Top Five MLB Walks Offs Of 2017 (So Far)
In a lengthy, 162-game baseball season, you’re going to see your fair share of excitement throughout the league. And, frankly, there’s nothing that gets the adrenaline flowing more than a walk-off to win a close game. The 2017 season has had quite a few walk-off winners, so let’s look at five of the best so far.
5. Kyle Farmer, Los Angeles Dodgers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOJfY7LcIwE
In his first-ever Major League at-bat, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ catcher Kyle Farmer stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 11th inning with his team trailing 2-1. He fought back into a full count after going down 0-2 and smacked a double into right field, sending two runners home and ending the game. The newbie secured both a 6th straight win for the Dodgers and a personal highlight that he’ll surely never forget.
4. Hanley Ramirez, Boston Red Sox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdNTQm4HMA
In a rain-delayed game, the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays went 4 hours and 59 minutes and 15 innings before a Tuesday night-turned-Wednesday-morning game was put to rest by a monster home run from Boston DH Hanley Ramirez. With one out in the bottom of the 15th, Ramirez dug in and clobbered the first pitch he saw. He sent the pitch high to left field, clearing Fenway Park’s Green Monster with absolutely no trouble at all, securing a 5-4 victory for the Sox.
3. Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals
Baseball fans have known for quite a while that St. Louis infielder Matt Carpenter is a danger when he steps up to the plate. With over 800 hits in as many games, Carpenter is a guy who can win you the game any time he steps up in a walk-off situation. Against the Toronto Blue Jays back in April, he was looking at a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and the game all tied up in the 11th inning. He took the full-count pitch and smacked one over the right field wall, tallying his first career grand slam and ending the ball game.
2. Steve Pearce, Toronto Blue Jays
Scenarios like this aren’t supposed to happen in professional baseball, which makes them even more phenomenal when they do. Toronto veteran Steve Pearce, in a 4-4 ball game in the bottom of the 10th against Oakland, belted a grand slam to send the A’s packing. You’d think that would be that, right? Wrong. Three nights later as the Blue Jays kicked off a home series against the Los Angeles Angels, Pearce found himself in another bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth inning. With Toronto down 10-7, Pearce smashed ANOTHER grand slam to win the game. Two straight games, two straight walk-off grand slams as Pearce become just the third player in history to hit two game-ending slams in the same season.
1. Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies
In what was already one of Nolan Arenado’s finest games of the season, the Colorado third baseman had the chance to win the ballgame. After a single, double, and triple in his first three at-bats, Arenado needed a homer to complete the cycle. In the bottom of the ninth, with his Rockies trailing by a run against San Francisco, Arenado got exactly that. He sent a three-run shot off a Mark Melancon pitch, ending the game and completing the cycle in phenomenal fashion. It was, as Rockies’ radio broadcaster Jack Corrigan put it, “A cycle for the ages.”
We’ll certainly have more walk-offs to discuss as we inch ever closer to October postseason baseball. Keep your eye out for more excitement throughout the MLB season.