Say goodbye to the baseball season with the five best postseason games of 2016
Baseball may be over, but before you start booking trips to the Dominican Winter League, let's look back at the amazing postseason that was. Yes, the Cubs ended a 108-year World Series drought -- forever changing how we even talk about the sport -- but that wasn't the only amazing thing we witnessed during a wild October.
Here are the five very best games:
5. Trevor Bauer's finger erupts in Indians' 4-2 win - ALCS Game 3
Cleveland's path to the World Series followed an absolutely dominating routine: Get a lead, lift the starter, and get the ball to Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, who were like snakes squeezing the life out of their prey.
No game better showed off this power than Game 3 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays. After having his start pushed back because of a drone repair accident, Trevor Bauer took the mound with his finger held together with glue, tape and (presumably) prayer. Wearing the dark blue jerseys in the hope that it would obscure any blood, the wound opened after Bauer recorded two outs and walked two batters. With blood dripping from his hand, the starter was forced to leave the game before it became a grindhouse vampire flick, and the Indians needed to get 8 1/3 innings from their bullpen.
Despite facing a formidable offense in its home run habitat, they did it -- with six relievers combining to surrender only two runs the rest of the way. Dingers from Jason Kipnis and Mike Napoli gave Cleveland the lead, and Terry Francona even switched up the order of Miller and Allen to show off the power of a well-run bullpen.
4. The Cubs storm back to win, 6-5, against a sea of relievers - NLDS Game 4
With the Cubs trailing the Giants, 5-2, in the top of the ninth, Bruce Bochy hoped to close out the game and force a decisive Game 5. Unfortunately, the manager couldn't find the right recipe to wrap up the game. Bochy ultimately used five relievers in the inning -- with none facing more than two batters -- and watched as they all tried in vain to stem the Cubs attack.
Chicago dinked and dunked its way to a comeback, with only Ben Zobrist's double going for extra bases. Of course, there was some luck involved too: When Jason Heyward laid down a sacrifice bunt, Willson Contreras was caught at second. The throw to first went wide, and Heyward was able to advance. Sacrifice successful ... kind of.
With the game tied at 5, Javier Báez hit the final go-ahead single against Hunter Strickland to wrap the series up.
3. Edwin Encarnación's Manny Ramirez impression caps 5-2 win - AL Wild Card Game
After the Blue Jays tied the Orioles at 2 with an Ezequiel Carrera single in the fifth inning, the game remained knotted through the ninth and eventually went to extras.
But in the 11th, with All-Star closer Zach Britton still available, Orioles manager Buck Showalter instead turned to starter Ubaldo Jiménez. It was a move that confused many. While Jimenez finished the season strong with a 2.31 ERA in the season's final month, he was an inconsistent starter with a 5.44 ERA on the season. That decision set the stage for Encarnacion.
With one out in the bottom half of the frame, Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson singled. With the bullpen still not called upon, Encarnacion swung on a first-pitch fastball that caught too much of the plate. He hammered it out of the park for the game-winner.
Known for his parrot wing, this time Encarnacion went with the Manny-like arms overhead:
2. Clayton Kershaw closes out the Dodgers' 4-3 win - NLDS Game 5
Having just thrown 111 pitches two days before in the Dodgers' Game 4 win, Kershaw wasn't expected to be available to pitch Game 5 against the Nationals. But in a must-win matchup, fans couldn't be blamed for thinking that maybe ... just maybe ... he would.
That feeling only grew when Kenley Jansen was brought in to protect the Dodgers' one-run lead following Chris Heisey's home run in the seventh inning. The Dodgers' closer got the team out of the inning … and then kept pitching.
He held the Dodgers' lead into the ninth inning, setting career highs in pitches (51, just four fewer than starter Rich Hill) and innings pitched (2 1/3), before finally tiring. After walks to Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth, it was time: Kershaw, the ace made his first relief appearance since 2009.
After getting modern postseason legend Daniel Murphy to pop out, Kershaw struck out Wilmer Difo to send the Dodgers to the NLCS and add another piece to his legacy.
1. The Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years - World Series Game 7
With two teams looking to end long postseason droughts in a winner-take-all showdown, Game 7 would have been required viewing no matter what happened. But the Cubs and Indians came together to deliver the most stressful, heart-pounding World Series game in modern memory.
The Cubs hit the ground running, building out a 5-1 lead before Jon Lester and his personal catcher, David Ross, were brought in to replace MLB ERA-leader Kyle Hendricks in the fifth inning. That looked to be a mistake as a wild pitch bounced off Ross' mask and led to two runs scoring.
An inning later, Ross found redemption when he became the oldest catcher to homer in the postseason. Even more deliriously, it was off the unhittable Andrew Miller.
With the Cubs up, 6-3, closer Aroldis Chapman entered in the eighth to close it out. But after tossing multiple innings in Games 5 and 6, his normally unhittable heat was much more ordinary. After Chapman gave up an RBI double to HBP-champ Brandon Guyer, Rajai Davis followed with a clutch two-run home run.
To extras the game went and, after a rain delay, the Cubs put together a two-run rally thanks to a Ben Zobrist double and Miguel Montero single. Surely that was it, right?
Not quite. In the bottom half, Davis knocked in another run, cutting the lead to one. Would Cleveland be able to tie the game up again?!
Not quite. Michael Martinez hit a weak grounder to third and that was it. Game over, season over, curse ended.