There are few better feelings as a sports fan than watching your team dominate the opponent, hit after hit and run after run.
Blowouts like these feel even sweeter, or worse, if your team is on the losing end, when they come in games with the stakes as high as possible.
This list is filled with these games in which clubs combined legendary offensive outbursts with dominant pitching against the toughest competition in postseason and World Series matchups.
Biggest Postseason Blowouts in MLB History
Boston Red Sox 23, Cleveland 7 (1999 ALDS Game 4)
Down 2-0 in the AL Divisional Series, the Red Sox were in desperate need of a win and then some. And they got just that. Boston took Game 3 and then electrified Fenway Park in Game 4, scoring the most runs in a single game in postseason history. Tied at two runs apiece going into the bottom of the second inning, the Red Sox scored five. And Cleveland’s starting pitcher, a young Bartolo Colon, was pulled soon after, having given up seven runs. And in the next three innings, the Red Sox’s hitters would go onto drive in 11 runs – including a pair of two-run knocks. John Valentin hit two of Boston’s four home runs driving in seven and was one of five players to have at least three hits.
Boston Red Sox 16, New York Yankees 1 (2018 ALDS Game 3)
Nearly 20 years after their power display in the ’99 ALDS, the Red Sox came back for more against the Yankees in 2018. Both teams traded wins to start the series, but Boston came alive in Game 3, knocking in 10 runs by the end of the fourth inning. The team extended its lead throughout the game, building momentum all the way into the ninth. Infielder Brock Holt hit a two-out, two-run shot that inning and became the first and only player to hit for the cycle in a playoff game. The Red Sox never looked back after this game, eliminating the Yankees in Game 4 before winning the ALCS and defeating the Dodgers in the World Series.
Cleveland 17, Seattle Mariners 2 (2001 ALDS Game 3)
Cleveland got its redemption two years after a rather humiliating loss against the Red Sox. In Game 3 of the ALDS, Cleveland began a rout of Seattle – which had finished the regular season with 116 wins. Speedster Kenny Lofton, Juan Gonzalez and Hall of Famer Jim Thome each lifted solo shots, and shortstop Omar Vizquel went 4 for 6 with six RBIs. Cleveland, the holder of the longest active World Series win drought, dropped the next two games to lose the series in five.
Atlanta Braves 15, St. Louis Cardinals 0 (1996 NLDS Game 7)
In one of the most impressive showings in MLB history, the Braves came back from a 3-1 deficit against the Cardinals. Even more remarkable is that they had two double-digit shutouts in the series, the first of which with a 14-run differential in Game 5. Their bigger blowout came in the must-win Game 7, with Hall of Famer Fred McGriff hitting a two-run shot and knocking in four runs. And besides pitching seven scoreless innings, Tom Glavine tripled to drive in a trio of runs.
Biggest World Series Blowouts in MLB History
New York Yankees 18, New York Giants 4 (1936 World Series Game 2)
After falling to the Giants in Game 1, the American League-champion Yankees got their revenge by winning Game 2 by the largest margin in World Series history. After scoring two runs in the first inning, they had a seven-run surge in the third, with a grand slam by Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri highlighting the rally. The Yankees added sixth runs to cap the top of the ninth and ended the game with 17 hits – with the vast majority of the team’s runs driven in by Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. The Bronx Bombers would go on to win the World Series title in six games.
Arizona Diamondbacks 15, New York Yankees 2 (2001 World Series Game 6)
Just three years after they began their tenure as a franchise, the Diamondbacks finished first in the National League West and went on to claim a spot in the Fall Classic. Down 3-2 to Jeter’s Yankees, the D-backs roughed them up in Game 6, scoring all 15 of their runs by the end of the fourth inning. Each of the starting nine had at least one hit, including Cy Young and co-World Series MVP winner Randy Johnson, who paired his seven innings pitched with an RBI. The series went to seven games, and Arizona ultimately took home its first (and only) title in one of the most memorable ways in league history – a walk-off win against Mariano Rivera.
- New York Yankees 16, Pittsburgh Pirates 3 (1960 World Series Game 2)
- Boston Red Sox 13, Colorado Rockies 1 (2007 World Series Game 1)
- San Francisco Giants 16, Los Angeles Angels 4 (2002 World Series Game 5)
- St. Louis Cardinals 13, Milwaukee Brewers 1 (1982 World Series Game 6)
- Detroit Tigers 13, St. Louis Cardinals 1 (1968 World Series Game 6)
- New York Yankees 12, Pittsburgh Pirates 0 (1960 World Series Game 6)
- New York Yankees 13, New York Giants 1 (1951 World Series Game 5)
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