But José Mesa, not for the first time nor for the last, blows the save, and the Marlins claw their way back and tie the score in the bottom of the 9th on a sacrifice fly by Craig Counsell. In the last half of the 11th‚ Édgar Rentería gets his 3rd hit of the game‚ driving home Counsell with the winning run‚ as Florida wins Game 7 by a score of 3-2.
The Marlins, in just their 5th season of existence (as opposed to the Indians, in their 97th), thus become the fastest team in baseball history to win a World Series title‚ 3 years quicker than the 1969 Mets. (In 2001, this record would be broken by the 4th-year Arizona Diamondbacks.) Liván Hernández, the pitcher who fled Cuba (and would soon be followed by his brother Orlando "El Duque" Hernández) is named the Most Valuable Player of the Series.
This Series is sweet vindication for:
* Marlins manager Jim Leyland, who lost 3 straight NLCS while managing the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* Bobby Bonilla, who played for Leyland on those Pirates, bad-attituded his way out of his native New York with the Mets, and flopped the year before with the Baltimore Orioles
* Alex Fernandez, who pitched for the talented Chicago White Sox team that fell just short in 1990, lost the ALCS in '93 and was screwed over by the Strike of '94, and was injured and unable to pitch in the postseason, so his teammates put his Number 32 on their caps.
* And for Gary Sheffield, who was already gaining a reputation as a bad apple that nobody wanted to keep around for very long, despite his obvious talent for power hitting, and this remained his only World Series win.
For the Indians, who hadn't won a Series since 1948, went from 1954 to 1995 without winning a Pennant, went from 1959 to 1994 without even being in a Pennant race, stood to be the AL's Wild Card if the standings at the time of the Strike of '94 had held to the end of the season, lost the '95 Series despite winning 100 of 144 games in the regular season, lost the '96 ALDS to an inferior Oriole team, and won just 86 games in this regular season but had defeated the favored Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before this crushing defeat, it is not just a crushing defeat, where they came closer to winning the World Series without doing so than any team ever had except the '86 Red Sox (and now the 2011 Texas Rangers).
No, this loss meant that, like the Red Sox, the Indians now had a reputation of being a choking team. They have never shaken it, despite return trips to the postseason in 1998, '99, 2001 and '07 – blowing a 2-1 lead in the '98 ALCS, 3-1 leads in the '07 ALCS and the '16 World Series, and a 2-0 lead in the '17 ALDS.
For the Indians, who hadn't won a Series since 1948, went from 1954 to 1995 without winning a Pennant, went from 1959 to 1994 without even being in a Pennant race, stood to be the AL's Wild Card if the standings at the time of the Strike of '94 had held to the end of the season, lost the '95 Series despite winning 100 of 144 games in the regular season, lost the '96 ALDS to an inferior Oriole team, and won just 86 games in this regular season but had defeated the favored Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before this crushing defeat, it is not just a crushing defeat, where they came closer to winning the World Series without doing so than any team ever had except the '86 Red Sox (and now the 2011 Texas Rangers).
No, this loss meant that, like the Red Sox, the Indians now had a reputation of being a choking team. They have never shaken it, despite return trips to the postseason in 1998, '99, 2001 and '07 – blowing a 2-1 lead in the '98 ALCS, 3-1 leads in the '07 ALCS and the '16 World Series, and a 2-0 lead in the '17 ALDS.
The Marlins were immediately broken up, and dropped to a 108-loss team the next year. This was part of the plan: Team owner Wayne Huizenga was going for it in 1997, so it was a now-or-never situation. Dave Rosenbaum wrote a book about it, titled If They Don't Win It's a Shame.
They were sold and rebuilt, and won another World Series in 2013. They were broken up again, moved to the new LoanDepot Park on the site of the Orange Bowl in 2012, renamed the Miami Marlins, were built back into a Playoff team in 2020, and broken up yet again.
The Indians won Division titles in 1995, '96, '97, '98, '99 and 2001, and Pennants in '95 and '97, but not a World Series. They fell 1 game short of a Pennant in 2007, and won the Pennant but against lost Game 7 of the World Series in extra innings in 2016. In 2022, they changed their name to the Cleveland Guardians, and won another Division title.
In 2010, the MLB Network listed this game at 13th on their list of MLB's 20 Greatest Games -- limited in scope, due to the availability of surviving videotape, to 1975 onward.
UPDATE: The Guardians have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1995 and 1997 Pennant winners, they have honored 1st baseman Jim Thome, 2nd baseman Carlos Baerga, shortstop Omar Vizquel, left fielder Albert Belle, center fielder Kenny Lofton, right fielder Manny Ramirez, catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., pitcher Charles Nagy; team owner Richard Jacobs, general manager John Hart, team executives Hank Peters and Dennis Lehman, manager Mike Hargrove, coach Johnny Goryl, longtime clubhouse manager Cy Buynak, longtime trainer Jim Warfield, longtime travel director Mike Seghi (son of former team owner Phil Seghi); broadcasters Herb Score, Mike Hegan, Tom Hamilton and Rick Manning; and famous fan John Adams.
Hargrove and Hegan have also been elected to the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame. So has outfielder Brian Anderson, mainly because he was a Cleveland native.
From their 2007 team that reached the AL Championship Series, the Guardians have honored pitcher CC Sabathia; while the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame has honored outfielder Ellis Burks and 1st baseman Travis Hafner.
*
October 26, 1997 was a Sunday. The following NFL games were played:
* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 29-27 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the team their fans hate the most, if not their geographic rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, 13-12 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Rodney Peete won it in the last minute of regulation with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Chad Lewis.
* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Washington Redskins, 20-17 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-12 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte, 21-12.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 10-6 at Tampa Stadium.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 23-0 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Buffalo Bills, 23-20 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. Jason Elam won it with a 33-yard field goal in overtime.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Kordell Stewart won it in overtime with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jerome Bettis: "Slash" to "The Bus."
* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the cross-State St. Louis Rams, 28-20 at the TWA Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.
* The Tennessee Oilers beat the Arizona Cardinals, 41-14 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Indianapolis Colts, 35-19 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Oakland Raiders, 45-34 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* The next night, the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots, 28-10 at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* Game 7 of the World Series forced a rescheduling, since the Marlins needed Pro Player Stadium. So the Miami Dolphins' home game set for Sunday afternoon, October 26 was moved to Monday night, October 27. They lost to the Chicago Bears, 36-33. Jeff Jaeger won it with a 35-yard field goal in overtime.
* And the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions had a bye week.
The NBA season began 5 days later. There were 5 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 3-3 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Buffalo Sabres, 6-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.
* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.
Also on this day, D.C. United won their 2nd MLS Cup, in the league's 2nd season, beating the Denver-based Colorado Rapids, 2-1 on home soil at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Jaime Moreno and Tony Sanneh scored the goals.
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