Top 10 Cinderella MLB Teams of All Time (Part 1 10-6)

There have been many Cinderella teams in the history of Major League Baseball who have overcame long odds and have advanced deep into the playoffs and these are in my opinion the top 10-6. All stats come from baseball reference.com

Just Missed The Cut 1978 Yankees, 2013 Red Sox, 2001 Yankees, 2003 Marlins, 2002 Angels



10. 1991 Minnesota Twins

The 1990 Twins finished 74-88 and one thing that they were lacking that season was a go to ace, so they went out and signed 36 year old Jack Morris to be their ace. All he did was go 18-12 with a 3.43 ERA in 1991 while Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson were solid 2 and 3 starters, and Rick Aguilera was a lock-down closer who had 42 saves in the pen. On the offensive side of the ball, they were lead by Chili Davis and Kent Hrbek who had 29 and 20 homeruns and fan favorite Kirby Puckett. The 1991 Twins finished 95-67 and came in 1st in the AL West, and they faced the Blue Jays in the AL Championship series and they swept them 4 games to 1. The Twins earn their underdog status because of the World Series against the Braves. The first 4 games were tough hard fought battles, but in Game 5 the Braves won 14-5 at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, so they took a 3-2 lead in the series. Game 6 was a back and forth affair and it was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 11th when Kirby Puckett hit a walkoff homerun off of Charlie Leibrandt to force a Game 7. This is the moment where Jack Buck said his famous quote "And we'll see you tomorrow night." Game 7 is widely considered one of the greatest games in MLB history it was a pitchers duel between the Twins Jack Morris and the Braves John Smoltz. The game was scoreless for the 1st 9 innings and Jack Morris surprisingly went out there to pitch the 10th and was able to get out it without allowing a run, Alejandro Pena pitched the 10th inning for the Braves and the Twins were able to get the bases loaded and Gene Larkin hit a series winning walkoff single over the shallow playing outfield. 

9. 2014 Kansas City Royals

The 2014 Kansas City Royals were this years Cinderella story. At the beginning of the season they were people's bold team which would make the playoffs, and they did grab a wild card spot on the last day of the season. The Royals did not have a hitter who hit more than 20 homeruns and only had one who hit over .300 in Lorenzo Cain, but what they did have is pitching, pitching and more pitching. All 5 of their starters had more than 9 wins, but what was the most dominant was their bullpen. If you played the Royals you had to get the lead in the first 6 innings otherwise the game was over, in the 7th inning you faced Kelvin Herrera and his 1.41 ERA, in the 8th inning you faced Wade Davis and his 1.00 ERA and his 109 strikeouts in only 72 innings pitched, and in the 9th inning you faced Greg Holland and his 1.44 ERA. When they got to the playoffs, the Royals came back from a 4 run deficit in the last 2 innings in the Wild Card game against the A's and came back to win it in extras on Salvador Perez's walkoff single.  Then it was smooth sailing where they swept the Angels and the Orioles but lost in a hard fought 7 game series to the Giants in the World Series. The Royals were underdogs because they showed that just because they had a young inexperienced playoff team like they did, doesn't mean they aren't capable of success.

 8. 1997 Florida Marlins

The 1997 Marlins were only 4 years into existence, and yet they were able to become one of the most surprising Cinderella teams of all time. In the offseason prior they signed Bobby Bonilla to boost their offense and him, Moises Alou, and the often outspoken Gary Sheffield combined to form one of the more potent offenses in the national league. Their pitching was very good as well with Kevin Brown and his 205 strikeout season and Alex Fernandez lead the way. They also received help in the stretch run from Cuban important Livan Hernandez who went 9-3. In the bullpen they were lead by Robb Nen who had 35 saves. The Marlins ended up winning the wild card and surprisingly swept the #1 seed San Francisco Giants in the Division Series, and then won the the Championship Series over the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins became the 1st wildcard team ever to reach the World Series and they faced the Cleveland Indians. The Indians were heavy favorites because they had stars Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Omar Vizquel but the series ended up going to the 7th and final game. The Indians took a 2-0 lead heading into the 7th inning when Bobby Bonilla hit a homerun to cut the lead to 1. In the bottom of the 9th inning with the Indians leading 2-1, Craig Counsell hit a long fly ball that was caught for a sac fly and that sent the game into extras. In the bottom of the 11th inning with bases loaded and two outs rookie Edgar Renteria hit a walkoff single to give the Marlins the World Series and make them one of the greatest Cinderella stories ever.

7. 2004 Boston Red Sox

The 2003 Red Sox season ended dramatically as Aaron Boone hit a walkoff homerun to send the Yankees into the World Series. That play cost the Red Sox manager Grady Little his job and hopes' were high in Boston that new manager Terry Francona and new signings Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke would be able to reverse "The Curse of the Bambino" and give the Red Sox their first World Series since 1918. In the regular season the Red Sox were anything but underdogs as they were lead by their 2 sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who hit 41 and 43 homeruns respectfully. Their pitching staff was lead by Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez who combined for 47 wins and 430 strikeouts. Their bullpen was lead by Keith Foulke who had 32 saves with a 2.17 ERA. The Red Sox won 98 games but they still only managed to get the AL Wild Card. In the ALDS they swept the Los Angeles Angels with help by David Ortiz and his series clinching walkoff homerun off of Francisco Rodriguez. The Red Sox then had to face their rival Yankees in the ALCS. The Yankees took a 3-0 series lead capped off by a 19-8 drubbing of the Red Sox at Fenway. In the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4, the Yankees had a 4-3 lead and had the greatest closer of all time in Mariano Rivera on the mound. The Red Sox were able to tie it on a Bill Mueller single and won the game on David Ortiz's walkoff homerun in the 12th inning. In Game 5 the Red Sox came back and won in the 14th inning on David Ortiz's walkoff single. In Game 6 the Red Sox won 4-2 with Curt Schilling's masterful pitching and this game is known as "The Bloody Sock Game" due to the blood showing on Schilling's sock from a tendon injury he had suffered before. The Red Sox won Game 7 and advanced to the World Series and became the 1st team to win a playoff series after being down 3-0. They ended up sweeping the Cardinals in the World Series and won their 1st World Series in 86 years.

6.  1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

The 1960 Pirates won 95 games and won the NL Pennant. Their offense was lead by Dick Stuart and Roberto Clemente, they had 4 pitchers who won at least 11 games and all of them had ERA's under 4. They were lead in the bullpen by one of the 1st modern day closers in Roy Face. They had all of these characteristics that most teams could only dream of having, and yet they were still considered huge underdogs in the World Series against the heavily favored New York Yankees who had 2 players in Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris who had more than 30 homeruns while the Pirates had none. The Pirates won Game 1 but then lost the next 2 games by a combined score of 26-3. Then they won Games 4 and 5 which were tightly contested battles but got crushed again in Game 6. This would lead to one of the greatest Game 7's in the history of sports. The Pirates jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the early innings thanks to some timely hitting by Bill Virdon, but the Yankees took the lead in the 6th inning because of a Yogi Berra homerun. The Yankees scored 2 more runs in the 8th to make it 7-4, but then the bottom of the 8th happened. The Pirates got a pinch hit single and then Bill Virdon hit what should have been an easy double play ball to Tony Kubek at shortstop, but the ball bounced up and hit him in the throat. After another single in the inning which scored a run, and a sacrifice bunt and a long fly out to Roger Maris in right, the Yankees were one strike away from getting out of the inning when they had 2 strikes to Roberto Clemente and he hit a Baltimore Chop to the 1st baseman and the pitcher was unable to cover so Clemente reached safely and Virdon was able to score. Hal Smith then hit a 3 run homerun to  make it 9-7 but the Yankees tacked on 2 more in the top of the 9th to make it 9-9. In the bottom of the 9th inning, Ralph Terry was on the mound for the Yankees and the 1st batter he faced was the second baseman Bill Mazeroski who hit a homerun which won the World Series for the Pirates. An interesting note about this game is that television stations were not known to preserve their telecasts of sporting events so the record of Game 7 was thought to have been lost forever. However, a recording of the game was recently found in Bing Crosby's wine cellar (who was the owner of the Pirates at the time) as he was too nervous to watch the game so he listened to it on the radio in Paris and he had someone record it for him so he could watch the televised game later if the Pirates won.