What are the longest games in MLB playoff history? (2024)

The 2022 MLB playoffs have now seen two of the longest games in postseason history.

The Houston Astros outlasted the Seattle Mariners in an 18-inning marathon on Saturday night to sweep the American League Division Series.

There were zero total runs scored for the first 17 inningsat T-Mobile Park. But Houston shortstop Jeremy Pena finally broke the scoreless tie with a leadoff solo home run to left-center field in the top of the 18th.

The Astros' 1-0 win came just one week after the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in an AL Wild Card Series game that followed a similar script.

The Rays and Guardians played 14 scoreless innings before Clevelandrookie outfielder Oscar Gonzalez hit a series-ending walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the 15th to complete the two-game sweep of Tampa Bay.

Astros-Mariners and Rays-Guardians are the only games in MLB postseason history where two teams were both scoreless through at least 13 innings of a game.

But where do the contests rank among the longest playoff baseball games of all time by innings?

What's the longest game in MLB playoff history?

Following Astros-Mariners, there's now a four-way tie for the longest game in playoff history of 18 innings.

The Astros and Braves first set the record in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS. Houston secured a series-clinching 7-6 win over Atlanta on a walk-off homer fromChris Burke in the 18th inning.

The record mark was matched nearly a decade later, as the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals played to 18 innings in Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS. Brandon Belt's solo shot in the top of the 18th propelled the Giants to a 2-1 road victory en route to a World Series title.

The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers blew past the record for the longest World Series game of all time when it took 18 innings to decide their 2018 Game 3 showdown. After seven hours and 20 minutes, Max Muncy finally sent everyone home with a walk-off solo shot in the 18th.

The Dodgers' 3-2 triumph marked the longest-ever postseason game time-wise (Astros-Mariners was six hours and 22 minutes long, while Rays-Guardians was five hours). That would be Los Angeles' only win of the series though, as Boston went on to win the championship.

The Rays-Guardians game is now tied with two other contests for sixth-longest: the New York Yankees' 1995 ALDS Game 2 win over the Seattle Mariners, and the New York Mets' 1999 NLCS Game 5 victory over the Braves.

Here's a full look at the longest games in MLB playoff history, according to MLB.com:

T-1. 2005 NLDS Game 4 (Astros 7, Braves 6): 18 innings

T-1. 2014 NLDS Game 2 (Giants 2, Nationals 1): 18 innings

T-1. 2018 World Series Game 3 (Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2): 18 innings

T-1. 2022 ALDS Game 3 (Astros 1, Mariners 0): 18 innings

5.1986 NLCS Game 6 (Mets 7, Astros 6): 16 innings

T-6. 1995 ALDS Game 2 (Yankees 7, Mariners 5): 15 innings

T-6. 1999 NLCS Game 5 (Mets 4, Braves 3): 15 innings

T-6. 2022 AL Wild Card Series Game 2 (Guardians 1, Rays 0): 15 innings

T-9. 1916 World Series Game 2 (Red Sox 2, Brooklyn Robins 1): 14 innings

T-9. 2004 ALCS Game 5 (Red Sox 5, Yankees 4): 14 innings

T-9. 2005 World Series Game 3 (White Sox 7, Astros 5): 14 innings

T-9. 2015 ALDS Game 2 (Rangers 6, Blue Jays 4): 14 innings

T-9. 2015 World Series Game 1 (Royals 5, Mets 4): 14 innings