| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | October 6–24, 1992 [1] |
| Teams | 4 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Toronto Blue Jays (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Atlanta Braves (6th World Series appearance) |
| Awards | |
| MVP | Pat Borders (TOR) |
The 1992 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1992 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 Toronto Blue Jays returned to the postseason for the second year in a row, and the Oakland Athletics returned for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves made their second of fourteen consecutive postseason appearances, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were making their third straight appearance. This was Pittsburgh’s last postseason appearance until 2013, as the team would experience twenty consecutive losing seasons afterward.
The playoffs began on October 6, 1992, and concluded on October 24, 1992, with the Blue Jays defeating the Braves in six games in the 1992 World Series. The Blue Jays became the first team from Canada to win the World Series.
The following teams qualified for the postseason:
| League Championship Series (ALCS, NLCS) | World Series | |||||||
| East | Toronto | 4 | ||||||
| West | Oakland | 2 | ||||||
| AL | Toronto | 4 | ||||||
| NL | Atlanta | 2 | ||||||
| East | Pittsburgh | 3 | ||||||
| West | Atlanta | 4 | ||||||
Toronto won the series, 4–2.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 7 | Oakland Athletics – 4, Toronto Blue Jays – 3 | SkyDome | 2:47 | 51,039 [6] |
| 2 | October 8 | Oakland Athletics – 1, Toronto Blue Jays – 3 | SkyDome | 2:58 | 51,114 [7] |
| 3 | October 10 | Toronto Blue Jays – 7, Oakland Athletics – 5 | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 3:40 | 46,911 [8] |
| 4 | October 11 | Toronto Blue Jays – 7, Oakland Athletics – 6 (11) | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 4:25 | 47,732 [9] |
| 5 | October 12 | Toronto Blue Jays – 2, Oakland Athletics – 6 | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 2:51 | 44,955 [10] |
| 6 | October 14 | Oakland Athletics – 2, Toronto Blue Jays – 9 | SkyDome | 3:15 | 51,335 [11] |
This was a rematch of the 1989 ALCS, which the Athletics won in five games en route to a World Series title. This time, the Blue Jays would emerge victorious, winning the series in six games to become the first team outside the United States to reach the World Series (in the process denying a rematch of the 1914 World Series between the Athletics and Braves).
Dave Stewart out-dueled Jack Morris as the Athletics won 4–3 in Game 1. Game 2 was another pitchers' duel between Toronto's David Cone and Oakland's Mike Moore, which would be won by the former as the Blue Jays evened the series with a 3–1 victory. When the series shifted to Oakland, the Blue Jays won Game 3, and then took Game 4 after eleven innings to go up 3–1 in the series. Stewart pitched a complete game for the Athletics in Game 5 as they won 6–2 to send the series back to Toronto. Game 5 was the last playoff game to be played at Oakland Coliseum with the open air view, prior to the installment of Mount Davis in 1996. The Blue Jays blew out the Athletics in Game 6 to secure the pennant. This marked the first time a team from Toronto appeared in a championship series of the four major North American sports leagues since the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals, which saw the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Montreal Canadiens to win their most recent Stanley Cup.
The Athletics would make one more appearance in the ALCS after this in 2006, where they were swept by the Detroit Tigers, which would ultimately be their last during their time in Oakland as the team would move to Las Vegas after the 2024 season.
The Blue Jays would win the pennant again the next year over the Chicago White Sox in six games en route to repeating as World Series champions.
The 1992 ALCS began a streak of playoff success for Toronto-based teams over their San Francisco Bay Area counterparts. In 1994, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs, then in 2019, the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors.
Atlanta won the series, 4–3.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 6 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 1, Atlanta Braves – 5 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 3:20 | 51,971 [12] |
| 2 | October 7 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 5, Atlanta Braves – 13 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 3:20 | 51,975 [13] |
| 3 | October 9 | Atlanta Braves – 2, Pittsburgh Pirates – 3 | Three Rivers Stadium | 2:37 | 56,610 [14] |
| 4 | October 10 | Atlanta Braves – 6, Pittsburgh Pirates – 4 | Three Rivers Stadium | 3:10 | 57,164 [15] |
| 5 | October 11 | Atlanta Braves – 1, Pittsburgh Pirates – 7 | Three Rivers Stadium | 2:52 | 52,929 [16] |
| 6 | October 13 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 13, Atlanta Braves – 4 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 2:50 | 51,975 [17] |
| 7 | October 14 | Pittsburgh Pirates – 2, Atlanta Braves – 3 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 3:22 | 51,975 [18] |
This was a rematch of the previous year's series, which the Braves won in seven games. In what is considered by many to be one of the greatest playoff series in the history of North American sports, the Braves, despite blowing a 3–1 series lead, dispatched the Pirates in seven games yet again, capped off by a late rally by the Braves in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.
John Smoltz pitched seven innings of shutout ball as the Braves took Game 1. In Game 2, Steve Avery pitched six shutout innings as the Braves blew out the Pirates to take a 2–0 series lead headed to Pittsburgh. In Game 3, Tim Wakefield out-dueled Tom Glavine in a classic pitchers’ duel as the former pitched a complete game in a Pirates victory. Smoltz earned his second victory of the series in Game 4 as the Braves took a 3–1 series lead and looked poised to close out the series. However, the Pirates responded. Bob Walk stifled the Braves’ offense in a complete game performance in Game 5 as the Pirates blew out the Braves to send the series back to Atlanta. Game 5 was the last postseason game ever played at Three Rivers Stadium. Then in Game 6, Barry Bonds ignited the Pirates’ offense as they chased Glavine from the mound in a blowout win to force a seventh game, with Wakefield earning his second complete game victory. Game 7 was the most notable contest of the series. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Pirates held a 2–1 lead and were one out away from returning to the World Series. However, the Braves had the bases loaded, and then Atlanta's Francisco Cabrera cracked a two-run single that scored David Justice and Sid Bream. Bream famously slid to score the Series-winning run, beating the throw by Pirates left fielder Barry Bonds.
The series loss marked a turning point for the Pirates franchise, as the team fell into the beginning of an almost 20-year slump, posting 20 consecutive losing seasons, and they would only make the postseason three times since. The Pirates would not return to the postseason again until 2013, and as of 2025, this remains their most recent postseason appearance outside of the divisional round.
The Braves returned to the NLCS the next year, but were upset by the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. They would win their next pennant in 1995 in a sweep over the Cincinnati Reds en route to winning the World Series.
Toronto won the series, 4–2.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 17 | Toronto Blue Jays – 1, Atlanta Braves – 3 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 2:37 | 51,763 [19] |
| 2 | October 18 | Toronto Blue Jays – 5, Atlanta Braves – 4 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 3:30 | 51,763 [20] |
| 3 | October 20 | Atlanta Braves – 2, Toronto Blue Jays – 3 | SkyDome | 2:49 | 51,813 [21] |
| 4 | October 21 | Atlanta Braves – 1, Toronto Blue Jays – 2 | SkyDome | 2:21 | 52,090 [22] |
| 5 | October 22 | Atlanta Braves – 7, Toronto Blue Jays – 2 | SkyDome | 3:05 | 52,268 [23] |
| 6 | October 24 | Toronto Blue Jays – 4, Atlanta Braves – 3 (11) | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 4:07 | 51,763 [24] |
This was the first World Series which had games hosted outside the United States. The Blue Jays defeated the Braves in six games to win their first World Series title in franchise history, becoming the first team from Canada to win the World Series, as well as the first Canadian team to win a championship other than the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
Tom Glavine out-dueled Jack Morris in Game 1, as he pitched a complete game in a 3–1 Braves victory. In Game 2, the Blue Jays overcame a one-run Braves lead late thanks to a two-run home run from Ed Sprague Jr. in the top of the ninth, evening the series headed to Toronto. The Blue Jays took the lead in the series with a 3–2 win in Game 3. Jimmy Key out-dueled Glavine in Game 4 as the Blue Jays won 2–1 to take a 3–1 series lead. However, the Braves were not done yet. In Game 5, Morris was handed his second loss of the series as he was badly outdueled by John Smoltz as the Braves blew out the Blue Jays, 7–2, to send the series back to Atlanta. Game 6 went into extra innings, and the Blue Jays took the lead for good with two runs scored in the top of the eleventh. The Braves put up one more run in the bottom of the inning to cut the Blue Jays' lead to one, but relief pitcher Mike Timlin was able to preserve the lead as the Blue Jays clinched the title.
This was the first major league championship won by a team from Toronto since 1967, when the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs won their 13th and most recent Stanley Cup. The Blue Jays returned to the World Series the following year, and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to repeat as champions.
The Braves would return to the World Series in 1995, where they defeated the Cleveland Indians in six games to end a 38-year championship drought.
This marked the third year of a four-year agreement with CBS to televise all postseason games nationally in the United States.
