The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians four games to two in the 1998 ALCS, clinching the pennant with a 9-5 win at Yankee Stadium on October 13, 1998. Cleveland took Games 2 and 3, El Duque's seven scoreless innings in Game 4 flipped the series, and David Wells won ALCS MVP.
The greatest team I've ever watched lost two games all October. Both of them came in this series. And one of them came down to a second baseman pointing at a foul line while a baseball rolled around behind him.
The Team That Beat Them Last Year
The 1998 Yankees won 114 games and swept Texas in the ALDS. None of that bought them any peace of mind against Cleveland.
Cleveland had knocked them out of the 1997 playoffs, thanks in large part to Sandy Alomar's homer off Mo in Game 4 of the ALDS. This year's Indians "only" won 89 games, but it won the AL Central by nine and came back from a Game 1 loss to beat Boston. Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, David Justice. That's not a lineup you sleepwalk through.
And the Yanks walked in shaken. Darryl Strawberry got a colon cancer diagnosis on October 1 and had surgery two days later. (Twenty-four homers in a part-time role, and now this. It didn't feel fair, because it wasn't.)
Game 1: Five Runs Before Anyone Sat Down
October 6, the Stadium. The Yankees opened the bottom of the first with four straight singles, and Jaret Wright -- the kid who'd beaten them the year before -- didn't make it out of the inning. Five runs. Jorge Posada added a solo homer in the sixth.
Wells went 8 1/3 innings and didn't allow a run until Manny's two-run shot in the ninth. Yankees 7, Indians 2. Easy. Too easy, honestly.
Game 2: The Play
David Cone and Cleveland's pitchers traded zeroes for most of the night. Justice homered in the fourth, the Yankees tied it in the seventh, and the thing dragged into the 12th inning at 1-1.
Thome led off the top of the 12th with a single off Jeff Nelson, and Enrique Wilson came in to run. Travis Fryman bunted up the first-base line. Tino Martinez fielded it and threw to Chuck Knoblauch, who was covering first. The throw hit Fryman in the back and rolled away.
And Knoblauch... didn't chase it. He stood on the bag and pointed, arguing that Fryman had run inside the line and should be out for interference. The ball was live. Wilson kept running. Wilson scored from first base.
Call it a brain cramp. Call it whatever you want. The umpires didn't call interference, and crew chief Jim Evans explained why, per the AP: "The fact that he was literally on the base or half a step from the base, he has the right to be in that position."
Kenny Lofton followed with a two-run single, Cleveland won 4-1, and the Stadium booed Knoblauch in his next at-bat. (The tabloids, as you'd expect, had a field day with his last name.) Was Fryman out of the lane? Maybe. Doesn't matter. You get the ball first and argue second.
To his credit, Knoblauch owned it the next day.
I screwed up the play, and I feel terrible about that.
Game 3: Thome Takes Over
Things got worse in Cleveland. Bartolo Colon threw a four-hit complete game, and the Indians took Andy Pettitte deep four times. Thome hit one in the second. Then in the fifth, Ramirez homered, and after a walk, Thome and Mark Whiten went back-to-back. Indians 6, Yankees 1.
Cleveland led the series 2-1. The 114-win team suddenly looked like a team that'd have to win three of four. (I remember the talk radio that weekend. It wasn't pretty.)
Game 4: El Duque Saves the Season
Joe Torre handed the ball to Orlando Hernandez for his first postseason start. Less than a year after leaving Cuba on a boat, El Duque walked into Jacobs Field with the season on the line and pitched like he was bored.
Paul O'Neill homered off Dwight Gooden -- yes, that Doc Gooden -- in the first inning, and that was all the Yankees needed. El Duque went seven innings: three hits, two walks, six strikeouts, zero runs. Mike Stanton and Mo finished it off. Yankees 4, Indians 0. Series tied.
That's the game. If you only remember one start from that October, make it this one.
Game 5: Boomer Versus Cleveland
The Jacobs Field crowd went after Wells before Game 5, and not about his pitching. Some of them made remarks about his mother, who'd died about 11 years earlier. Bad move.
Lofton led off with a homer and Cleveland scored twice in the first, but the Yanks had already put up three. Chili Davis drove in three runs, including a solo homer. Wells went 7 1/3 innings, struck out 11 (a personal postseason high), and allowed only a Thome solo shot the rest of the way. Mo got the last five outs. Yankees 5, Indians 3.
To all those idiots out there, this one's for you.
He also swirled his cap at the booing crowd on the way off. Boomer was never going to take the high road when the low road was right there.
Game 6: Brosius, Then Survive
October 13, back in the Bronx. The Yankees scored two in the first and one in the second, and Scott Brosius hit a three-run homer in the third. 6-0.
Then Cleveland scored five in the fifth, capped by a Thome grand slam off Cone, his fourth homer of the series. 6-5, and the whole Stadium held its breath.
Jeter answered with a two-run triple in the sixth, and Bernie singled him home. Ramiro Mendoza threw three scoreless innings, Mo set down the side in the ninth, and the Yankees had pennant No. 35. Torre, per the AP, dedicated it to his missing slugger: "Darryl, this is yours. You pushed us."
What It Meant
Wells won MVP after going 2-0 with 18 strikeouts, and it's hard to argue. But the series turned on El Duque in Game 4, and I'll die on that hill.
Knoblauch got his redemption ten days later, too. His three-run homer tied Game 1 of the World Series against the Padres before Tino's grand slam. Baseball has a sense of humor like that.
The 125-win team gets remembered as an unstoppable machine. It was. But for one weekend in Cleveland, it needed a Cuban rookie who'd never thrown a postseason pitch to keep the machine running.
| Series Result | Yankees 4, Indians 2 |
| Game 1 (Oct. 6, New York) | Yankees 7, Indians 2 |
| Game 2 (Oct. 7, New York) | Indians 4, Yankees 1 (12 inn.) |
| Game 3 (Oct. 9, Cleveland) | Indians 6, Yankees 1 |
| Game 4 (Oct. 10, Cleveland) | Yankees 4, Indians 0 |
| Game 5 (Oct. 11, Cleveland) | Yankees 5, Indians 3 |
| Game 6 (Oct. 13, New York) | Yankees 9, Indians 5 |
| ALCS MVP | David Wells: 2-0, 18 K |
| El Duque, Game 4 | 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K |
| Jim Thome, Series | 4 HR, 8 RBI |
| Pennant | 35th in franchise history |
Game 1: Five in the First
The Yankees score five runs in the first inning, Posada homers and Wells goes 8 1/3 innings in a 7-2 win at Yankee Stadium.
Game 2: Knoblauch Argues, Wilson Scores
With the score tied 1-1 in the 12th, Knoblauch argues for interference while Enrique Wilson scores from first. Lofton's two-run single seals a 4-1 Cleveland win.
Game 3: Colon and the Home Run Barrage
Bartolo Colon throws a four-hitter and Cleveland homers four times off Pettitte, including two by Thome, in a 6-1 win for a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4: El Duque Evens It
Orlando Hernandez throws seven scoreless innings in his first postseason start and O'Neill homers off Gooden in a 4-0 win.
Game 5: Wells Answers the Crowd
Wells strikes out 11 in 7 1/3 innings, Chili Davis drives in three and Rivera saves a 5-3 win.
Game 6: Pennant No. 35
Brosius' three-run homer builds a 6-0 lead, Thome's grand slam cuts it to 6-5, and Jeter's two-run triple helps put it away, 9-5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 1998 ALCS between the Yankees and Indians?
The Yankees won four games to two. Cleveland won Games 2 and 3 to take a 2-1 lead, then the Yankees won Games 4, 5 and 6, clinching with a 9-5 win at Yankee Stadium on October 13, 1998.
Who was the MVP of the 1998 ALCS?
David Wells. He won Game 1 (8 1/3 innings) and Game 5 (7 1/3 innings, 11 strikeouts), finishing the series 2-0 with 18 strikeouts.
What did Chuck Knoblauch do in Game 2 of the 1998 ALCS?
In the 12th inning of a 1-1 game, Travis Fryman bunted and Tino Martinez's throw to Knoblauch at first hit Fryman and rolled away. Instead of chasing the ball, Knoblauch argued for an interference call, and pinch-runner Enrique Wilson scored from first. Cleveland won 4-1, and Knoblauch apologized the next day.
How did Orlando Hernandez pitch in Game 4 of the 1998 ALCS?
In his first postseason start, with the Yankees down 2-1 in the series, El Duque threw seven scoreless innings at Jacobs Field, allowing three hits with two walks and six strikeouts. The Yankees won 4-0 to tie the series.