Golden pitch: Difference between revisions

A golden pitch refers to a pitch in a baseball game in which the outcome of the pitch could produce a World Series championship for either team.

As of the end of the 2025 baseball season, only 49 “golden pitches” have been thrown, by nine pitchers to 15 batters in the 1912, 1926, 1962, 1972, 1997, 2001, 2014, 2016 and 2025 World Series.^[1]

The term was coined by Wade Kapszukiewicz, a politician from Toledo, Ohio (as of 2025 the city’s mayor), who introduced the concept in an article for the Spring 2016 edition of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) Baseball Research Journal.^[1] By definition, a golden pitch can only be thrown in Game 7 of the World Series and only in the bottom of the ninth inning or later, when the road team has the lead.

The most recent golden pitches occurred in the 2025 World Series when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw seven against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th inning of Game 7. After the Dodgers had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the 11th on a home run by Will Smith, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the bottom of the 11th with a double. After he advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the teams entered a “golden pitch” situation by which either team could win on the next pitch. The next batter, Addison Barger, reached base on a four-pitch walk. Then Alejandro Kirk stepped to the plate. He hit a foul ball and took a strike for an 0-2 count. On the third pitch of his at-bat, Kirk hit a broken-bat ground ball to Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, who touched second base and threw to first baseman Freddie Freeman to complete the double play and clinch the Dodgers’ ninth world championship.^[2]

¹The golden pitches in the 1912 World Series occurred in Game 8. Game 2 of the series ended in a tie.