sent the game to extra innings. But Pete Rose hit a walk-off single in the 10th, giving that 2-1 edge to the Phillies. While the Cardinals did win Game 5, the Phillies were never really in trouble after Game 3.
Scores:
Phi 11 SL 1
SL 4 Phi 2
Phi 4 SL 3 (10)
Phi 3 SL 2
SL 4 Phi 0
Phi 9 SL 3
The 1980 Phillies' next opponent will be the winner of the 2009 Yankees / 1973 A's series.

[Det42]

1969 New York Mets (#53) 4, 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates (#76) 0
MVP: Art Shamsky (NYM 1969) .467/.556/.533, 0 HR, 4 RBI
The Miracle Mets essentially cruised into the second round, winning all four games of their series with the '71 Pirates, despite Tom Seaver getting shelled in Game 2. (Nolan Ryan pitched 3 scoreless innings to get the win) The Pirates put up 9th inning comebacks in Games 2, 3 and 4, but all fell short.
Scores:
NYM 6 Pit 5 (10)
NYM 9 Pit 8
NYM 4 Pit 1
NYM 4 Pit 2
The 1969 Mets' next opponent will be the 1944 Cardinals, who had a 1st round bye.

[Det42]

1992 Toronto Blue Jays (#82) 4, 1913 Philadelphia Athletics (#47) 1
MVP: Roberto Alomar (Tor 1992) .462/.500/.654, 1 HR, 6 RBI
Game 1 was two exciting games in one! Down 9-6, the Blue Jays scored 4 in the top of the 9th to take a 10-9 lead. But the A's scored in the bottom of the 9th to tie it, loaded the bases, but couldn't finish. Then Toronto's Joe Carter hit a solo inside-the-park home run in the top of the 11th, taking an 11-10 lead. A triple by George Brickley in the bottom of the 11th, followed by a single by Home Run Baker tied it at 11. Again the A's loaded the bases after that, and again they couldn't finish. It wouldn't be for another 7 innings that the Blue Jays would break it open with an RBI single by Kelly Gruber, a bases loaded double by Turner Ward, and another RBI single by Manuel Lee to take it 16-11 in 18. The Blue Jays had 26 hits in the game, and the A's had 28. It was all Blue Jays after that until more late inning heroics in Game 4, where the A's were down 6-2, but scored 2 in the 8th and 6 in the 9th to avoid the sweep. They couldn't do more than that though, and fell in 5.
Scores:
Tor 16 Phi 11 (18)
Tor 5 Phi 3
Tor 6 Phi 3
Phi 10 Tor 6
Tor 6 Phi 5
The 1992 Blue Jays' next opponent will be the winner of the 1936 Yankees / 2006 Cardinals series.

[Det42]

2005 Chicago White Sox (#63) 4, 2002 Anaheim Angels (#66) 1
MVP: Tadahito Iguchi (CWS 2005) .455/.478/.773, 2 HR, 7 RBI
All of the games of this series were close, but Chicago managed to pull out most of them. Anaheim's one win came in Game 1, when a 9th inning comeback by the White Sox fell short, despite scoring 3 runs. That game also included 3 lead changes by the 3rd inning. All the runs of Game 2 came in the 3rd and 4th innings, Game 3 featured another 3-run late-game comeback (this time by Anaheim in the 8th) which fell short, Game 4 was a pitcher's duel won by Mark Bueherle, and Game 5 started with a 2-0 Angels lead, which was chipped away and eliminated from the 5th-9th innings.
Scores:
Anh 9 CWS 7
CWS 5 Anh 3
CWS 6 Anh 5
CWS 2 Anh 1
CWS 5 Anh 2
The 2005 White Sox's next opponent will be the 1927 Yankees, who had a 1st round bye as the #2 seed.

[Det42]

1937 New York Yankees (#21) 4, 2014 San Francisco Giants (#108) 0
MVP: Lou Gehrig (NYY 1937) .444/.500/.833, 1 HR, 7 RBI
Another "Golden Age" Bronx Bombers team, another quick victory. The Giants were in each of the first 3 games, but weren't able to contain the Yankee offense. The Giants led Game 1 by scores of 1-0 and 3-1, but gave up 1 or 2 runs in every inning from the 5th to the 8th. With 2 runs in the top of the 6th in Game 2, the Giants tied the score at 4. But in the bottom of the same inning, the Yankees busted it open with 6 more runs. The Giants led Game 3 2-1 after 6, but the Yankees scored 5 in the 7th and another 5 in the 8th to cruise to victory. Game 4 was all Yankees, starting with a 5-0 lead after 4.
Scores:
NYY 7 SF 4
NYY 11 SF 5
NYY 11 SF 2
NYY 6 SF 3
The 1937 Yankees' next opponent will be the winner of the 1947 Yankees / 2015 Royals series. (Yes, from 1937/2014 to 1947/2015)

[Det42]

1982 St. Louis Cardinals (#100) 4, 1938 New York Yankees (#29) 2
MVP: Keith Hernandez (SL 1982) .455/.538/.864, 1 HR 12 RBI
Another upset, this time of one of those "Golden Age" Yankees teams, the one from the year following the previous series (they can't ALL win, right? Right?). The Cardinals looked to cruise to a series victory, going up 3-1 in the first 4 games. The Yankees won Game 5, despite a late-inning comeback by the Cards, to keep the series alive. St. Louis led Game 6 the entire way, but still had late-game excitement. Leading 6-4, the Cards got another 3 in the top of the 9th, making it 9-4. The Yankees then scored a run and got the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the inning, with a second run coming on a fielder's choice for the first out. But then Bruce Sutter relieved Dave LaPoint, and quickly got the final two outs on a strikeout of Frankie Crosetti and a flyout by Red Rolfe.
Scores:
SL 9 NYY 2
NYY 6 SL 5
SL 7 NYY 5
SL 7 NYY 2
NYY 5 SL 4
SL 9 NYY 6
The 1982 Cardinals' next opponent will be the winner of the 1943 Yankees / 1964 Cardinals series. Yes, another Yankees/Cardinals series.

[Det42]

1947 New York Yankees (#44) 4, 2015 Kansas City Royals (#85) 2
MVP: Joe DiMaggio (NYY 1947) .417/.500/.792, 2 HR, 9 RBI
The Royals put up a fight, taking Games 3 and 4 at home (winning Game 4 on a walk-off single by Kendry Morales) after losing 2 blowout games in New York. And Game 5 was an offensive explosion that could've gone either way. The Royals scored 4 in the 1st and 3 in the second to jump out to a 7-0 lead. But then the Yankees scored 11 in the 3rd to immediately go up 11-7. After 7 innings, the score was 12-12. But the Yankees scored the go-ahead run in the 8th and added 4 more in the 9th to win it 17-12.
Scores:
NYY 8 KC 2
NYY 8 KC 1
KC 4 NYY 3
KC 5 NYY 4
NYY 17 KC 12
NYY 2 KC 0
The 1947 Yankees' next opponent will be the... 1937 Yankees, who swept the 2014 Giants in 4 games.

[BaseballMan]

The Yankees are like the basketball team that gets the most lottery balls.
But it only takes 1 team to win it so you never know.

[Det42]

1968 Detroit Tigers (#40) 4, 2012 San Francisco Giants (#89) 1
MVP: Earl Wilson (Det 1968) 2-0, 14.0 IP, 1.93 ERA, 6 K, 3 BB, 10 HA
The Giants held off a small late-game comeback in Game 1 to beat 31-game-winner Denny McLain and make it look like they were going to compete in this series, if not win it outright. However, in Game 2 they couldn't figure out series MVP Earl Wilson, Game 3 saw their own 7th inning comeback fall short, and in Game 4 they took a 1-0 lead but couldn't hold it or score again. Game 5 looked better for the Giants, as they had a 2-0 lead after 6. The Tigers got 1 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th to take a 4-2 lead. Then, in the bottom of the 9th, Pablo Sandoval hit a 1-out solo homer to close the gap to 4-3, and Joaquin Arias hit a 2-out triple to threaten to tie the score. But Pat Dobson got Nate Schierholtz to fly out to center to end the series.
Scores:
SF 5 Det 3
Det 4 SF 1
Det 3 SF 2
Det 3 SF 1
Det 4 SF 3
The 1968 Tigers' next opponent will be the 1941 Yankees, who swept the 2003 Marlins in 4 games.