The 1968 World Series was played between the American League champions Detroit Tigers and the National League champions St. Louis Cardinals from October 2 to October 10, 1968. The series was played at the Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan and the Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri. The Series was tagged with ‘The Year of the Pitcher’, and was also the last series played before the introduction of divisional play in MLB (Major League Baseball).
Previous Series Matches
Game 1 was completely dominated by the Cardinals, and they defeated the Tigers 4-0. Game 1 was played in Busch Stadium (II) in St. Louis, Missouri. The Tigers came back in the Game 2 and defeated Cardinals 8-1, and evened the series 1-1. However, Game 3 and Game 4 were won by the Cardinals 7-3 and 10-1 respectively. Now, Cardinals were leading by 3-1 after the end of Game 4. Nevertheless, the Tigers defeated the Cardinals in their ‘must-win’ Game 5 and 6, 5-3 and 13-1 respectively. Now, the series was leveled 3-3.
Game 7
Game 7 was played on Thursday, October 10, 1968 at Busch Stadium (II) in Missouri (St. Louis).
Tigers’ pitcher Mickey Lolich and Cardinals’ Bob Gibson matched zeros for six innings. But, Willie Horton, Norm Cash and Jim Northup scored a run each against the Bob Gibson, in the top of the seventh inning. The Tigers were leading 3-0 at the end of the seventh inning.
Eighth inning was scoreless and the Tigers’ were still leading 3-0. In the top of the ninth inning, Northrup then struck a long rope to center field that Cardinals’ Curt Flood inadvertently misapprehended. The result was a 2-run triple and Bill Freehan (William Ashley Freehan) made it three after doubling home Jim Northrup. St. Louis Cardinals opened their account in the end of the ninth inning, with a homer from Mike Shannon. However, it was not enough for the Cardinals and the ninth inning ended in 1-1. Now, the final score after the end of the ninth inning was Tigers 4 and Cardinals 1. The Tigers defeated Cardinals in the Game 7 by 4-1, and won the World Series 4-3.
Tigers’ Mickey Lolich was honored with the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award. This was the first time when the Cardinals lost a Game 7 in their history, and the Tigers became the third team to come back from a three game to one deficit in a World Series to win the title.