After winning the first two games against the 1990 Oakland Athletics, the 1995 Cleveland Indians were already looking forward to a Winner’s Bracket advance. But Oakland won the next two games, and it only took one inning of Game 5 to shatter Cleveland’s hopes. Indian ace Charles Nagy walked three, and Carlos Baerga misplayed a grounder to lead to 5 Oakland runs in the 1st. Mark McGwire hit a 3-run home run in the 2nd to add the exclamation mark. Nagy lasted just two innings, but Chad Ogea allowed 2 more runs in 4 innings of relief, and Oakland added 3 more against Julián Tavárez in the 8th. Dave Stewart held Cleveland to just 2 runs on 7 hits in a complete game 13-2 victory. Oakland will face the 1998 New York Yankees in the next round as the Indians face elimination against the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. Rickey Henderson continued his hot start in the tournament, going 3 for 4 with 2 walks, stealing 2 bases and scoring 3 times. Rickey is hitting .524 so far.

’90 Athletics @ ’95 Indians – 9/14/24

Ken Hill allowed just 1 run, scattering 9 hits over 8 innings to win against the 1998 Houston Astros and send the 1994 Montreal Expos to the next round of the Winner’s Bracket in the Best of the 90s Tournament. Craig Biggio and Sean Berry led off against Hill with base hits before Derek Bell flew out. Then Jeff Bagwell took one deep to left, but it was caught at the warning track. Hill did allow a run in the 2nd inning, but settled in after that. Randy Johnson struck out 11 in 7 innings for the Astros, but Houston’s Sean Berry broke a 1-1 tie with a 2-run double, giving the Expos a 3-1 lead in the 7th. Reliever Doug Henry gave up 2 more runs on 3 doubles in the 8th, and Trevor Miller allowed another run in the 9th. The 1st two Houston hitters reached in the 9th, ending Hill’s night. Jeff Shaw stuck out Moises Alou and Carl Everett grounded into a double play to end the game. The Expos advance to play the 1998 Atlanta Braves in the Winner’s Bracket, while the Astros face off against the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks, facing elimination.

’94 Expos @ ’98 Astros – 9/14/24

Greg Maddux allowed just 1 run on 3 hits in his 1st start, but needed a walk-off homer for victory in Game 1 against the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks. He thought he could do better and he proved it in Game 5. Greg Maddux allowed just 2 hits and walked one in a shutout. In all 3 cases, it was Travis Lee. Omar Daal had another tough loss, allowing just 4 hits in 6 innings. Andrés Galarraga hit a solo home run to lead off the 2nd inning, and Javy López drove in two more with a 2-out single in the 6th. With the 3-0 win, the top-ranked 1998 Atlanta Braves advance in the Tournament as the Diamondbacks fall to the Loser’s Bracket.

’99 Diamondbacks @ ’98 Braves – 9/14/24

1998 Atlanta Braves starter John Smoltz struck out 10 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks batters in the first 4 innings, but couldn’t overcome another monster game by Matt Williams. Atlanta jumped out to an early lead against Armando Reynoso, scoring 2 in the 2nd inning and another in the 3rd on a Chipper Jones solo home run. Williams had the first of his RBI in the bottom of the inning, singling in the 1st Arizona run of the game. Steve Finley hit a triple to cut the lead to 3-2. Javy López homered in the 6th to give Atlanta a little more breathing room, but Luis Gonzalez and Williams hit back-to-back homers to chase Smoltz and take a 5-4 lead. Ryan Klesko responded with a 2-run homer of his own to get Atlanta back on top in the 8th. But Williams hit an RBI single with 2 outs and 2 runners on off Atlanta closer Kerry Ligtenberg to keep Arizona hopes alive. In the 11th, Erubiel Durazo led off with a double off Rudy Seánez, who walked Tony Womack. But Jay Bell struck out, and Gonzalez popped out. That brought up Williams, who smashed a walk-off single to win it 7-6. Williams finished 4 for 6 with a homer and 4 RBI. He’s hitting .447 in the Tournament. More importantly, the Diamondbacks head back to Atlanta with a chance to beat the top seed and advance in the Winner’s Bracket.

’98 Braves @ ’99 Diamondbacks – 9/12/24

The 1998 New York Yankees jumped out to an early lead against Todd Stottlemyre and the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays, holding off a comeback to win 7-5 and advance in the Best of the 1990s Tournament. The Blue Jays hope to work their way up through the Loser’s Bracket for another shot. The Yankees loaded the bases in the 4th inning, scoring on a Scott Brosius single. Chuck Knoblauch walked to score another, followed by a Derek Jeter sacrifice fly to give New York a 5-0 lead. The Jays scored twice in the bottom of the inning against Orlando Hernández, when Paul Molitor and Tony Fernández hit back-to-back RBI singles. But Knoblauch hit a 2-run homer in the 6th with 2 outs to extend the lead to 7-2. Toronto scored in the 6th against Hernández, and the 7th and 8th innings against Darren Holmes to cut the lead to 7-5. New York turned things over to Mariano Rivera in the 9th, picking up his 3rd save with a 1-2-3 inning. The Yankees will get some rest, awaiting the winner of the 1995 Cleveland Indians and 1990 Oakland Athletics series.

’98 Yankees @ ’93 Blue Jays – 9/12/24

The 1998 Houston Astros needed a lot of help, but walked away with a 7-5 win over the 1994 Montreal Expos to even the series in the Best of the 1990s Tournament. Facing Butch Henry in the 6th, Moises Alou doubled in Jeff Bagwell to tie the game 2-2. Mike Lansing then bobbled a grounder to let the go-ahead run score. In the 7th, Larry Walker missed a sharp grounder that led to two more unearned runs. Even so, the Expos came back in the bottom of the inning against a tiring Mike Hampton when Walker hit an RBI double and Wil Cordero followed with a triple, his 4th hit of the game. Sean Berry’s error allowed the Expos to tie the game. In the 9th, Carl Everett doubled off Expos reliever Mel Rojas, and Bill Spiers hit a clutch pinch-hit RBI single to put Houston on top again. Ricky Gutiérrez added another run off John Wetteland to give the Astros a 7-5 lead. Billy Wagner had another shaky outing, allowing a double sandwiched with two walks to load the bases with one out. But pinch-hitter Cliff Floyd flew out to shallow left, and Marquis Grissom struck out to end the game. With the series even, it heads back to the Astrodome for Game 5. Grissom’s has struggled at the plate, going 0 for 6 in this game, and hitting .047 in the Tournament.

’98 Astros @ ’04 Expos – 9/12/24

José Canseco hit a 2-run home run off 1995 Cleveland Indians starter Ken Hill in the 1st inning, and scored on a Dave Henderson single in the 3rd, but Albert Belle hit a 2-run single off Mike Moore, and Omar Vizquel added an RBI double to keep the game tied. Athletics relievers Gene Nelson, Rick Honeycutt, and Todd Burns allowed just 2 hits in 4 innings of relief. Meanwhile, Hill pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the 9th, striking out Mike Gallego with the winning run on 3rd. Hill then intentionally walked Rickey Henderson to load the bases before getting Willie McGee to fly out to end the inning. Rickey was 3 for 4 with 3 stolen bases up to that point. Julián Tavárez came in to pitch the 10th and wasn’t so lucky. After striking out Canseco, he left one too much over the plate and Mark McGwire took him deep for the walk-off homer, giving Oakland the 4-3 win and forcing a Game 5 back in Cleveland.

’95 Indians @ ’90 Athletics – 9/12/24