When your team is not in the World Series, the one thing you really want is a memorable World Series.  Even if a team you hates wins the World Series, you want to be rewarded for the time you invest watching the World Series.  In my lifetime, here are some of the World Series I found to be absolutely riveting:

1991 World Series

As for as World Series go, this one could very well be the gold standard.  Five of the seven games were decided by one run.  Three of the games went into extra innings including Games 6 and 7.  With Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, Kevin Tapani, and of course Jack Morris, there was great pitching that led to tense innings and rallies.  In six of the seven games, both teams scored five runs or less.  However, what truly made this series great was two all time games to close out the series.

In Game 6, Kirby Puckett put the Twins on his back.  He made that leaping catch snatching Ron Gant‘s home run from clearing that plexiglass, and then he hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning that included a classic call:

Then in Game 7, Morris went the distance in a 1-0 10 inning game that featured rookie Chuck Knoblauch deking 13 year veteran Lonnie Smith from scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth inning that probably would have been the game winner.  Then in the 10th inning Gene Larkin became the unlikeliest of heroes by getting the World Series walk-off single.

1993 World Series

Generally speaking, this would have been an average World Series as most six game World Series are.  However, there was a lot in this World Series.

Lenny Dykstra turned into Babe Ruth during the series.  Roberto Alomar hit .480 in the series, and he wasn’t even the best hitter.  That honor goes to Paul Molitor who hit .500 in the series.  Game 4 saw the Blue Jays mount a frantic eighth inning come from behind rally to win by a score of 15-14.  And as if this wasn’t enough, in Game 6 Joe Carter did something only Bill Mazeroski had done:

1997 World Series

This series wasn’t particularly memorable despite a couple of slugfests in Games 3 and 5.  No, what made this series was an epic Game 7.  The Indians were seeking to win their first World Series since 1948.  They had their closer Jose Mesa on the mound and a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

The Marlins first scratched in a run in the bottom of the ninth with a Craig Counsell sacrifice fly scoring Moises Alou.  The Marlins started the game winning rally in the bottom of the 11th with a Bobby Bonillia single off Charles Nagy.  Eventually, the Marlins loaded the bases with one out.  Devon White, who won the World Series with the aforementioned Blue Jays, grounded into a force play with Tony Fernandez nailing Bonilla at the plate.  Then with two outs, rookie Edgar Renteria singled home Counsell to win the World Series.

Note, this would’ve been rated much higher if not for the MVP mysteriously being given to Livan Hernandez (5.27 ERA) over Alou, and for Bonilla having such a huge Game 7.

2001 World Series

This World Series had it all.  Curt Schilling did the old fashioned 1-4-7 you want your ace to do in the biggest series of the year.  Randy Johnson was better than that shutting out the Yankees in Game 2, shutting them down in Game 6, and pitching on no days rest to keep the Yankees at bay in Game 7.

Game 7 was an epic back-and-forth matchup.  Alfonso Soriano broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the eighth to set the stage for the great Mariano Rivera who is the greatest postseaon closer, if not pitcher, of all time.  This would be the one World Series blown save in his career.  He was uncharacteristically frazzled making an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt.  Still, he recovered, and the Yankees got the forceout at third on the next bunt attempt.  Tony Womack would then shock everyone by hitting a game tying double.  After Counsell (him again) was hit by a pitch, Luis Gonzalez would bloop a walk-off World Series winning single over the head of Derek Jeter.

However, that World Series was not memorable for Game 7.  It was memorable because those games were played post-9/11, and they were memorable due to what happened at Yankee Stadium.  Before Game 3, President Bush threw a curveball for a strike off the mound before a hard fought Yankees win.  In Game 4, the Yankees were on the verge of falling behind 3-1 in the series before Tino Martinez hit an improbably two out home run off Byung-hyun Kim to tie the game, and Jeter hit a walk-off home run in the 10th to become “Mr. November.”  In Game 5, the Yankees were again down two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  This time it was Scott Brosius who did the impossible hitting a game tying two run home run to send the game into extras with Soriano getting the walk-off hit in the 12th.

Overall, baseball does not get better than that three game set in the Bronx, especially in the backdrop those games were played.

2002 World Series

This World Series was memorable for a few reasons: (1) The Angels not being able to get Barry Bonds out; (2) J.T. Snow saving Dusty Baker‘s son at home plate; and (3) that Rally Monkey.

That Rally Monkey was all the more prevalent in Game 6.  In that game, Baker made the fateful decision to lift Russ Ortiz with a 5-0 lead, two on, and one out in the seventh inning.  Scott Spiezio greeted Felix Rodriguez with a three run homer.  Darin Erstad then led off the seventh inning with a solo shot off Todd Worrell.  Worrell made matters worse by allowing back-to-back singles thereby putting closer Robb Nen in a precarious situation.  Nen would allow a go-ahead two run double to World Series MVP Troy Glaus giving the Angels a 6-5 win.  In Game 7, rookie John Lackey took care of business and shut down a Giants team that should have won the World Series in Game 6.

2011 World Series

For the most part, this was a well played if not memorable World Series through the first five games.  In the seventh inning, Adrian Beltre broke a 4-4 tie that sparked a three run inning that seemingly was going to deliver the first ever World Series title to the Rangers franchise.  The World Series title was going to be even sweeter for a Rangers team that had their doors blown off in the 2010 World Series.

In the eighth, Allen Craig hit a solo shot to draw the Cardinals within two.  There was still a large enough lead for the excellent Rangers closer, Neftali Feliz to put the game to rest.  The game was there to win even after a Albert Pujols double and a Lance Berkman walk.  Then with two outs, David Freese unleashed a two RBI game tying double to keep the World Series alive.  If that wasn’t painful enough, the Rangers were in for more pain.

Josh Hamilton would hit a two run homer in the top of the 10th to give the Rangers the lead.  At this point, victory was almost assured.  The Cardinals were undeterred putting the first two on against Darren Oliver.  After a sacrifice bunt, Ryan Theriot plated a run with an RBI groundout, and Berkman brought home the tying run with an RBI single.

The Rangers would have no response in either Game 6 or Game 7.  In the bottom of the 11th, Freese, the World Series MVP, would hit a walk-off home run that not only sealed Game 6, but also demoralized a Rangers team heading into Game 7.

2014 World Series

Of note, five of the first six games were terrible.  Absolutely terrible.  Through the first six games, the average margin of victory was six runs per game, and that includes a one run game in Game 3.  Taking aside Game 3, the average margin of victory was seven runs per game.  This is really the type of series you expect with some truly terrible starting pitching on both sides.  In fact, the only starter who was actually good was Madison Bumgarner.

That’s an understatement.  Bumgarner made Morris look like a Little Leaguer with his World Series performance.  In his World Series MVP performance, he appeared in three games going 2-0 with one save, a 0.43 ERA and a 0.476 WHIP.  He came out of the bullpen in the fifth inning in Game 7 with the Giants having a 3-2 lead.  Watching him pitch on two days rest, you kept waiting for him to falter, and then this happened:

Alex Gordon‘s two out single almost became a Little League home run with Gregor Blanco letting the ball bounce past him and Juan Perez nearly booting the ball away.  The debate would rage for days as to whether he should have gone home (he shouldn’t have) with Bumgarner being Bumgarner.  Those that believed he should have gone only intensified their arguments when Salvador Perez fouled out to Pablo Sandoval to end the World Series.

2017 World Series

There is enough here for a classic World Series with two great teams, and two great storylines.  Honestly, the Indians fans deserve this more as they are far more tortured than the Cubs fan.  Ideally, this series goes seven with the Indians pulling it out in classic fashion.  Hopefully, a majority of the games are close.  No matter what happens, all we need is one or two games or moments to make this a series for the ages.  That’s all we can realistically hope to get.

Things are already off to a good start with Dexter Fowler being the first ever black man to play for the Chicago Cubs in a World Series game.