logo
Throwback Thursday: Looking back at the Blue Jays’ 1993 World Series matchup against Phillies
alt
Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jun 12, 2025, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 12, 2025, 02:02 EDT
Comments
For the second time in less than two weeks, the Toronto Blue Jays face off against the Philadelphia Phillies.
There have been a handful of memorable moments in the history of the Blue Jays. In my generation, it was Jose Bautista’s home run, Edwin Encarnacion’s home run, and Josh Donaldson coming into score to end the Texas Rangers’ season in 2016.
The last time the Blue Jays made the postseason before 2015 and 2016 was all the way back in 1993. Toronto was coming off its first World Series victory, defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games. After a 95-67 season and a 4-2 victory in the American League Championship Series, the Blue Jays faced the Phillies in the 1993 World Series.
In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we’ll take a look at how that series went for the Blue Jays. If you missed last week’s article, we looked at the Roy Halladay trade, ironically also with the Phillies.

Game 1

Game 1 was in Toronto on October 16, 1993. The Phillies opened the scoring in the top of the first thanks to RBI singles from John Kruk and Darren Daulton, the same Daulton Blue Jays’ centrefielder Daulton Varsho is named after.
The Jays answered back in the bottom of the second, as Paul Molitor hit an RBI single and Tony Fernandez grounded out to score a run. In the top of the third, Kruk hit another RBI single, matched by Joe Carter’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third.
Both teams scored a run in the fifth inning; the Phillies scored on a wild pitch, and Devon White hit a solo home run to tie the game once again. Another Blue Jays’ home run came in the bottom of the sixth, as John Olerud hit a solo blast to give the Jays a lead.
Finally, the Jays were able to get separation, as White hit an RBI double, and Roberto Alomar hit a two-RBI double to give the Jays an 8-4 lead. The Phillies scored another run in the top of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as the Jays took the opener.

Game 2

The second game of the series came the following day. In the top of the third, the Phillies had a massive inning thanks to RBI singles from Kruk and Dave Hollins, followed by a three-run home run from Jim Eisenreich to make it a 5-0 game.
Throughout the game, the Blue Jays added runs. In the bottom of the fourth, Carter hit a two-run home run to bring the Jays to within three. Fernandez hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-3, but the Phillies tacked on a run thanks to Lenny Dykstra’s home run.
The Blue Jays added another run as Olerud hit a sacrifice fly, but the Phillies won 6-4 to even up the series heading to Philadelphia.

Game 3

Monday, October 18, 1993, was an off-day as the two teams travelled to Philadelphia. The series continued on October 19, with the Blue Jays winning 10-3 and taking a 2-1 series lead.
In the top of the first, Molitor hit a two-run triple, followed by a Carter sacrifice fly to give the Jays a 3-0 lead. Molitor hit a home run in the top of the third, and Fernandez hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth to make it 5-0 for the Blue Jays.
The Phillies showed a little bit of fight in the bottom of the sixth, as Eisenreich hit an RBI single,  but that was followed up by a three-run inning in the top of the seventh, as White hit an RBI triple, Alomar hit an RBI single, and Ed Sprague hit a sacrifice fly to make it 8-1.
By the bottom of the seventh, the game was essentially done, but Mariano Duncan hit an RBI single for the Phillies’ second run of the game. The Jays swiftly answered with a two-run inning in the top of the ninth, as Alomar hit an RBI triple and Fernandez hit an RBI single.  Milt Thompson hit a solo home run to make it a 10-3 game.

Game 4

Usually, the postseason features terrific pitching, but that wasn’t the case on October 20th.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the first, as Molitor walked with the bases loaded and Fernandez hit a two-run single. In the bottom half of the inning, the Phillies responded with four runs, capped off by a Thompson triple that cleared the bases. The Phillies took a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the second thanks to Dykstra’s two-run home run.
However, the lead changed hands shortly after, as the Jays put up a four-spot in the top of the third. Fernandez and Pat Borders hit RBI singles, followed by a White single that drove in two to give the Jays a 7-6 lead.
The craziness didn’t stop there, though. In the bottom of the fourth, the Phillies tied the game thanks to Duncan’s RBI single. In the bottom of the fifth, the Phillies posted their second four-run inning of the game as Daulton hit a two-run home run, Thompson hit a run-scoring double, and Dykstra hit his second two-run home run of the game to give the Phillies a 12-7 lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Jays cut the lead to three thanks to RBI singles from Alomar and Fernandez, but the Phillies scored two more runs, one in the bottom of the sixth and one in the bottom of the seventh, to give them a 14-9 lead.
With one out in the top of the eighth, Molitor hit an RBI double to give the Jays their tenth run. That was followed by another RBI single from Fernandez to cut the lead to three. Rickey Henderson hit a two-run single to bring the Jays to within one, and White tripled to score two runs to give the Jays a 15-14 lead.
Finally, the runs stopped coming, and the Jays ended up winning 15-14, the most runs scored in a single World Series game. The Phillies’ 14 runs are the most scored by any losing team in history.

Game 5

With a chance to win back-to-back World Series, the series remained in Philadelphia for Game 5. Unlike the game the day before, this one was a pitching duel.
In the bottom of the first, Kruk drove in a run for the Phillies to make it a 1-0 game. The following inning saw Kevin Stocker hit an RBI double, scoring Daulton to make it a 2-0 game. That’s all the Phillies needed, as the next seven innings featured no scoring.
The Jays had their chances, though. In the top of the sixth and with runners on first and second with no outs, Alomar grounded into a double play to end the threat. The top of the eighth saw Rickey Henderson at the plate with no outs and runners on the corners, but Willie Canate was thrown out at home. Fernandez struck out for the second out, and Alomar grounded out to end the inning.
At the end of the game, the Jays had just four opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-4. The Phillies didn’t have much success either, going 1-11 with runners in scoring position. The big difference was that Phillies’ starting pitcher Curt Schilling pitched a complete game shutout, while Juan Guzman went seven innings with two runs allowed.

Game 6

Winning a seven-game series in five games isn’t particularly common, especially in the World Series. For Game 6, the series returned to Toronto with the Jays having a second chance to close out the Phillies.
On October 23, 1993, the most famous play in Blue Jays’ history happened. But first, the Jays opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as Molitor hit an RBI triple, Carter hit a sacrifice fly, and Alomar hit an RBI single. The Phillies got a run back in the top of the fourth, which was answered by a sacrifice fly by Sprague.  In the bottom of the fifth, Molitor hit a solo home run to put the Jays up 5-1.
Then, the Phillies had a massive inning in the top of the seventh. With three on, Dykstra hit his fourth home run of the series to bring the Phillies within one. They tied it up soon after, as Hollins hit a game-tying RBI single. Disaster struck as Pete Incaviglia hit a sacrifice fly to give the Phillies the lead.
Down to three outs before a Game 7, Henderson led off the top of the ninth with a walk to put the tying run on the bases. After White flew out, Molitor hit a single to put runners on first and second with just one run. Up stepped Joe Carter.
We all know what happened next. On a 2-2 count, Carter took a swing and belted it to left field, sending it over the wall for a game-winning three-run home run. Touch them all, Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life.
Since that home run over 30 years ago, there hasn’t been another player to hit a home run to win the World Series. Carter was only the second player to achieve this feat, as Bill Mazeroski did it for the Pittsburgh Pirates all the way back in 1960.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

Featured

Editorials

Breaking News