The 1973 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1973 season. The winners of each division advance to the postseason and face each other in a League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles returned to the postseason for the fourth time in the past five seasons, and the Oakland Athletics made their third straight appearance.
In the National League, the Cincinnati Reds returned for the third time in the past four seasons, and the New York Mets returned for the second time in the past five seasons. This was the Metsâ last postseason appearance until 1986.
The playoffs began on October 6, 1973, and concluded on October 21, 1973, with the Athletics defeating the Mets in seven games in the 1973 World Series. The Athletics repeated as World Series champions.
The following teams qualified for the postseason:
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This was the second postseason meeting between the Orioles and Athletics. They previously met in the ALCS in 1971, which the Orioles won in a sweep before falling in the World Series. This time, the Athletics returned the favor, defeating the Orioles in five games to advance to the World Series for the second year in a row (in the process denying a rematch of the 1969 World Series between the Mets and Orioles).
Jim Palmer pitched a five-hit complete-game shutout as the Orioles took Game 1. Rollie Fingers helped secure Game 2 for the Athletics by holding off a potential rally by the O's. In Oakland, the Athletics prevailed in an ugly extra-inning Game 3 as Bert Campaneris hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eleventh. In Game 4, the Orioles came back from a 4âÂÂ0 deficit late to force a fifth game. However, Catfish Hunter pitched a five-hit complete-game shutout as the Athletics won 3âÂÂ0 to secure the pennant.
Both teams would meet one more time in the ALCS the next year, which the Athletics won in four games en route to completing a World Series three-peat.
The Orioles would eventually win the pennant again in 1979 over the California Angels in four games before falling in the World Series.
This was the only NLCS between 1970 and 1980 to not feature either team from Pennsylvania.
In one of the most shocking upsets in MLB history, the 82-win Mets defeated the defending National League champions, the 99-win Reds, in five games to advance to the World Series for the second time in five years.
The Reds narrowly took Game 1 thanks to a walk-off home run from catcher Johnny Bench. In Game 2, Jon Matlack pitched a two-hit complete game shutout as the Mets won 5âÂÂ0 to even the series headed to Queens. Game 3 was marred by a fight that broke out in the fifth inning, beginning with a tussle between Cincinnati's Pete Rose and New York's Bud Harrelson at second base. Players from both sides joined in a brawl that lasted for several minutes and set off rowdy fan behavior at Shea Stadium. Photographs of the fight, autographed by Rose and Harrelson, are now available at a number of Internet sites. The Mets blew out the Reds in Game 3 to take a 2âÂÂ1 series lead. The Reds prevailed in a long and frustrating Game 4, thanks to a solo home run from Rose in the top of the twelfth. In Game 5, the Mets blew out the Reds again to clinch the pennant, completing a massive upset. The 1973 Mets' 82-wins remains the lowest of any pennant winner in MLB history.
The Reds would return to the NLCS in 1975, and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates en route to a World Series title.
In 2023, the Metsâ upset of the Reds in the 1973 NLCS was ranked as the fifth biggest upset in postseason history by MLB.com. The Mets would win their next pennant in 1986 over the Houston Astros in six games en route to a World Series title.
This was the third New YorkâÂÂCalifornia matchup in the World Series (1962, 1963). The Athletics defeated the Mets in seven games to win their second straight World Series title and seventh overall.
Game 1 was a pitchers' duel between Oakland's Ken Holtzman and New York's Jon Matlack, which was won by the former as the Athletics prevailed by a 2âÂÂ1 score. Game 2 was an offensive slugfest which went into extra innings - the game remained tied at six until the top of the twelfth, when the Mets put up four runs to take the lead for good. The Athletics put up one more run in the bottom of the twelfth, but could manage no more as George Stone earned a save and helped the Mets even the series headed home to Queens. Game 3 would be another extra-innings contest, but this time the Athletics would prevail as Bert Campaneris scored Ted Kubiak with a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the eleventh. Game 3 was Willie Maysâ final postseason game. In Game 4, the Mets jumped out to a big lead early and did not relinquish it, as Matlack held the Athletics' offense to just one run scored after eight innings, evening the series at two games each. Jerry Koosman and Tug McGraw helped the Mets shutout the Athletics in Game 5 to take a 3âÂÂ2 series lead headed back to Oakland, now one win away from pulling off an even bigger upset than what they accomplished in 1969. However, their lead would not hold. Catfish Hunter outdueled the Mets' Tom Seaver as the Athletics won Game 6 by a 3âÂÂ1 score, forcing a seventh game. Game 7 was yet another pitcher's duel between Holtzman and Matlack, who were both on three-days rest, and once again Holtzman prevailed as he and closer Darold Knowles helped the Athletics win by a 5âÂÂ2 score to repeat as World Series champions.
This was the second of four championships the Athletics won during their time in Oakland. The Athletics would successfully pull off a three-peat the next year, defeating their cross-state rivals in the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
The Mets would return to the World Series in 1986, and defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven games after being a strike away from elimination twice in Game 6.
NBC televised all postseason games nationally in the United States. Each team's local broadcaster also televised coverage of LCS games.