The best games we watched in 2025: World Series, Haliburton heroics, a classic Clásico
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Steven Louis Goldstein
Something was in the air and on the horizon this year. The sports we love gave us incredible, indelible finishes all across 2025.
Something was in the air and on the horizon this year. The sports we love gave us incredible, indelible finishes all across 2025. Recency bias can be a powerful force sometimes, and Gregorian calendar cutoffs might feel arbitrary, but there’s just no denying the past 365 days of athletic feats.
The World Series went seven games, as did the NBA Finals. March Madness was one huge heat check. The first 12-team College Football Playoff came down to No. 7 versus No. 8 in January, while the Stanley Cup was settled by two third-seed surges in June. Majors in golf and tennis became ultimate legacy markers. There was so much to appreciate.
Below, we relived our favorite single games from the past year, limiting ourselves to one per league and prioritizing those with higher stakes. Beware of delirious comebacks and all kinds of onomatopoeia. Here’s to another entertaining run in 2026.
In this grand finale between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, each team threw out a go-ahead runner at the plate. And amid the All-Stars, MVPs and future Hall of Famers in tow, it was a 36-year-old utility infielder who swung into the constellations to send the game into extra innings for the champion Dodgers:
“How can you tell when you’ve just been part of the greatest World Series game of your lifetime? Or maybe we should make that lifetime? Do you have to wait for a panel of historians to rule on it? Or do you just look into the eyes of your teammates and recognize that you all know it when you see it, when you live it, when you play in it?
So that brings us to your 2025 World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, because they knew. They’d just spent an epic night on the baseball field that had turned Saturday into Sunday morning. They’d won this Game 7. They’d won this World Series. But this was more. This was a game that would be lifted forever above all those other games. They didn’t need to hear from any historians or any of us wizened baseball scribes. They just knew.”
NBA: Finals, Game 1 (June 5)
The Indiana Pacers won three playoff games in which they trailed by seven or more points in the final minute. They did that in each of the bracket’s first three rounds. Then in the NBA Finals, they fell into a 15-point hole in the fourth quarter, only to stage another last-second comeback. That is absurd, the true encapsulation of this year’s wonderful sports chaos. Tyrese Haliburton was supremely icy through the spring, and though the Oklahoma City Thunder ended up taking the title, this Game 1 punch was an immediate all-timer:
“This is getting ridiculous, for Haliburton and for the Pacers. He now has three game-winning shots during this magical postseason run — to beat Milwaukee in Game 5 of the first round, Cleveland in Game 2 for the second, and now this one, obviously the biggest shot of his career since this is his first NBA Finals. Throw in that tying stunner against the Knicks in which he hit the Reggie Miller choke pose in Game 1, and, yeah, his is quickly becoming a postseason of legend.”
NFL: Rams-Seahawks in Week 16 (Dec. 18)
The Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills gave us two contenders in the calendar year — their playoff tilt in January (sorry, Mark Andrews) and their Week 1 opener (hello, Josh Allen). But then came euphoria in the Emerald City on “Thursday Night Football,” with NFC playoff stakes on the line between two division rivals.
Like most great games worthy of the orchestral “NFL Films” treatment, this Week 16 marathon between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks minted unlikely heroes. Rashid Shaheed, trade deadline acquisition, grafted momentum with his punt return touchdown to kick-start the home team’s double-digit comeback. Zach Charbonnet, second-string running back, scooped up a max-confusion 2-point try. And Eric Saubert, with just two catches all season, made the winning end-zone grab on another 2-point conversion:
3 for 3 on two-point conversions. That’s a Seahawks WIN ‼️
“What makes the perfect regular-season game? It needs to end in overtime with a walk-off, game-winning catch. After a fourth-quarter comeback, of course. The No. 1 seed should be on the line.
The stadium must be loud, and the score should be high, but not too high. Something like 38-37. You’ll want excellent quarterback play, a few 20-plus yard runs, some turnovers, and a special teams score. If we’re greedy, let’s add a play that’s so unique it deserves a name. Yes, last night’s game was perfect.”
College football: Texas-Arizona St., Peach Bowl (Jan. 1)
The New Year started with a bang. Texas was the big fish, a true blue-blood program with unlimited NIL funds. Arizona State was the much smaller fish, coming off back-to-back 3-9 seasons. They sure looked evenly matched in this College Football Playoff quarterfinal duel. The Longhorns were up 24-8 in the fourth quarter, before Cam Skattebo took over and tied it up. The Sun Devils then needed one fourth-down stop to clinch the overtime upset, but Quinn Ewers and Matthew Golden had other plans, and Texas went on to win in double OT to advance to the semifinal round:
“Plenty of memorable moments that stand out, especially in an inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff filled with blowouts so far. So where does Wednesday’s thriller rank among all-time Playoff games?
Pretty high, it turns out.”
College basketball: Men’s national title game (April 7)
It was the season of indestructible alligators. Florida stormed back from a late 10-point deficit in the Elite Eight, then had a nine-point second-half comeback in the Final Four. It set up Walter Clayton Jr. and his crew to make the third-largest rally in national championship game history, this one against Houston.
The March Madness closer ended as college basketball games should, with floor-slap defense and “One Shining Moment” hustle:
“Houston’s trip to the national championship game was going to end either as the best night in school history or as another chapter in this cruel epic. The antagonist in Jim Valvano’s hero’s quest. The shadow in Fred Brown’s redemption. Even before Monday, the school held a tormenting place in this sport’s history — the record for all-time Final Four appearances without a national championship win.
It was six. Now, after what somehow happened here — a gutting, what-just-happened 65-63 loss to a Florida team that trailed the Cougars by 12 early in the second half — the number is seven. For a school that plays the part with unenviable periodicity, this one might be the hardest. This ending was supposed to be the one that erased all the others.”
WNBA: Mercury-Lynx semifinal, Game 2 (Sept. 23)
In perhaps the league’s most-hyped season to date, no team was more dominant than the Minnesota Lynx. They went 34-10 in the regular season and finished first in both offensive and defense ratings. Then came the scorching Phoenix Mercury, who pulled off the third-biggest comeback in WNBA playoff history in hostile territory. Sami Whitcomb called redemption as time collapsed around her, helping the Mercury extend the game and then even up a series they would eventually win:
THIS SHOT FROM SAMI WHITCOMB TO SEND THE GAME INTO OT 🔥
“Alyssa Thomas nodded her head repeatedly as she walked back to the Phoenix Mercury bench after evening Phoenix’s WNBA semifinal series with the Minnesota Lynx.
Thomas appeared calm, as if she had expected the Mercury to do what few have ever done before: stage a comeback in the WNBA playoffs against the Lynx. After trailing Minnesota by 20 points midway through the third quarter, the Mercury chipped away at Minnesota’s lead en route to an 89-83 overtime victory. Defensive stops led to scores from Thomas and forward Satou Sabally, and with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation, guard Sami Whitcomb pushed the game into an extra session with a 3-pointer that silenced the Target Center crowd.”
Hockey: 4 Nations final (Feb. 20)
This All-Star Game substitute ended up being a worldwide success. The tournament of NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States concluded with the boldest of exclamation points: an overtime thriller between Canada and the U.S. There were other worthwhile gems in hockey (the double-OT Game 7 between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets thoroughly rocked), but nothing beats international rivalry action, especially when a generational talent lands a career moment. Play us out, Connor McDavid:
“At the most hyped international hockey game in more than a decade, everyone had their reasons to care. And beyond the 60 minutes and overtime, it felt like there was so much more than a win at stake. With more than a decade of built-up tension between the two rivals, heat on the ice was inevitable. But for many, the championship game wasn’t about bragging rights alone …
But after the most dramatic show of international men’s hockey in more than a decade — sealed by Connor McDavid’s overtime winning goal — it was Canadians piling on the ice and embracing in the stands.”
Soccer: El Clásico (May 11)
Three separate matches work in this spot. In April, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey final, 3-2 off a Jules Koundé goal in the 116th minute. In October, Real Madrid got revenge, its 2-1 league victory so tense that it ended in a literal brawl. The May mayhem (Barca, 4-3) was extra memorable. Kylian Mbappé had a hat trick, but Barcelona broke the timeline and stunned the world with two goals in two minutes. Lamine Yamal went first, then Raphinha followed right on his heels. “It is all quite astonishing!” commentator Ian Darke exclaimed:
LAMINE YAMAL AND RAPHINHA BOTH SCORE WITHIN TWO MINUTES OF EACH OTHER TO COMPLETELY TURN ELCLÁSICO AROUND FOR BARCA! 3-2! 😱 pic.twitter.com/44gkmDRLqB
“No matter the circumstances, El Clasico always delivers.
Sunday’s match in La Liga between Barcelona and Real Madrid had just about everything. There was a fast start, a spectacular turnaround, tremendous goals, dreadful mistakes, controversial refereeing calls, tightrope tactics, seemingly interminable VAR waits, a thrilling ending that could have gone either way — and a feeling that just about anything could happen at any moment.”
Golf: The Masters, final round (April 13)
Four double bogeys, weighed by 11 years of tension. And then, one masterful playoff round. Augusta to Rory McIlroy was the whale to Captain Ahab, his final boss and lasting torment. He finally put it in the past tense this April, and completed the career Grand Slam in the wildest of fashions. The green jacket fit perfectly:
“It might have been an internal waging of the wars for McIlroy, but all of Augusta National felt it with him. They leaned with the wayward drives, hustled to catch a glimpse of the gravity-defying escape routes, and hoped — oh, did they hope — every time the putter face made contact with the golf ball it would find a hole. Just this one, Rory.
Rotation by rotation, they held their breath. Then, a final roar that could only mean one thing: sweet, sweet relief.”
Tennis: French Open, men’s final (June 8)
The longest Roland-Garros final of the Open era (and second-longest of any Grand Slam) included a two-set recovery and three (!) saved match points. Jannik Sinner controlled so much of this five-hour, 29-minute affair. Then Carlos Alcaraz conjured something within himself from the narrowest of corners. He fought his way out and pulled off an unimaginable red-clay triumph:
“Case closed. The end of the argument. Best-of-five-set-tennis haters in shambles. Whether tennis should eliminate its longest format is an ongoing discussion, but for its advocates, Sunday’s instant classic French Open final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz was the ultimate endorsement.
Five and a half hours of undulating tension and elite-level competition, given deeper meaning by how its length raised the significance of the match’s decisive moments. The format allowed the match to take on an epic quality, elevating Sinner and Alcaraz’s rivalry, previously incipient to the wider world outside of tennis, into something transcendental.”
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