Honorable Mentions
With so many choices, I had to make an honorable mentions section for the ones that just missed the cut. I really could have done a Top 50, but no one would read that entire article, so I cut it down to only five additional plays.
- Marwin nails Bird, ALCS Game 1
This play probably had no shot at cracking the top-10, but I’m enamored with it for two reasons. 1) I love the suspense of a good outfield assist as it unfolds and 2) how good of a throw was this by Marwin Gonzalez? It’s a 3-2 count with two outs. No outfielder should have a prayer to get the runner at the plate. Granted, Bird probably deserves some of the credit for bad baserunning, but still, Gonzalez threw a 97-MPH dart right on the money. He came into the big leagues as a shortstop! That’s impressive.
- Reddick’s go-ahead hit, ALDS Game 4
In Houston Astros’ history, a play like this would usually be near the top of the list. This go-ahead hit led the Houston Astros to a division series win over the Red Sox. At this point in time, the Houston Astros as a franchise had only won three playoff series ever (not counting the Wild Card win over the Yankees in 2015). They matched that total this year alone. But still, the biggest hit in a series is a big deal, particularly off the best relief pitcher in the American League in Craig Kimbrell. It also led us to a gif that will be used for years to come. As you might’ve predicted, this will be Josh Reddick’s final moment on this list, because well, you know.
- Springer “robs” Frazier, ALCS Game 6
As it turns out, Todd Frazier’s flyball off of Verlander in the seventh inning would not have actually left the park, but if your heart didn’t drop into your lap on that swing, then you and I are a different type of fan. What looked off the bat like the tying run became a 400-foot out for Frazier, thanks to one of many spectacular catches by George Springer out in center throughout the postseason (his Game 7 catch is in the video as well). Also a cool moment: after Verlander escaped the inning, he waited for Springer by the first base line to thank him.
- Altuve and Correa go back-to-back, World Series Game 2
Ideally, this should have been a moment that lived on forever in both Houston Astros’ and World Series’ lore. There have been 16 instances of back-to-back big flies in a World Series game, none of them in extra innings until this pair. Yet instead of giving Ken Giles the win, these homers prevented him from getting the loss, and thus knocked them out of the top ten.
- Yuli Gurriel ties it up off Kershaw, World Series Game 5
This is just one of so many unbelievable moments during Game 5, that it was impossible to put them all in the top ten. Clayton Kershaw was given a 4-0 lead early in this game. In his career, Kershaw was 100-1 with four or more runs of support. The stadium was silent for about three and a half innings, until Gurriel started off an unimaginable chain of events with this game-tying blast. More on that later.