Plunk Everyone

Last night, Dustin Pedroia became the 6th batter to get hit by a pitch in game 7 of an American League Championship Series, and the 5th batter to lose such a game after being plunked. The only player ever to get plunked in ALCS game 7 and win was Hal McRae, in 1985 for the Royals. But, an opposing Toronto batter was also hit in that game, so in ALCS game sevens, the team with the most plunks is 0-3. Al Oliver got hit for the Blue Jays and lost in 1985's ALCS game 7 (by Brett Saberhagen), Bobby Grich and Bob Boone both got hit by Roger Clemens in the 1986 ALCS game 7 and lost, and Miguel Cairo got hit by Derek Lowe in the 2004 ALCS game 7 and lost. (But, even though he lost the game, Cairo did set the record, which still stands, for most HBPs in a single playoff series, since that was his 4th. That should count as the Yankees 27th Championship. Probably.)

In National League Championship game sevens, teams that have gotten hit twice in the game are 0-3 (the 1988 Mets, 2003 Cubs, and 2004 Astros), while teams that get plunked once are 2-1 (the Cardinals and Mets had one each in 2007, which the Cardinals won, and the Braves got hit once in their 1996 game 7 NLCS win).

In the World Series, the team that gets hit the most in game 7 has won 6 out of 8 times. There were two World Series game 7s in which both teams got hit once each, so teams that get plunked at least once in the World Series are 8-4. The 1979 Pirates got plunked twice in game 7 that year, and won, so teams with more than one HBP in World Series game 7 are undefeated, 1-0.