Tiebreaker games have given us some of baseball’s memorable moments

2) Bucky Dent continues “the Curse”

For 86 long years, the Boston Red Sox suffered through “The Curse of the Bambino.” Their American League rivals, the New York Yankees, always seemed to get the better of them. In 1949, the Yankees beat the Red Sox in the last two games of the season to steal the AL pennant. Then there was Aaron Boone’s walk-off homer to win the 2003 ALCS. But the worst moment for Red Sox fans came from a light-hitting shortstop named Bucky Dent on Oct. 2, 1978.

The 5-9, 170-pound Dent was never confused with a power hitter. He hit just five in that 1978 season, and finished his 12-year career with 40. Coming to bat in the top of the seventh inning with two runners on base, however, all that mattered was one swing. Dent sent a pitch by Red Sox starter Mike Torrez over the Green Monster in left field at Fenway Park, a three-run homer that gave the Yankees a lead they would never relinquish.

The Yankees and Red Sox already had an exciting pennant race leading up to the tie-breaker. Boston led the AL East by as much as 8.5 games in mid-August before the Yankees won 16 of their next 18 games to tie. On the last day of the regular season, it was the Yankees who held a one game lead. A Yankees loss to Cleveland, combined with a Red Sox shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays, meant both teams would need an extra game to decide the division champion.

Boston took an early lead with a Carl Yastrzemski home run in the second inning, then added a second run with Jim Rice’s RBI single in the sixth. New York would score four in the seventh, however, including Dent’s home run, and go on to win the game 5-4. Yankees starter Ron Guidry went 6.1 innings giving up two runs to pick up his 25th win of the season.

The Yankees would go on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series to win their second straight championship.