When baseball fans think back to the 1993 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies, the first thing that comes to mind is almost certainly Joe Carter’s legendary series-ending, walk-off home run in Game 6.
Yet aside from Carter’s theatrics, Game 4 of the series may be the lasting memory from that October. Game 4 was iconic, as Toronto defeated Philadelphia 15-14 after a furious eighth-inning rally in what remains the highest-scoring World Series game in MLB history.
The victory gave the Blue Jays a commanding 3-1 series lead, and they eventually went on to claim their second consecutive championship. Here are 12 telling stats from the game to get you ready to relive the magic tonight on Sportsnet at 6:00 p.m. ET.
0 – If a team scores 15 runs in a game, there’s a very good chance at least some came via the long ball. Yet that wasn’t the case in this game as the Blue Jays did not hit any home runs. The Phillies knocked three out of the park, including two by lead-off man Lenny Dykstra.
2 – Playing under National League rules, the Blue Jays allowed relief pitchers to bat for themselves on two occasions. The second occurrence was particularly telling, as Cito Gaston elected not to lift Tony Castillo for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning trailing by four runs. It seemed Gaston was content to conserve his bullpen for future games. That plan would of course change just an inning later.
4 – Blue Jays starter Todd Stottlemyre was staked to a 3-0 lead before he even took the mound. He immediately coughed up that advantage, issuing a whopping four walks in the first inning, including three in a row. All four Phillies who reached base on free passes came around to score. Stottlemyre was eventually given the hook after surrendering six runs in two innings of work.
5 – Tony Fernandez led the charge for the Blue Jays with five RBIs. Devon White delivered the decisive blow, but Toronto does not win Game 4 without Fernandez’s contributions.
6 – Trailing 14-9 in the top of the eighth, the Blue Jays miraculously rallied for six runs in the frame to take the lead for good.
10 – Dykstra was a headache for Blue Jays pitchers all night, registering 10 total bases on two home runs and a double. He chipped in a walk and a steal for good measure.
29 – Game 4 set a record for most runs scored in a World Series game with 29. That mark still stands today.
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32 – The teams combined for 32 hits on the evening, with Fernandez, White and Carter leading the way for the Blue Jays with three apiece. Dykstra, Mariano Duncan and Milt Thompson countered with three each for the Phillies.
.434 – The Blue Jays were clutch with runners in scoring position, hitting .434 in those scenarios. All told they went 10-for-23 while the Phillies were 4-for-14. None of those knocks were bigger than White’s two-out, two-run triple in the eighth to cap the comeback.
99% – With their 14-9 lead in the top of the eighth, the Phillies were 99 per cent favourites to win the game, per Baseball Reference. Relievers Larry Andersen and Mitch Williams went on to squander the advantage, with Toronto holding a 70 per cent chance of victory once the bottom half of the eighth rolled around.
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254 – Even without extra innings, Game 4 lasted 254 minutes (four hours and fourteen minutes), which set a record for the longest game in World Series history at the time. That mark has since been broken several times and now stands at 440 minutes (seven hours and 20 minutes) thanks to the 18-inning marathon between the Dodgers and Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 Fall Classic.
62,731 – The Blue Jays’ epic comeback left 62,731 Phillies fans stunned at Veterans Stadium. Over 24.5 million Americans watched the drama unfold on television. Philadelphia sports fans still have nightmares about the collapse to this day.
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