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ESPN
Dec 30, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Whether you love postseason thrillers or incredible individual performances, 2025 delivered something for every type of baseball fan.
As the year comes to the end, 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 concluded with arguably the most epic World Series finale in the history of the sport, we had to come up with one rule to spread out the selections -- each game could only be chosen once.
From the top games of that dramatic Fall Classic to amazing regular-season achievements, here are the best moments from one of the best years in MLB history.
Nov. 1: World Series Game 7 -- The greatest game ever played
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've never seen a championship hang in the balance so many times in a single night. Using championship win probability added (cWPA), nine plays swung the World Series by at least 15% -- two more than the previous record of seven during Game 7 in 1924.
By that measure, we witnessed three of the 12 most pivotal plays in baseball history (Alejandro Kirk's double play to end the game, Will Smith's game-winning home run, Miguel Rojas' tying home run). You could watch every game played for the next 100 years and never see another one like it. -- Paul Hembekides
Oct. 27: World Series Game 3 -- An 18-inning marathon
My scoresheet from the game was an unmitigated disaster. The game itself -- comprising 18 innings, 609 pitches and 399 minutes -- was a beautiful mess, an encapsulation of how wonderful and unique this sport can be.
This was the night that marked Clayton Kershaw's final appearance -- in the 12th inning, when a sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd held its collective breath as he stranded the bases loaded. A night that was oh-so-close to being decided by Miguel Rojas, the veteran infielder, toeing the rubber to pitch. A night that ultimately ended on a Freddie Freeman walk-off homer, 12 months and three days after he had done his best Kirk Gibson impersonation to open the 2024 World Series. A night that featured a multitude of amazing defensive plays that kept this game scoreless for 10 consecutive innings after the Dodgers had 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, previously unknown reliever named Will Klein, who was added to the Dodgers' roster as an emergency fill-in for Alex Vesia and continually pushed himself to keep going, with nobody left behind him. It was the type of night only baseball could provide. -- Alden Gonzalez
Oct. 20: ALCS Game 7 -- Springer's pennant-winning blast
In most other years, Game 7 of the American League Championship Series would find itself atop the list of best games in October. And though the 2025 World Series ensured that wasn't the case, it would be foolish to sleep on the rollicking affair to decide the AL pennant.
The Seattle Mariners were eight outs from their first World Series appearance when manager Dan Wilson resolved to stick with reliever Eduard Bazardo instead of calling on closer Andres Munoz to escape a seventh-inning jam. George Springer walloped a middle-middle sinker from Bazardo into the left-field stands for a three-run home run to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead. And despite earlier home runs from Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh, the Mariners couldn't muster a comeback and were left wondering what could've been. -- Jeff Passan
Oct. 17: NLCS Game 4 -- The Ohtani Game
How can you go wrong with a historic performance by the game's current best player -- if not among the best all time? Shohei Ohtani became the first player to hit three home runs while also striking out 10 hitters as a pitcher, leading his Dodgers back to what would ultimately be their second straight World Series championship.
Fantasy baseball scoring can give us perspective on how great the performance was: Ohtani's game would've been worth 44 fantasy points using both his hitting and pitching. That's the most by anyone in a playoff game. It's also 11 more than Nick Kurtz's four-homer game or Ohtani's own 6-for-6, three-homer, two-steals 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 pre-1975 games in which pitchers loaded up on points by pitching into extra innings. -- Tristan Cockcroft
Sept. 20: The win that made Mariners fans believe
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 bit earlier: Victor Robles' game-saving, diving catch and double play in a crucial late-season win in Houston.
The situation: The Mariners were up one 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 little blooper to right-center field. It was clear Julio Rodriguez wasn't going to get there, 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 flying in like Superman to make a spectacular play and doubled the runner off second base. The Mariners beat the Astros the next day as well to sweep the series, part of an incredible stretch of 17 wins in 18 games. The mighty Astros were vanquished. The AL West title belonged to Seattle for the first time since 2001. With one catch, everything -- including a World Series dream -- seemed possible. -- David Schoenfield
Aug. 28: Schwarber's four-homer game
What's amazing about Kyle Schwarber's four-home run, nine-RBI performance against the Atlanta Braves, other than the fact the feat has been achieved by only 20 other players, was that he entered the day hitless in his previous 20 at-bats. He was slumping, and the Phillies had just been swept by the rival Mets.
Then, suddenly, Schwarber wasn't slumping, taking Cal Quantrill, Austin Cox (twice) and Wander Suero deep, and he even had a chance at MLB's first five-HR game in the eighth inning against infielder Vidal Brujan. He popped up. The Phillies won 15 of 19 games to easily win the NL East, and Schwarber hit 56 home runs for the season. -- Eric Karabell
July 25: Kurtz's four-home run game
Sometimes, it's not a game but a performance that lingers 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 over after Kurtz hit his third homer. I still have tingles from seeing No. 4 leave the yard. That the moment was produced by a 22-year-old in his 66th career game made it all the more stupendous. This is why we watch. -- Bradford Doolittle
July 20: Skubal being Skubal (Part I)
Tarik Skubal's start against the Texas Rangers was typical of his work in recent years: no walks and 11 strikeouts over 6⅔ innings, just one run allowed. But what stood out in that Sunday night game was how much fun he had in laughing at his own inability to get out Corey Seager, who is 8-for-12 against him.
Seager blistered a double and single and then lined out, and at one point, Skubal raised his arms as if to ask: What do I have to do to get this guy out? He has had similar moments in 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 in the same in-game soup. -- Buster Olney
July 15: An All-Star finish like no other
Leagues across the board have struggled to keep their All-Star games relevant over the years with players declining to participate and effort levels questioned. MLB arguably has the best one of the major leagues, but it struck gold in Atlanta this summer with an unprecedented swing-off that generated drama rarely seen in these exhibitions anymore.
Kyle Schwarber's performance -- three home runs on three swings capped off by a blast in which he landed on one knee to give the National League the victory -- will be remembered as one of the great moments in All-Star Game history.
Fans loved the theater. Players loved the competition. It made for great entertainment, and that's the point. -- Jorge Castillo
May 25: Skubal being Skubal (Part II)
The last pitch, Tarik Skubal's 94th in a complete-game shutout against the Guardians on May 25, was the only one you needed to see. It covered the 60 feet, 6 inches at 102.6 mph, the fastest strikeout pitch recorded by a starter since they started recording such things in 2008. It was his 13th strikeout of the game, the most ever in what is known as a Maddux: a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches.
When it was over, Skubal stood out there smiling and pounding his fist into his glove. In that moment, his face bore the same look as every one of us who watched: amazement. -- Tim Keown
May 23: 'PCA! PCA!'
Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was already making a name for himself, having hit 12 home runs while swiping 14 bases in the first 50 games of the season. But on May 23, he would solidify himself nationwide as "PCA," the nickname which would follow him throughout an All-Star, breakout season.
On that day, Crow-Armstrong crushed two home runs against the Cincinnati Reds, including a seventh-inning go-ahead grand slam in a wild 13-6 comeback win. His first came off starter Hunter Greene with a man on in the fourth inning, cutting a 4-0 deficit in half. But it was his latter blast, off reliever Tony Santillan, that gave the Chicago its first lead and sent Cubs fans into a frenzy. From down 6-4 to up 8-6, thanks to 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
