Whether you like playoff thrillers or incredible individual performances, 2025 offered something for every type of baseball fan.
As the year comes to a close, we asked our MLB experts to pick the one game from any point in the season that they’ll remember forever. Of course, in a year that ended with the most epic World Series finale in the history of the sport, we had to come up with a rule to divvy up the picks: Each game could only be picked once.
From the best games of this spectacular Fall Classic to the incredible accomplishments of the regular season, here are the best moments from one of the best years in MLB history.
None of the 51 million people who watched Game 7 of the World Series will ever forget it as long as they live. And objectively, we have never seen a championship played so many times in a single evening. Using championship-added win probability (cWPA), nine games have tipped the World Series by at least 15%, two more than the previous record of seven in Game 7 in 1924.
By that measure, we witnessed three of the 12 most pivotal plays in baseball history (Alejandro Kirk’s game-ending double play, Will Smith’s game-winning home run, Miguel Rojas’ game-tying home run). You could watch every game played over the next 100 years and never see another one like this. –Paul Hembekides
My scoresheet for the match was a total disaster. The game itself – comprising 18 innings, 609 pitches and 399 minutes – was a beautiful mess, a encapsulation of the wonder and uniqueness of the sport.
It was the night that marked Clayton Kershaw’s final appearance — in the 12th inning, when a sold-out crowd at Dodger Stadium held its collective breath as he stranded the bases loaded. A night that was so close to being decided by Miguel Rojas, the veteran infielder, heading out to throw. A night that finally ended with a Freddie Freeman homer, 12 months and three days after he did his best Kirk Gibson impersonation to open the 2024 World Series. A night that was highlighted by a multitude of incredible defensive plays that kept this game scoreless for 10 straight innings after the Dodgers tied it 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh.
And, ultimately, it was a night best remembered for the 12 outs recorded by a journeyman, a previously unknown reliever named Will Klein, who was added to the Dodgers roster as an emergency replacement for Alex Vesia and continually pushed himself to keep going, with no one left behind. It was the kind of night only baseball could provide. – Alden Gonzalez
In most other years, Game 7 of the American League Championship Series would top the list of best October games. And even if the 2025 World Series ensured that wasn’t the case, it would be foolish to sleep on the exciting affair to decide the AL pennant.
The Seattle Mariners were eight outs away from their first World Series appearance when manager Dan Wilson decided to stick with reliever Eduard Bazardo instead of calling on closer Andres Munoz to escape a seventh-inning jam. George Springer hit a Bazardo sinker into the left field stands for a three-run homer to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. And despite early homers from Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh, the Mariners failed to come back and were left wondering what could have been. –Jeff Passan
How can you go wrong with a historic performance from the game’s best current player – if not among the best of all time? Shohei Ohtani became the first player to hit three home runs while striking out 10 batters as a pitcher, leading his Dodgers to what would ultimately be their second consecutive World Series championship.
Fantasy Baseball scores can give us an idea of the quality of the performance: Ohtani’s game would have been worth 44 Fantasy points using both his hitting and pitching. This is the most players in a playoff game. That’s also 11 more than Nick Kurtz’s four-homer game or Ohtani’s own 6-for-6, three-homer, two-steal game in 2024. The only games worth more were Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game in 1998 (48), Max Scherzer’s 2015 no-hitter against the New York Mets (46) and games before 1975 in which pitchers charged runs by throwing extra innings. -Tristan Cockcroft
Yes, we could have gone with Cal Raleigh’s 60th home run or Eugenio Suarez’s grand slam in Game 5 of the ALCS that eliminated the Detroit Tigers, but the play of the season for the Mariners came a little earlier: Victor Robles’ save, dive and double play in a crucial late-season win at Houston.
The situation: The Mariners were up a game in the standings with eight to play and led the Astros 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth, but the Astros had loaded the bases with one out. Carlos Correa hit a short blooper to right center. It was clear that Julio Rodriguez wouldn’t make it, the score would be tied, the Astros would win, the division would be tied – and the Astros would undoubtedly win the next day and then take the division.
Out of nowhere, Robles came like Superman to make a spectacular play and doubled the runner on second base. The Mariners also beat the Astros the next day to sweep the series, part of an incredible streak of 17 wins in 18 games. The mighty Astros were defeated. The AL West title belonged to Seattle for the first time since 2001. With just one catch, anything – including a World Series dream – seemed possible. –David Schoenfield
What’s amazing about Kyle Schwarber’s four-homer, nine-RBI performance against the Atlanta Braves, aside from the fact that the feat has only been accomplished by 20 other players, is that he entered the day hitless in his previous 20 at-bats. It was falling apart and the Phillies had just been swept by their rival Mets.
Then, suddenly, Schwarber didn’t collapse, taking Cal Quantrill, Austin Cox (twice), and Wander Suero deep, and he even had a chance in MLB’s five-hour opener in the eighth inning against infielder Vidal Brujan. It appeared. The Phillies won 15 of 19 games to easily win the NL East, and Schwarber hit 56 home runs for the season. — Eric Karabell
Sometimes it’s not a game but a performance that sticks in the mind. The four words – “The Nick Kurtz Game” – are going to be understood by baseball fans without any additional context for a very long time. Like “the Mark Whiten game” or “the Kerry Wood game”.
I was watching a different game that night, but switched modes after Kurtz hit his third home run. I still get chills seeing No. 4 leave the site. The fact that this moment came from a 22-year-old in his 66th career game made it even more awesome. That’s why we’re watching. -Bradford Doolittle
Tarik Skubal’s start against the Texas Rangers was typical of his work in recent years: no walks and 11 strikeouts in 6⅔ innings, only one run allowed. But what stood out from that Sunday night match was how much fun he had laughing at his own inability to knock out Corey Seager, who is 8-for-12 against him.
Seager hit a double and a single, then lined out, and at one point Skubal raised his arms as if to ask: What should I do to get this guy out? He had similar moments during his career with Salvador Perez, Aaron Judge and other great players. I can’t think of another example of a star pitcher who so consistently mixes total dominance and constant self-deprecation into the same in-game soup. -Buster Olney
Leagues at all levels have struggled to keep their All-Star games relevant over the years, with players refusing to participate and effort levels questioned. MLB arguably has the best of the major leagues, but it struck gold in Atlanta this summer with an unprecedented swing that generated drama rarely seen in these exhibitions.
Kyle Schwarber’s performance – three homers in three swings capped by a blast in which he landed on one knee to give the National League victory – will be remembered as one of the great moments in All-Star Game history.
The fans loved the theater. The players loved the competition. It was excellent entertainment, and that’s the point. — Jorge Castillo
The last throw, the 94 by Tarik Skubalth in a complete shutout against the Guardians on May 25, it was the only one you had to see. It covered 60 feet, 6 inches at 102.6 mph, the fastest at-bat pitch recorded by a starter since they started recording such things in 2008. It was his 13th strikeout in the game, the most ever in what is called a Maddux: a complete game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches.
When it was over, Skubal stood there, smiling and shoving his fist into his glove. At that moment, his face wore the same look as those of all of us watching: astonishment. -Tim Keown
Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was already making a name for himself, hitting 12 homers while swiping 14 bases in the first 50 games of the season. But on May 23, he would solidify himself nationally as “PCA,” the nickname that would follow him through a breakout All-Star season.
That day, Crow-Armstrong crushed two home runs against the Cincinnati Reds, including a seventh-inning grand slam in a wild 13-6 victory. His first came from starter Hunter Greene with a man in the fourth inning, cutting a 4-0 deficit in half. But it was his final pitch, against reliever Tony Santillan, that gave Chicago its first lead and sent Cubs fans into a frenzy. From 6-4 to 8-6, thanks to the PCA. The Cubs never looked back – as Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-5 with six RBIs and cemented his star status in the game. -Jesse Rogers
