Baseball’s Greatest Comeback Games

What are Major League Baseball's greatest comeback games? This book set out to collect the stories of those games, but rather than throw together an anecdotally-determined collection of games, SABR decided to see if there was an objective measure, a way to determine which was the greatest comeback game of all time, and to rank the games. Retrosheet's Tom Ruane created a master list of 630 games and ranked them mathematically in terms of how unlikely the win was, and therefore how great the comeback had been. The games in this volume are presented in rank order, from number 1 through 64.

We also added the greatest postseason comeback games. These seven contests are presented in a separate section devoted to postseason games. And to make sure that every current team in MLB was represented in this volume, we treated the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants as different from the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, and added the greatest comeback by the Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, and several other teams.

In the end, every major-league team in represented in Baseball's Greatest Comeback Games, but the Phillies lead the list with six comeback wins in the top 64. Tied for second for most comebacks are four American League teams: the Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Yankees.

This book was a team effort by 60 members of the Society for American Baseball Research, who researched and wrote about all 80 games presented herein.

What are Major League Baseball's greatest comeback games? This book set out to collect the stories of those games, but rather than throw together an anecdotally-determined collection of games, SABR decided to see if there was an objective measure, a way to determine which was the greatest comeback game of all time, and to rank the games. Retrosheet's Tom Ruane created a master list of 630 games and ranked them mathematically in terms of how unlikely the win was, and therefore how great the comeback had been. The games in this volume are presented in rank order, from number 1 through 64.

We also added the greatest postseason comeback games. These seven contests are presented in a separate section devoted to postseason games. And to make sure that every current team in MLB was represented in this volume, we treated the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants as different from the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, and added the greatest comeback by the Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, and several other teams.

In the end, every major-league team in represented in Baseball's Greatest Comeback Games, but the Phillies lead the list with six comeback wins in the top 64. Tied for second for most comebacks are four American League teams: the Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Yankees.

This book was a team effort by 60 members of the Society for American Baseball Research, who researched and wrote about all 80 games presented herein.

1. Tigers Roar Back With Win July 7, 1922: Detroit Tigers 11, Washington Senators 9 (second game of doubleheader), at Griffith Stadium, Washington By Kevin Larkin
2. Hopeless Defeat Turned into Glorious Victory May 23, 1901: Cleveland Blues 14, Washington Senators 13, at League Park, Cleveland By Jean-Pierre Caillault
3. Phillies Score Nine in the Ninth Against Dodgers, Overcoming a 10-Run Deficit August 21, 1990: Philadelphia Phillies 12, Los Angeles Dodgers 11, at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles By Stephen Glassman
4. Tigers Stage Ninth-inning Comeback in AL Opener April 25, 1901: Detroit Tigers 14, Milwaukee Brewers 13, at Bennett Park, Detroit By Dennis Pajot
5. Athletics Overcome 12-run Deficit to Knock Off Cleveland June 15, 1925: Philadelphia Athletics 17, Cleveland Indians 15, at Shibe Park, Philadelphia By Joseph Wancho
6. Angels Stun Tigers, 13-12
7. August 29, 1986: California Angels 13, Detroit Tigers 12, at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim By Ralph Caola
8. Braves Score Seven in the Ninth Versus the Phillies, Win in 15 May 10, 1994: Atlanta Braves 9, Philadelphia Phillies 8 (15 innings), at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta By Stephen Glassman
9. Cleveland Overcomes 12-run Deficit to Win August 5, 2001: Cleveland Indians 15, Seattle Mariners 14, at Jacobs Field, Cleveland By Joseph Wancho
10. Indians Score Nine Ninth-Inning Runs Punctuated by Six Consecutive Walks to Rally Past Philadelphia August 21, 1934: Cleveland Indians 12, Philadelphia Athletics 11, at Shibe Park, Philadelphia By Gordon J. Gattie
11. Phillies Slugger Mike Schmidt Hits Four Home Runs at Wrigley Field April 17, 1976: Philadelphia Phillies 18, Chicago Cubs 16 (10 innings), at Wrigley Field, Chicago By Rich D'Ambrosio
12. One Sugarcoated Game June 30, 2009: Baltimore Orioles 11, Boston Red Sox 10, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore By Thomas E. Schott

Plus seventy additional games that there is not room to list because of length restrictions on descriptive content.