‘What was he thinking?’: 5 worst manager decisions in postseason history

Here are five costly decisions managers have made during the MLB playoffs. 

The MLB postseason is quite stressful for fans. Every pitch, every out, every decision matters a lot. It makes for exciting baseball which is rivaled by nothing. However, it also tends to bring out some of the bad decisions managers make, the ones that go down in infamy.

Some of these managers made what they thought was the most logical decision at the time. But in hindsight, their decisions turned out to be nothing short of costly and terrible. Here are five (relatively) recent costly mistakes by managers in the postseason.

5. Grady Little leaves in Pedro Martinez

In 2003, the Boston Red Sox found themselves leading the New York Yankees 5-2 going into the eighth inning in Game 7 of the ALCS. Pedro Martinez allowed three straight hits and a run to score to cut the lead to 5-3. Red Sox manager Grady Little went out to the mound, but didn’t remove Martinez from the game. Jorge Posada hit a game tying double, and the Red Sox went on to lose in extra innings.

It’s usually not a terrible idea to stick with a Hall of Fame pitcher. However, Martinez never pitched well after 100 pitches. In fact, hitters hit nearly .300 against him once he got over 100 pitches. What makes Little’s decision even more baffling is he could have gone to his relievers. They were well rested and performed quite well during the game after Martinez was removed.

On the other hand, Little showed faith in Martinez by leaving him in. It’s easy to mock him in hindsight, but hey, at least he went down with his best pitcher on the mound — which is more than some managers can say.

Little has been forgiven by many Red Sox fans thanks to their success a year later. However, his decision to keep Martinez in is still one of the worst in the history of the MLB playoffs.