The 25 Biggest Fails in MLB Playoff History

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Player(s): Steve Bartman (fan)
Game(s): Game 6, 2003 NLCS
Date(s): 10/14/2003

Steve Bartman is a baseball fan's baseball fan. You know this because he was listening to Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS even though he was sitting in the first row. And he didn't deserve 99% of the fury—and that's what it was—from Cubs fans and the Chicago media (and the frickin' governor, some guy named Blagojevich who said that Bartman would "never get a pardon" from him—who needs the pardon now, big boy?). We'll even go out on a limb, and say that the Cubs deserve to have their curse extended because of the vile behavior directed Steve's way by a very small part of their fanbase. But we can't not call Bartman's move a fail. Do fans lose their minds when foul balls are hit their way? Yup, they even drop their kids. Here's a quick rule of thumb (and all the other fingers on your paws): If your team is at bat, feel free to go after the ball (we see you Jeffrey Maier!); if the other team's up, sit on your hands, chew on 'em, grope your date with 'em, whatever—just don't go after the ball.

Player(s): Joba Chamberlain
Game(s): Game 2, 2007 ALDS
Date(s): 10/5/2007

Baseball has always been known as a game of superstitions; don’t step on the white line, wear your hat a certain way, adjust your batting gloves 8,000 times before each pitch and so on.  But what happened in game 3 of the 2007 ALDS was well beyond weird, it was downright biblical, and will forever be known as “The Bug Game.” In the home half of the 8th inning at the Jake, with the Yankees clinging to a one run lead, a swarm of bugs descended on the pitching mound and Yankees rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain. Talk about baptism by fire.

The bugs swarmed and agitated Chamberlain like a locust on a persecuting Egyptian, rattling the rookie’s concentration and forcing two wild pitches, the second of which allowed the tying run to score. The Indians would go on to win the game 2-1 on a Travis Hafner walk-off single in the 11th and take the series 3-1.  Joba’s a big boy but homie didn’t need a 98-mph fastball that inning, he needed a fly swatter. 

Player(s): Chuck Knoblauch
Game(s): Game 2, 1998 ALCS
Date(s): 10/7/1998

It's in the Idiot's Guide to Baseball somewhere: If you're gonna chomp gum and point at the basepath and generally act like a petulant child while arguing a call with an umpire, make sure the play is dead first. Chuck Knoblauch apparently forgot this most basic of baseball rules in Game 2 of the '98 ALCS, and it cost the New York Yankees a game against the Cleveland Indians. Covering first on a bunt in the 12th inning, Knoblauch had a great vantage point from which to see Yankee pitcher Jeff Nelson's throw hit Cleveland runner Travis Fryman in the back. Who knows, maybe Fryman was running outside the basepath. But while Knoblauch was pointing the baseball was spinning behind him, still in play, and various Indians were running around the bases, including Enrique Wilson, who scored the go-ahead run. Of course the Yankees went on to win that ALCS and the next three World Series, and Knoblauch went on to peg Keith Olberman's mom in the melon.

Player(s): Mike Andrews
Game(s): Game 2, 1973 World Series
Date(s): 10/14/1973

Does your boss beat you? As in, like, lay hands on you? OK, don't actually answer that, but unless he or she does, he or she isn't even close to as bad as Charlie Finley. Finley was an asshole 10 different ways, but he hit his low point in the '73 World Series. After second baseman Andrews made errors on consecutive plays, Finley forced him to sign a paper claiming he was injured and therefore unavailable to play the rest of the series. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn overruled Finley's bizarre "strategy," and the A's went on to win the Series in 7. Finley was still an asshole though.

Player(s): Timo Perez
Game(s): Game 1, 2000 World Series
Date(s): 10/21/2000

These days, Mets fans would just be happy to make the World Series (these days, Mets fans might be happy if you gave them tickets to see the Yankees play in the World Series), but back in 2000, the Mets actually thought they might have a chance to beat the Yankees in the Subway Series. And, who knows, if not for a baserunning blunder, maybe they could've.

In the 6th inning of a scoreless Game 1, Timo Perez was on first base when Todd Zeile hit a two-out drive that grazed the top of the right field wall before bouncing back into play. Thinking his teammate had hit a home run, Timo raised his arms and started jogging to second—until he noticed Yankee outfielder David Justice scrambling after the ball. Once Timo kicked it into gear, it was too late, Justice having retrieved the ball and fired it to—who else?—Derek Jeter for a perfect relay that got Perez at the plate. Justice hit a two-run double in the bottom of the 6th, the Yankees won the game in 12 innings. The next day Roger Clemens threw a bat kinda sorta at Mike Piazza, and within a week, Derek Jeter was the World Series MVP.

Player(s): Fred Snodgrass
Game(s): Game 8, 1912 World Series
Date(s): 10/16/1912

No, this doesn't refer to an early porn film. Instead, it references the difference in the winner's and loser's share for the '12 Fall Classic. The decisive Game 8 (necessary, because Game 2 had been called due to darkness) came down to the bottom of the 10th inning. With the visiting New York Giants ahead of the home Boston Red Sox 2-1, the normally sure-handed Snodgrass muffed an easy lead-off fly ball, which put the eventual tying run on second with no outs. Nevermind that Snodgrass made a game-saving catch on the next batter, or that a missed foul pop-up in the infield gave the game-tying RBI hitter a second chance; Snodgrass's name became synonymous with epic postseason baseball fails. Even if they didn't call them those for another 100 years.

Player(s): Leon Durham
Game(s): Game 5, 1984 NLCS
Date(s): 10/7/1984

Steve Bartman was 7, and in all likelihood watching Game 5 of the '84 NLCS (he is a real fan after all). The Cubs had won the first two at home, dropped two to the Padres in San Diego, but were up 3-2 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning. Then Tim Flannery's innocent, shoulda-been-out-number-two grounder bounced through Leon Durham's legs in an eerily proto-Buckner way, and just like that, the game was tied. Do we have to tell you who won that game and the series? And who still hasn't won a World Series in more than a century?

Player(s): Lonnie Smith
Game(s): Game 7, 1991 World Series
Date(s): 10/27/1991

Trick plays are, and always have been, a part of sports. And while it's easier to make someone look completely foolish in sports like football and basketball, it's a bit harder to do so in baseball. Don't tell that to Lonnie Smith, though. As Smith took off from first on a line drive hit by Terry Pendleton, he stumbled then suddenly stopped at third base while the ball was still in the outfield. Turns out, Twins secondbase man Chuck Knoblauch had faked Smith into thinking he had received the ball already from the outfielder. Smith didn't score on the play and was forced out at home on a double play later in the inning, keeping the score tied at 0-0. The Twins would go on to win 1-0 in the tenth inning and take the series in seven games. We know it's easy to lose balls while getting, uh, we mean, playing in the Dome but damn, son! Keep your head in the game!

Player(s): Rafael Furcal
Game(s): Game 5, 2008 NLCS
Date(s): 10/15/2008

Everyone has bad days, including your favorite athletes. Rafael Furcal had one of the worst days of his career when he set a record for most errors (three) in a playoff game. In fact, he committed all three errors in the same inning during the Dodgers 5-1 loss to Philadelphia. So yes, your favorite ballers do suck sometimes (II). Except when they do it, usually millions of people are able to see it live.

Player(s): Matt Holliday
Game(s): Game 2, 2009 NLDS
Date(s): 10/8/2009

Matt Holliday is a really, really good baseball player. He probably deserves every penny of the $120 million, seven-year contract the Cardinals gave him after the 2009 season (Mets fans would love to be paying him that now). And it's a good thing, too, because he's the author of one of the most painful drops in baseball history. The Cards had lost Game 1 of the series to the Dodgers, but behind a masterful performance by Adam Wainwright, led 2-1 entering the top of the 9th inning. After St. Louis recorded two outs, L.A. first baseman James Loney hit a soft fly to left that should've been the ho-hum final out of the game. Except Holliday lost the ball in the lights, it hit off his stomach, and the Dodgers scored two to win the game. They went on to sweep the series, and Holliday went on to ink the aforementioned nine-digit contract.

Player(s): Carlos Beltran
Game(s): Game 7, 2006 NLCS
Date(s): 10/19/2006

It's the dream of every boy who grew up as a Mets fan: It's Game 7 and you're at bat with the bases loaded and a chance to send the Mets to the World Series. This was the situation for Carlos Beltran, who had just signed the largest contract in Mets history ($119 million over seven years) only a season earlier. Yet, when down in the count 0-2 in a 3-1 game, what did he do? He added to the long list of Mets fails by freezing on curveball from rookie Adam Wainwright to end the series. We don't care if that shit ended up looking Charles Barkley God-awful, you've got to go down swingin'.

Player(s): Byung-Hyun Kim
Game(s): Game 4 and 5, 2001 World Series
Date(s): 10/31 and 11/1/2001

Behind the Diamondbacks' two aces, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, was their reliever Byung-Hyun Kim. The 22-year-old had recorded 19 saves for the D-Backs during the regular season, but nothing could have prepared him for the big stage of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. The submarine pitcher's inexperience showed as he blew a two-run lead in Game 4 and followed it with an encore performance in Game 5 the very next night. Luckily for Kim, Arizona would go on to win the series in seven games after a rare blown save by Mariano Rivera a.k.a. the Greatest Closer of All Time. See, it happens to the best of 'em! Not on consecutive nights though...

Player(s): Les Lancaster
Game(s): Game 3, 1989 NLCS
Date(s): 10/7/1989

Baseball's a slow game, so sometimes players lose track of outs, the pitch count, or baserunners. But those brain locks are usually reserved for the dog days of summer, not October baseball! That's what happened to Les Lancaster when he came on in the seventh inning of Game 6 with the Cubs leading 4-3. Lancaster, who had given up a homer to Robby Thompson in the previous game, had one person on when Thompson came up to the plate. Next thing, Thompson went yard again, and the Giants went on to win the game 5-4. Lancaster later revealed that he thought the count on Thompson was three balls and no strikes, rather than the actual two balls and no strikes count, and that prompted him to throw a fastball rather than a slider. Snitching on your own incompetence after the game is pretty dumb, almost as dumb as not knowing the count in the first place.

Player(s): Eight Members of the 1919 Black Sox Roster
Game(s): 1919 World Series
Date(s): 10/1-10/9/19

During the 1919 World Series, eight players from the Chicago White Sox fixed games in order to assure the Cincinnati Reds the title. After a year of investigation, baseball officially banned the eight players including star outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson from baseball for life in 1921. Many believe that this scandal placed a curse over the White Sox that lasted until their World Series win in 2005.

Player(s): Drew Coble (umpire)
Game(s): Game 2, 1991 World Series
Date(s): 10/20/1991

In one of the most bizarre calls in postseason history, umpire Drew Coble became infamous after the following strange play. After a single, Ron Gant of the Braves rounded toward second but then went back, and that's when Twins' pitcher Kevin Tapani threw back to first. Twins' first baseman Kent Hrbek then wrestled Gant off first to get the out call. Something tells us WWE theme songs should've been used instead of at-bat music if this silliness was allowed.

Player(s): Jeremy Giambi
Game(s): Game 3, 2001 ALDS
Date(s): 10/13/2001

The 2001 ALDS was the classic case of good vs. evil. But really, when the Yankees are playing, when isn't that the case? The Moneyball Oakland A's were up on the Yanks 2-0 in a best of five series, but trailed 1-0 heading into the seventh inning of Game 3. Before you knew it, the A's began rallying. After a single by Jeremy Giambi, Terrence Long hit a line drive to center field. Shane Spencer then missed the cutoff man, which should've allowed Giambi to score easily from third. That's when Derek Jeter ran across the diamond to track down Spencer's throw and flipped the ball to Jorge Posada, who then tagged Giambi as he attempted to cross home plate while running upright. Truly unbelievable shit. Well, just as unbelievable as Brad Pitt playing Billy Beane in a movie...

Player(s): Jose Canseco
Game(s): Game 5, 1988 World Series
Date(s): 10/20/1988

Jose Canseco gets a general failness award for his entire 1988 World Series performance. The '88 AL MVP, who'd notched the first 40/40 season in baseball history that year, didn't have to replicate his .959 OPS from the regular season. But maybe if he'd hit better than 1-19 in the World Series, the favored A's wouldn't have gone down so meekly to the Dodgers. Canseco's Game 5 was the perfect end to an imperfect series performance: 0-4 with a strikeout and men stranded at second and third in his lone appearance with men on base.

Player(s): Alex S. Gonzalez
Game(s): Game 6, 2003 NLCS
Date(s): 10/14/2003

With all the drama surrounding Steve Bartman deflecting the fair/foul ball that could've been caught by Moises Alou, people forget that there was actually baseball played after the incident and a few errors that had an effect on the score! One of the biggest came from Alex Gonzalez, who had an amazing defensive season in 2003 with a fielding percentage of .984. His bobble of a routine double-play ball that would've ended the inning with a 3-1 Cubs lead ended up turning into an eight-run inning for the Marlins. So, should we blame the guy who's paid millions to make plays or the overzelous fan going after a fair ball?

Player(s): Mickey Owen
Game(s): Game 4, 1941 World Series
Date(s): 10/5/1941

What if? What if the Brooklyn Dodgers had won more than one of the seven World Series they played against the Yankees between 1941-1956? Would there be a "Wait 'till next year?" Would there be a baseball team playing where the Barclays Center is going up? Who knows. What we do know is that the Dodgers would've had a much better chance of winning the first of those series if Mickey Owen hadn't allowed a passed ball on a third strike with two outs in the 9th inning of Game 4. The Dodgers had a chance to knot the Series at 2 games apiece, but Owen dropped Hugh Casey's curveball (suspected to be a spitter), the Yankees rallied to take Game 4 and took Game 5 as well. Now Brooklyn has hipsters and artisanal cheeses, but no major league baseball team. The sport can break your heart, huh?

Player(s): Don Denkinger (umpire)
Game(s): Game 6, 1985 World Series
Date(s): 10/26/1985

The Cardinals were only three outs away from a World Series title, when Don Denkinger called Jorge Orta safe at first on a routine ground ball that replays showed he was clearly out. The Royals went on to rally, score two runs, win the game, and take the series the following night. For years Denkinger received death threats from angry Cardinals fans. Now that things have cooled down more than 25 years later, Denkinger often autographs pictures of the infamous call at sports memorabilia shows. Stay classy, Denkinger.

Player(s): Babe Ruth
Game(s): Game 7, 1926 World Series
Date(s): 10/10/1926

The Babe's name is pretty much synonymous with home run. The first things that come to mind when you hear of baseball's greatest offensive player are the home run records he set, the Called Shot, maybe even some of the pitching he did earlier in his career. But one of the last things is his baserunning ability. So, when the Yankees were down to their last out against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1926 World Series, we have no clue why he thought it was a good idea to try to steal second base in a one-run game. Secondly, WTF was up with the manager? Didn't they have pinch runners back then?

Player(s): Kenny Rogers, Bobby Valentine (manager)
Game(s): Game 6, 1999 NLCS
Date(s): 10/19/1999

Bring in Dotel. Bring in Dotel. Bring in Dotel. Mets fans of a certain vintage have nightmares that feature this refrain, and a young Octavio Dotel standing in the bullpen, hands on his hips. The '99 Mets were poised to be the '04 Red Sox, before we even knew the '04 Red Sox existed. Down 3-0, the Mets had won Game 4 on a walk-off single. They'd come back from 5-0 and 7-3 deficits to first tie, and then twice lead Game 6. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Gerald Williams hit a lead-off double for the Braves, and Mets manager used Kenny Rogers to intentionally walk the bases loaded. No outs, bases loaded. Surely, surely, SURELY Valentine would bring in the young fireballer Dotel to face Andruw Jones. Sure, Jones could turn on a Dotel fastball and hit it to Greater Pluto, but it wouldn't matter because the Braves needed just the one run to win. All the Mets needed was someone WHO WOULDN'T WALK IN THE SERIES-WINNING RUN. Do we need to remind you how this ended?

Player(s): Dusty Baker
Game(s): Game 6, 2002 World Series
Date(s): 10/26/2002

Of all sports, baseball has a particular history of punishing those who celebrate, or assume the glory of, victory a bit early. Examples include everyone from Roger Clemens shaving for his postgame interview and the Sox getting the clubhouse ready for celebration in '86, to the late Bernie Mac altering the lyrics of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" from "Cubbies" to "Champs" before the infamous Steve Barman play in 2003. During Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, there was another case of premature celebration when Giants manager Dusty Baker gave the game ball to Russ Ortiz as the Giants held a 5-0 lead and were only eight outs away from a World Series title. Then the Rally Monkey came out, and the Angles put up six runs over the next two innings, eventually going on to win the series in seven games. Hmmm...homie was the manager of the Cubs in 2003, too. Moral to this story: If Dusty is running your squad in the postseason, you're probably screwed.

Player(s): Bill Buckner
Game(s): Game 6, 1986 World Series
Date(s): 10/25/1986

By now we all know it wasn't really Buckner's fault, right? McNamara should've taken him out before the 10th inning even started. Schiraldi gave up three hits; Stanley threw the wild pitch. Buckner had driven in 102 runs that year. He seems like a really nice guy. Boston fans have forgiven him, and he even made a really cool cameo on Curb Your Enthusiasm this year. Let's get all that out of the way.

Now this part: A professional baseball player, playing on his sport's biggest stage, for one of the game's most storied clubs (and certainly the most agonized), botched the play that every Little Leaguer has drilled in their head from Day 1: stay down on the ball. Not really his fault? Nope. But tell that to the Sox fans who died before 2004.

Player(s): Alex Rodriguez
Game(s): Game 6, 2004 ALCS
Date(s): 10/19/2004

Where exactly does Boston's Curse of 1918 come to an end? Roberts' steal in Game 4? Papi's homers in 4 and 5? The bloody sock? Damon's grand slam in Game 7? Who knows when the curse was really lifted (Stephen King, probably), but what's clear is that Alex Rodriguez's fey swat or slap or pfffft or whatever you want to call it, was the moment when it became clear that the Yankees were shook in the 2004 ALCS, and launched a million "A-Rod's not a true Yankee!" conversations.

It seems silly now, but the play was originally ruled an error on Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo, with A-Rod landing on second base and Derek Jeter (who'd been on first to begin the play) scoring. Then cooler, wiser heads (ones that had actually read the rule book) prevailed, saying, no, there's no patty cake in baseball.