1997 World Series

Game 1

The first World Series game in the state of Florida, Game 1 featured a youngster and a veteran facing each other on the mound. Fresh off his NLCS MVP performance, Liván Hernández took the hill for the Marlins and quickly gave up a run in the first thanks to a double by leadoff man Bip Roberts and an RBI single by David Justice. Indian starter Orel Hershiser got by the first two innings unscathed. However, after the Marlins tied the game in the third on Edgar Renteria's RBI groundout with two on, they scored four runs in the fourth. Moisés Alou's three-run home run off the left field foul pole) put the Marlins up 4–1 and Charles Johnson followed with a home run to make it 5–1. After Manny Ramírez's home run in the fifth cut the lead to 5–2, Hershiser allowed a one-out walk and single in the bottom of the inning before Jeff Conine's RBI single made it 6–2 Marlins. Jeff Juden relieved Hershiser and after a force-out at second, threw a ball four wild pitch that let Bobby Bonilla score from third. Jim Thome's home run cut the lead to 7–3 in the sixth, then the Indians got another run in the eighth off of Jay Powell when Marquis Grissom walked with two outs and scored on Brian Giles's double, but Florida closer Robb Nen came in the ninth and got out of a jam by striking out Sandy Alomar Jr. and Thome with two men aboard.

Game 2

Game 2 matched up Florida ace Kevin Brown against little known Chad Ogea, who had lost two games in the ALCS. Both teams scored in the first, thanks to RBI singles by David Justice for the Indians after Omar Vizquel doubled with one out and Jeff Conine for the Marlins with two on. Ogea barely escaped further damage when Moisés Alou got under a hanging curveball, but merely flied out to the warning track, missing his second three-run homer in as many nights by inches. After that, Ogea settled in and did not allow any more runs. Brown pitched well until the fifth when the Indians took the lead by stringing together three singles by Matt Williams, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Marquis Grissom. Later in the inning, with runners on the second and third, Bip Roberts drove in a pair of runs with a single up the middle giving the Tribe a 4–1 lead. The three-run lead ballooned to five when Alomar hit a laser into the left field stands for a two-run home run in the sixth. The Indians' 6–1 win tied the series heading to Cleveland.

Game 3

Game 3 was a wild affair that ended with the Marlins grabbing a 2–1 series lead. Charles Nagy of the Indians faced Al Leiter of the Marlins. In the top of the first, Gary Sheffield started the scoring with a home run to left. In the bottom half, the Indians retaliated with two runs thanks to two broken bat RBI singles by Matt Williams and Sandy Alomar Jr.. A bases loaded walk to Sheffield tied the game in the third, before Florida took a 3–2 lead in the fourth on Darren Daulton's home run. However, the Indians got a gift in the bottom of the fourth, when they drew four free passes, then a throwing error by third baseman Bobby Bonilla on Manny Ramírez's single allowed two more runs to score. The Tribe went up 7–3 on Jim Thome's two-run home run to right in the fifth inning. His home run was nullified in the sixth by Jim Eisenreich's two-run home run that cut the lead to 7–5. In the seventh, Craig Counsell hit a leadoff single off of Brian Anderson and moved to second on a groundout, then Édgar Rentería's single and Gary Sheffield's double off of Mike Jackson each drove in a run, making the score 7–7. In the ninth, Bonilla drew a leadoff walk off of Eric Plunk and scored on Dalton's single aided by an error that let Dalton go to third. After a strikeout and intentional walk, an error on a pickoff attempt allowed Dalton to score. After Charles Johnson singled, Alvin Morman relieved Plunk and an error on Counsell's ground ball allowed Cliff Floyd to score. One out later, a walk loaded the bases before José Mesa relieved Morman and allowed two-run singles to Sheffield and Bonilla aided by a wild pitch that gave the Marlins at 14–7 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Indians loaded the bases on a walk and two singles with one out off of Robb Nen before Tony Fernández's sacrifice fly and Marquis Grissom's single scored a run each, then Bip Roberts' two-run double cut the lead to 14–11, but Omar Vizquel grounded out to end the game. This was the highest scoring game for twenty years till the fifth game of the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Game 4

This back-and-forth World Series continued that way in Game 4. Both teams were greeted by snow during batting practice and freezing temperatures throughout this contest. The official gametime temperature of 38 °F (3.3 °C) remains as of 2015 the coldest recorded in World Series history, while as the game progressed media outlets reported wind chill readings as low as 18 °F (−7.8 °C).^[8] Two rookies opposed each other on the mound this night; Jaret Wright for the Indians and Tony Saunders for the Marlins. In the bottom of the first, Omar Vizquel singled with one out before Manny Ramírez's two-run home run put the Indians up 2–0. Matt Williams then singled with two outs and scored on Sandy Alomar's double. In the third, Ramírez drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on an error and scored on David Justice's single. After another walk, Alomar's single scored Justice. After a third walk loaded the bases, Antonio Alfonseca relived Saunders and allowed an RBI single to Tony Fernández. The Marlins got on the board in the fourth on Jim Eisenreich's RBI single with two on, then Moisés Alou's two-run home run after a walk in the sixth cut the Indians' lead to 6–3, but that was as close as the Marlins got. In the bottom of the inning, Alomar's bases-loaded groundout off of Ed Vosberg made it 7–3 Indians. Next inning, Fernández hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a ground out and scored on Brian Giles's single. In the eighth, Williams' two-run home run after a walk capped the game's scoring at 10–3 as the Indians tied the series at two games apiece.

Game 5

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1's starting pitchers Liván Hernández and Orel Hershiser. The Marlins struck first when Darren Daulton hit a ground-rule double and scored on Charles Johnson's single. After a walk, Devon White's RBI double made it 2–0 Marlins. The Indians cut it to 2–1 in the bottom of the inning when Jim Thome tripled and scored on Sandy Alomar's single. Next inning, Alomar launched a towering three-run home run after two walks to put the Indians up 4–2. In the sixth, Moisés Alou hit his second three-run home run off Hershiser in as many games and his third home run of the Series to put the Marlins up 5–4. Eric Plunk then walked Craig Counsell with the bases loaded to force in another run charged to Hershiser. The Marlins added to their lead in the seventh when Alou hit a leadoff single off of Jeff Juden, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Johnson's single. Next inning, Alou's single with two on off of José Mesa extended the lead to 8–4. Livan pitched terrifically in the middle innings, not allowing any runs until the ninth. An error and single put two on with no outs for the Indians. Robb Nen in relief allowed a two-run single to David Justice, then a two-out RBI single to Thome before Alomar flew out to right to end the game and give the Marlins a 3–2 series lead heading back to Florida.

Game 6

Game 6's attendance of 67,498 was the highest single-game attendance for the World Series since Game 5 of the 1959 World Series, when 92,706 people filled the football-oriented Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Series returned to the warmer climate of Miami for Game 6. Kevin Brown opposed Chad Ogea again and again Brown inexplicably struggled while Ogea flourished. Chad himself drove in the first two runs with a bases-loaded single in the second, and Manny Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly in the third (after Omar Vizquel hit a leadoff double and stole third) and the fifth (after a leadoff double and subsequent single). Darren Daulton's sacrifice fly with two on in the fifth gave the Marlins their only run of the game. With the Tribe leading 4–1 in the sixth, Ogea ran into serious trouble. The Marlins put runners on second and third with two out as reliever Mike Jackson replaced Ogea. Marlins catcher Charles Johnson stepped to the plate and proceeded to hit a sharp grounder that was headed for left field. Indians gold glove shortstop Omar Vizquel dove for the ball, grabbed it, sprung to his feet, and hurled a perfect strike to first base just before Johnson arrived. The play ended the threat and broke the Marlins' spirits. In the ninth, closer José Mesa wrapped up the win, tying the Series at 3–3.

Game 7

For the first time in six years, a seventh game would decide the World Series.

Indians manager Mike Hargrove, celebrating his forty-eighth birthday this night, made a significant strategic play prior to the start of the game. The Indians' rotation for the series consisted of Orel Hershiser, the starter and loser of Games 1 and 5; Chad Ogea, the winning pitcher in Games 2 and 6; staff ace Charles Nagy, who received a no-decision in the wild Game 3; and rookie Jaret Wright, who had won Game 4. Based on Wright's performance, Hargrove skipped over Nagy and gave the start to the rookie on three days' rest. Marlins manager Jim Leyland, opting to keep his rotation as it was, sent veteran starter Al Leiter out for Game 7.

The Marlins managed one hit in the 1st inning, a double off the bat of Édgar Rentería. That was the only hit Wright gave up through six innings, and the Indians staked him to a 2–0 lead in the third. With two out and Jim Thome and Marquis Grissom in scoring position, Tony Fernández singled to drive both runners in for the only runs of the game to that point.

Leading off the bottom of the seventh for the Marlins, Bobby Bonilla hit Wright's first pitch over the right-center field wall for a home run to cut the lead to 2–1. After striking out Charles Johnson and walking Craig Counsell, Wright was removed from the game in favor of Paul Assenmacher who was scheduled to pitch to Cliff Floyd. Marlins manager Jim Leyland elected to send Kurt Abbott to the plate after the pitching change; and Assenmacher retired him on a fly ball, then got Devon White swinging to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth inning, Cleveland again threatened. After Antonio Alfonseca walked Matt Williams to lead off the inning and Sandy Alomar Jr. reached on a fielder's choice to take Williams off the bases, Félix Heredia gave up a single to Thome which advanced Alomar to third. He was then pulled in favor of closer Robb Nen, inducing a groundball from Grissom to Rentería at shortstop, who elected to throw Alomar out at home, thanks in part to a great pick and tag by Johnson. He then got Brian Giles to fly out to end the inning.

The Indians sent closer José Mesa to the mound to try to win the series in the bottom of the ninth inning. Moisés Alou led off with a single, and Bonilla struck out swinging on a 3–2 pitch that would have been ball four. Nevertheless, just four strikes away from losing the World Series, Johnson lined a 1–2 fastball into right field, moving Alou to third. With runners on 1st and 3rd and one out, Craig Counsell fought off a low, inside fastball from Mesa, lining it into deep right field. Manny Ramírez caught the ball on the warning track to make it two outs, but Alou easily scored from third to tie the game. Although Mesa retired Jim Eisenreich to send the game to extra innings and held the Marlins without a run in the tenth, his blown save would open him to criticism for years to come.

After Nen struck out the side in the top of the 10th, Mesa was lifted after giving up back-to-back one-out singles for Game 3 starter Nagy, who got Alou to fly out to end the threat. After walking Williams, leading off the top of the 11th inning, Jay Powell retired Cleveland in order thanks to an alert fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt by Alomar, which Powell fielded and threw out the lead runner at 2nd, followed by a Jim Thome inning-ending double play. Nagy took to the mound to face Florida in the bottom half of the 11th. Bonilla led off with a single to center. Gregg Zaun nearly caused a double play by popping his bunt attempt directly to Nagy. However, Bonilla was able to get back to first safely. Counsell followed with a ground ball that should have produced an inning-ending double play. Instead, the ball was misplayed by Fernández, slipping under his glove and into right field, and Bonilla advanced to third on the error. After Nagy loaded the bases with an intentional walk to Eisenreich, he got White to ground into a fielder's choice to Fernández, who elected to not go for the double play but instead quickly threw Bonilla out at the plate for the second out.

The next batter was Rentería; with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series, he timed an 0–1 slider from Nagy and lined it up the middle out of reach of both Nagy (who was so close his glove even touched the ball), and the infielders. An exuberant Counsell scored from third, and jumped on home plate with his fists in the air in celebration—with the series-winning run. Rentería, in jubilation, removed his helmet with tears in his eyes before touching first base, having hit a World Series winning walk-off single.

After Game 7, the trophy presentation, usually taking place in the winning team's locker room regardless of venue, took place on the field for the first time ever before the crowd of 67,204. It was presided over by then-Chairman of the Executive Committee Bud Selig, who first did the honors in 1995 and would officially become Commissioner of Baseball in 1998. This is now a standard procedure whenever the champions are the home team of the deciding game (the only exception being 1999 when the New York Yankees chose to celebrate in their locker room).