| | How important is winning Game 1 of a seven-game series? ESPN.com looked at the opening game of all best-of-7 series this decade (there have been 26 of them). Here are some things we discovered:
The team that wins Game 1 has won the series 19 of 26 times.
The team with home-field advantage in Game 1 has won 18 of 26 series.
The team with the best record during the regular season has gone 14-11 (one series had the same records).
If the home team wins Game 1 (which has happened 18 times), they have proceeded to win 14 series.
How important is the quality of the starting pitcher for Game 1? Perhaps not as important as you may think:
The team whose starting pitcher had the better ERA has gone 15-11 in opening games.
The team whose starting pitcher had the better ERA has won the series 13 of 26 times.
The biggest mismatch in a Game 1? In terms of ERA, it was the 1995 World Series opener between the Braves and Indians. Atlanta started Maddux (1.63 ERA) while Cleveland started Orel Herhiser (3.87) -- a difference of 2.24 runs. Herhiser pitched well, but Maddux pitched better and the Braves won 3-2.
But that's not really fair, because Maddux had such a microscopic ERA that year. The biggest mismatch of the decade probably came in Game 1 of the 1995 ALCS. The Indians started Dennis Martinez, who had a fine 3.05 ERA. The Mariners countered with Bob Wolcott, a rookie with a 3-2 record and 4.45 ERA in six career starts.
Wolcott won 3-2. The Mariners had home-field advantage. The Indians won the series anyway.
Two final notes. Most opening games are low scoring. Of the 52 team games of the decade, only nine times has a scored more than five runs. Also, of the 26 series, there have been only five that have gone the full seven games (there have been four sweeps, two five-gamers and 13 six-gamers).
Here is the complete list of Game 1's from the '90s. The chart includes series, visiting team and home team (the best regular-season record is indicated with an asterisk), score of the game and how the team that won Game 1 eventually fared in the series.
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GAME 1 RESULTS THIS DECADE
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Year
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Visitor (Pitcher)
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Home (Pitcher)
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Score
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Series
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'99 AL
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Red Sox (Mercker, 8-5, 4.70)
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Yankees* (Hernandez, 17-9, 4.12)
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NY 4, Bos 3
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4-1
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'99 NL
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Mets (Yoshii, 12-8, 4.40)
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Braves* (Maddux, 19-9, 3.57)
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Atl 4, NY 2
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4-2
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'98 WS
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Padres (Brown, 18-7, 2.38)
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Yankees* (Wells, 18-4, 3.49)
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NY 9, SD 6
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4-0
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'98 AL
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Indians (Wright, 12-10, 4.72)
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Yankees* (Wells, 18-4, 3.49)
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NY 7, Cle 2
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4-2
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'98 NL
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Padres (Ashby, 17-9, 3.34)
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Braves* (Smoltz, 17-3, 2.90)
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SD 3, Atl 2
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4-2
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'97 WS
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Indians (Hershiser, 14-6,4.47)
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Marlins* (Hernandez, 9-3, 3.18)
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Fla 7, Cle 4
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4-3
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'97 AL
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Indians (Ogea, 8-9, 4.99)
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Orioles* (Erickson, 16-7, 3.69)
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Bal 3, Cle 0
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2-4
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'97 NL
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Marlins (Brown, 16-8, 2.69)
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Braves* (Maddux, 19-4, 2.20)
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Fla 5, Atl 3
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4-2
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'96 WS
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Braves* (Smoltz, 24-8, 2.94)
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Yankees (Pettitte, 21-8, 3.87)
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Atl 12, NY 1
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2-4
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'96 AL
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Orioles (Erickson, 13-12, 5.02)
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Yankees* (Pettitte, 21-8, 3.87)
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NY 5, Bal 4
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4-1
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'96 NL
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Cardinals (An.Benes, 18-10, 3.83)
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Braves* (Smoltz, 24-8, 2.94)
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Atl 4, StL 2
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4-3
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'95 WS
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Indians* (Hershiser, 16-6, 3.87)
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Braves (Maddux, 19-2, 1.63)
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Atl 3, Cle 2
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4-2
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'95 AL
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Indians* (Martinez, 12-5, 3.05)
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Mariners (Wolcott, 3-2, 4.42)
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Sea 3, Cle 2
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2-4
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'95 NL
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Braves* (Glavine, 16-7, 3.08)
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Reds (Schourek, 18-7, 3.22)
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Atl 2, Cin 1
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4-0
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'93 WS
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Phillies* (Schilling, 16-7, 4.02)
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Blue Jays (Guzman, 14-3, 3.99)
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Tor 8, Phi 5
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4-2
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'93 AL
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Blue Jays* (Guzman, 14-3, 3.99)
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White Sox (McDowell, 22-10, 3.37)
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Tor 7, Chi 3
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4-2
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'93NL
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Braves* (Avery, 18-6, 2.94)
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Phillies (Schilling, 16-7, 4.02)
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Phi 4, Atl 3
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4-2
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'92 WS
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Blue Jays (Morris, 21-6, 4.04)
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Braves* (Glavine, 20-8, 2.76)
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Atl 3, Tor 1
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2-4
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'92 AL
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A's* (Stewart, 12-10, 3.66)
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Blue Jays* (Morris, 21-6, 4.04)
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Oak 4, Tor 3
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2-4
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'92 NL
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Pirates (Drabek, 15-11, 2.77)
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Braves* (Smoltz, 15-12, 2.85)
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Atl 5, Pit 1
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4-3
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'91 WS
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Braves (Leibrandt, 15-13, 3.49)
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Twins* (Morris, 18-12, 3.43)
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Min 5, Atl 2
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4-3
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'91 AL
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Blue Jays (Candiotti, 13-13, 2.65)
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Twins* (Morris, 18-12, 3.43)
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Min 5, Tor 4
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4-1
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'91 NL
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Braves (Glavine, 20-11, 2.55)
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Pirates* (Drabek, 15-14, 3.07)
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Pit 5, Atl 1
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3-4
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'90 WS
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A's* (Stewart, 22-11, 2.56)
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Reds (Rijo, 14-8, 2.70)
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Cin 7, Oak 0
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4-0
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'90 AL
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A's* (Stewart, 22-11, 2.56)
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Red Sox (Clemens, 21-6, 1.93)
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Oak 9, Bos 1
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4-0
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'90 NL
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Pirates* (Walk, 7-5, 3.75)
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Reds (Rijo, 14-8, 2.70)
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Pit 4, Cin 3
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2-4
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ALSO SEE
ESPN.com's World Series coverage
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