As the saying goes, the two best words in sports are “Game 7.” Whether hearing that makes you want to puke or run through a wall likely depends on if you consider it an adage or a cliché. Either way, there is truth to the hype that leads up to the do-or-die championship game.
And yet, this completely overlooks the excitement of Game 6, either the penultimate installment before the possible Game 7, or the climactic conclusion all on its own. Sometimes, Game 6 is better than the winner-take-all game that it forces. The best Game 6s become singular events: The David Freese Game (2011), “Touch ‘Em All, Joe!