Playoff number seven

Here are all of the one-game playoff capsules of the six previous one-off games in MLB history thanks to mlb.com. We're likely to have more and more of this with more teams making the postseason since MLB expanded its divisions.

Oct. 1, 2007, Rockies 9, Padres 8, 13 innings
The Padres lost on the final day of the regular season and the Rockies won to finish at 89-73, forcing the one-game Wild Card playoff game at Coors Field. The Rockies held the lead twice during regulation, only to see the Padres come back to tie. In the top of the 13th, Scott Hairston hit a two-run homer off Jorge Julio and San Diego took an 8-6 lead, its first of the game. In came all-time career saves leader Trevor Hoffman, who imploded. The first three batters belted two doubles and a triple, tying the score. Holliday stood on third 90 feet away with a chance to win the game. He didn't disappoint.

Oct. 4, 1999, Mets 5, Reds 0
Both teams won on the final day of the regular season to finish at 96-66, setting up a Wild Card playoff game at old Cinergy Field (Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. It wasn't much of a battle. The Mets scored twice in the top of the first on Edgardo Alfonzo's two-run homer and never looked back. By the sixth inning they led, 5-0, with Al Leiter on his way to a two-hit shutout. Pokey Reese and Jeffrey Hammonds had the only hits, both singles. Steve Parris started for the Reds, didn't make it out of the third inning and took the loss.

Sept. 28, 1998, Cubs 5, Giants 3
Both teams lost on the final day of season to finish at 89-73, setting up the Wild Card playoff game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs built a 4-0 lead off Giants starter Mark Gardner. And when they scored a single run in the eighth to make it 5-0, their first postseason berth since 1989 seemed secure. But wait. These are the Cubs. This is the curse. In the ninth, the Giants started picking away, scoring a run and setting up a bases-loaded, no-out situation for Barry Bonds. With the crowd standing and in clear angst, Bonds lined a sacrifice fly to center, scoring the second run against left-hander Terry Mulholland. Rod Beck came in to get the final two outs: a Jeff Kent run-producing grounder and a Joe Carter pop fly to end the game. It was his 51st save of the season.

Oct. 2, 1995, Mariners 9, Angels 1
The Angels had an 11-game lead in the AL West as late as Aug. 9. By Sept. 20, the Mariners had caught them, but the Halos won six of their final seven games, including the finale at Oakland, to keep the two knotted on the final day of the season. Meanwhile, the Mariners lost three of their last five, including their finale at Texas, to set up the one-game playoff for the division title at the old Kingdome in Seattle. The first six innings matched left-handers Mark Langston of the Angels and Randy Johnson of the Mariners in a pitching duel. With the Mariners leading 1-0 heading into the seventh, the game got out of hand as they scored four times each in the seventh and eighth to win the first playoff berth in franchise history.

Oct. 6, 1980, Astros 7, Dodgers 1
The game at Dodger Stadium wasn't much, but the last weekend of the season certainly was. The Dodgers trailed the Astros by three games in the NL West with three games at Dodger Stadium between the two teams. The Dodgers had to win out and they did, swiping three one-run games in front of frenzied sellout crowds that Steve Garvey dubbed "the 10th man," setting up the one-game playoff as the teams finished at 92-70. Manager Tommy Lasorda had the option of using a 19-year-old left-hander named Fernando Valenzuela in the playoff game, but he chose the more experienced Dave Goltz. Bad choice. The Astros jumped all over Goltz, knocking him out after three innings. Meanwhile, Joe Niekro tossed a complete-game six-hitter for his 20th win of the season, giving the Astros their first postseason berth in franchise history.

Oct. 2, 1978, Yankees 5, Red Sox 4
It had been another year of turmoil in the Bronx. Manager Billy Martin was fired, replaced by Bob Lemon, and rehired effective for the 1980 season five days later. On July 16, the Yanks trailed the Red Sox by a full 13 games in the AL East. Under the calm hand of "Lem," they caught them on Sept 10 after the famous four-game sweep at Fenway forever known as the "Boston Massacre." It was then nip and tuck, with the Yanks holding a one-game lead from Sept. 13 until the final day of the season, when they lost and the Red Sox won, setting up the one-game division title playoff game between the two 99-63 teams at the Fens. The game was as good as the regular season.

The Sox took a 2-0 lead into the seventh off Yanks ace Ron Guidry when the tables turned. Dent took former teammate Mike Torrez just enough into the netting above the Green Monster for a three-run homer that gave the Yanks a 3-2 lead. Thurman Munson added an RBI double in the inning. And when Reggie Jackson homered to dead center in the eighth, the Yankees' 5-2 lead looked pretty complete. But it wasn't. Rich "Goose" Gossage bailed out Guidry in the bottom of the seventh. He pitched out of that jam, pitched out of his own self-generated jam as the Sox came back with a pair in the eighth, and induced Carl Yastrzemski to pop out in the ninth with runners on the corners to end one of the most thrilling games and races in baseball history.