1998 American League Championship Series
Encyclopedia
Game 1
Tuesday, October 6, 1998 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New YorkCleveland came in as heavy underdogs, but also were the defending American League Champions. In Game 1, the Yankees got off to a good start, by hitting four straight singles in the bottom of the first to score two runs. This paved the way for three more runs as a wild pitch and two more hits knocked starter Jaret Wright
Jaret Wright
Jaret Samuel Wright is an American former Major League Baseball starting pitcher, who played 10 years for five teams. He is the son of former major league pitcher Clyde Wright.-Early life and education:...
out of the game in the first. Chad Ogea
Chad Ogea
Chad Wayne Ogea is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He made his MLB debut in and played his final game in .-Professional playing career:...
came on in relief. Eventual ALCS MVP David Wells
David Wells
David Lee Wells , nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Wells was considered to be one of the game's better left-handed pitchers, especially during his years with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched the fifteenth perfect game in baseball history...
cruised through innings. A two-run homer by Manny Ramírez
Manny Ramírez
Manuel "Manny" Arístides Ramírez Onelcida is a retired Dominican-American professional baseball outfielder. He was recognized for great batting skill and power, a nine-time Silver Slugger and one of 25 players to hit 500 career home runs. Ramirez's 21 grand slams are third all-time, and his 28...
would knock home the only runs of the game for Cleveland in the ninth.
Game 2
Wednesday, October 7, 1998 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New YorkIn Game 2, twenty-game winner David Cone
David Cone
David Brian Cone is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1986-2003 for six different teams. Cone pitched the sixteenth perfect game in baseball history. He also set the MLB record for most years between 20-win seasons. He was a member of five...
went for the Yankees, who looked like they would go to Cleveland up two games in the series. But David Justice
David Justice
David Christopher Justice is a former outfielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball who played for the Atlanta Braves , Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees , and Oakland Athletics .-Early life:David was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Robert and Nettie Justice...
hit a solo home run in the fourth, putting the Yankees behind for the first time in the postseason. A Scott Brosius
Scott Brosius
Scott David Brosius is a former Major League Baseball third baseman for the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees . Brosius is currently the head baseball coach at Linfield College, his alma mater....
double tied the game in the seventh, but the Yankees would squander the chance to score him. They would also squander many chances in the game to score, as the game moved to extra innings. Jim Thome
Jim Thome
James Howard "Jim" Thome is a Major League Baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is the eighth player to hit 600 home runs in the major leagues. He is widely considered a future Hall of Famer.-Cleveland Indians :...
led off the top of the twelfth with a single. Enrique Wilson
Enrique Wilson
Enrique Wilson Marte is a former Major League Baseball infielder. He batted switch and threw right-handed....
was then called on the pinch run. Travis Fryman
Travis Fryman
David Travis Fryman is a former Major League Baseball third baseman and shortstop, and currently a hitting instructor for the Cleveland Indians farm system...
then laid a sacrifice bunt down, and, as Jeff Nelson went to throw it to first, he hit Fryman and the ball rolled past Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch
Edward Charles "Chuck" Knoblauch is a retired Major League Baseball player. He played all or part of twelve seasons in the majors, from until , for the Minnesota Twins , New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals...
covering. Knoblauch tried to argue the call as the ball continued to roll. Wilson and Fryman continued to run and Wilson would score as the ball was still not dead. An error by Tino Martinez
Tino Martinez
Constantino "Tino" Martinez is a former Major League Baseball first baseman.Martinez was the first round draft pick for the Seattle Mariners in out of the University of Tampa where he starred during his time on campus. He began his Major League career in and has played for the Mariners, New...
put Fryman at third. The Indians now had the lead back and would score two more and tie the series at a game apiece.
Game 3
Friday, October 9, 1998 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
At Jacobs Field
Jacobs Field
Progressive Field is a ballpark located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and is the home of the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball and the American League. Along with Quicken Loans Arena, it is part of the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex...
for Game 3, the Yankees were rendered helpless by a barrage of Indian home runs and the dazzling pitching of young flamethrower Bartolo Colón
Bartolo Colón
Bartolo Colón is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He played in Major League Baseball from 1997 to 2009 and again in 2011...
. After the Yankees took the lead in the first on a Bernie Williams
Bernie Williams
Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and Puerto Rican musician.-Early life:...
RBI-single, the Indians took control of the game. Jim Thome led off the bottom of the second with a home run, then Enrique Wilson drove in a run to make it 2–1 Cleveland. Three more home runs in the fifth with two outs, including the second of the game by Thome, made it 6–1 Indians. The strong pitching of Colon silenced the Yankees' bats the rest of the way as the New York batters were held hitless from the fifth inning onwards. Colon would finish with a four-hit complete game victory, and the Indians took a 2–1 edge in the best-of-seven series.
Game 4
Saturday, October 10, 1998 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
The Yankees looked to Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez
Orlando Hernández
Orlando Hernández Pedroso , nicknamed "El Duque", is a former Cuban right-handed baseball pitcher....
for a clutch pitching performance. Hernandez had come to the Yankees shrouded in mystery, having defected
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
just ten months earlier. He was making his postseason debut with this start against former Yankee Dwight Gooden
Dwight Gooden
Dwight Eugene Gooden , nicknamed "Doc Gooden" or "Dr. K", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was one of the most dominant and feared pitchers in the National League in the middle and late 1980s.-Career:...
. Paul O'Neill gave Hernandez a run to work with by hitting a solo home run off Gooden in the top of the first. Hernandez responded by giving his team seven shutout innings. The Yankees added two more in the fourth and one more in the ninth to win Game 4 4–0.
Game 5
Sunday, October 11, 1998 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
Instead of pitching Jaret Wright in Game 5, Mike Hargrove
Mike Hargrove
Dudley Michael Hargrove is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. He is currently employed as an advisor with the Cleveland Indians....
looked to Chad Ogea
Chad Ogea
Chad Wayne Ogea is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He made his MLB debut in and played his final game in .-Professional playing career:...
, who had pitched well in the 1997 World Series
1997 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 18, 1997 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, FloridaThe first World Series game in the state of Florida, Game 1 featured a youngster and a veteran facing each other on the mound...
, to give his team a three games to two lead in the series. The Yankees once again took the early lead with a three-run first inning, but the Indians would respond. A leadoff homer by Kenny Lofton
Kenny Lofton
Kenneth Lofton is a former Major League Baseball outfielder known for his great speed on the base paths as well as in the field, award-winning defensive play , timely hitting, and playful spirit. He batted and threw left-handed...
and a sacrifice fly by Manny Ramírez made it a one-run game. Paul O'Neill singled home a run in the second to make it 4–2 Yankees. Chili Davis
Chili Davis
Charles Theodore "Chili" Davis is the hitting coach for the Oakland Athletics. Davis is a former outfielder/designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball with the San Francisco Giants , California Angels , Minnesota Twins , Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees...
homered in the fourth to put the Yankees ahead by three, but Jim Thome hit his third homer of the series in the bottom of the sixth to make it a two-run game. Wells and the Yankees' bullpen held off any further Indians scoring, and the Yankees were one win away from the World Series.
Game 6
Tuesday, October 13, 1998 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New YorkThe Yankees built a 6–0 lead behind David Cone in Game 6, but the Indians refused to go quietly. A bases-loaded walk and a grand slam by Jim Thome made it 6–5 in the fifth. But the Yankees would score three more on a Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
Derek Sanderson Jeter is an American baseball shortstop who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. A twelve-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, Jeter's clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning have made him a central...
triple and a Bernie Williams single to make it 9–5. Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...
sealed a World Series berth in the ninth with Omar Vizquel
Omar Vizquel
Omar Enrique Vizquel González , nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. Vizquel has played for the Seattle Mariners , the Cleveland Indians , the San Francisco Giants , the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox...
grounding out to end the ALCS, sending the Yankees to their second World Series in three seasons.
Composite box
1998 ALCS (4–2): New York YankeesNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
over Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...