Miracle Rally / Real Life

American Football

• Real-life example in two words: Frank Reich.
  • On November 10, 1984, in his college years, he led Maryland over Miami 42–40 after trailing 31–0 at halftime.
  • And, of course, in the January 3, 1993 NFL playoff game, sparked the Buffalo Bills' rally over the Houston Oilers, winning 41–38 (in overtime) after being behind 35–3 early in the third quarter. At the time they started their comeback, the Bills starting quarterback (Jim Kelly), running back (Thurman Thomas), and middle linebacker (Cornelius Bennett) were all out of the game with injuries.
• There are a number of quarterbacks who are well-known for pulling these off.
  • Brett Favre was famous for this during his tenure as quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. The worst place for an opponent to be was up by a touchdown in the fourth quarter. A statistical study showed Favre to actually be merely above-average at fourth-quarter rallies. Dan Marino is a better example, holding the record for comeback wins in the 4th quarter, as are John Elway and (surprisingly) his successor with the Broncos, Jake Plummer. The best example in more recent years is probably Pittsburgh's now-retired Ben Roethlisberger.
  • And this study lists the best comeback quarterback of the last decade as... walking punchline and Annoying Younger Sibling Eli Manning? He's done this twice in the Super Bowl, both games against the Patriots. The first one ended a previously-undefeated season from the Patriots, the second capped a league record for 4th quarter touchdown passes in a single season, and both featured physics-defying plays to pull it off.
  • Other players known for this trope include Roger "Captain Comeback" Staubach, and especially Joe Montana. He may be just below Marino and Elway in the category, but he was definitely no stranger to comebacks, as he started out with some in his alma mater, Notre Dame. Teams just knew that Montana would rally the 49ers to victory if you give him just enough time to get the winning score. Boy, oh boy, he did.
  • Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, as of the 2023 season, has a win rate of .583 in games in which his team is down by 10 or more points. This is a better win rate than the career win rates of many quaterbacks, including several Hall of Famers, such as Kurt Warner and Troy Aikman. In short, even if he's down by two scores, he still has a better chance of winning than losing.
• November 17, 1968: In an absolutely chaotic AFL game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders, then a major rivalry, the Raiders pulled off a major comeback in the final minute of the game. They scored one touchdown to bring the score to 36–32 Oakland, and then another off a Jets fumble to seal their win 43–32. However, this game is also infamously known as the "Heidi Game", because NBC cut away from the final minute of the game on the east coast to show a made-for-TV adaptation of Heidi. NBC executives had allowed Heidi to be delayed until the conclusion of the game, but they couldn't tell network control since their phone lines were being jammed up by viewers asking about whether they would be showing the film or not, and the blowback from this incident led all the major networks to institute Sports Preemption policies to guarantee that all live sporting events would be shown to their conclusion.
• George Blanda had an amazing streak of games like this for the Oakland Raiders during the 1970 NFL season. To wit:
  • First, he comes off the bench for an injured Daryle Lamonica against the Pittsburgh Steelers and throws 3 touchdowns. Not really a rally as he came into the game early in the second quarter and the Raiders thrashed the Steelers 31-14, but it was a sign of things to come.
  • Against the Kansas City Chiefs he comes out and kicks a last-second 48-yard field goal to salvage a 17-17 tie, years before overtime in the regular season was a thing in the NFL.
  • Then against the Cleveland Browns with Lamonica again injured late in the 4th quarter, he throws a game-tying touchdown with less than 2 minutes remaining, and after a quick turnover by the Browns, kicks a game-winning 52-yard field goal as time expired. Raiders radio announcer Bill King would declare that Blanda was elected King of the World during the Raiders' jubilant celebration.
  • The following week against the Denver Broncos he replaced a healthy but struggling Lamonica and threw the game-winning touchdown with only 2 minutes to play.
  • For the fifth week in a row, he was the hero, as against the San Diego Chargers with the two teams trading scores back and forth, he finally iced the game with a last-minute 16-yard field goal.
  • He had one more rabbit to pull out of the hat a few weeks later against the New York Jets, as first he threw a touchdown pass in place of a temporarily displaced Lamonica, then when Lamonica came back into the game and threw the game-tying touchdown, Blanda kicked the game-winning extra point to give Oakland the 14-13 win.
  • What makes all of this the more impressive, Blanda was a 43-year-old, 21-year vet who was primarily the team's kicker. All of that was enough for him to be voted player of the year (not to be confused with the MVP award).
• November 6, 1971: UC Davis, down 29-14 to Cal State Hayward^*which stopped playing football in 1993 and is now Cal State East Bay with 20 seconds left in the game, scored 16 points (two touchdowns and two conversions, with a recovered onside kick getting them the ball back after the first TD) to pull out a 30-29 win, in what UC Davis fans quickly nicknamed the Miracle Game.
• Super Bowl XLIII featured a Miracle Rally by both teams in the fourth quarter, both rallies being different types. Trailing 20–7 halfway through the fourth quarter, the Arizona Cardinals scored two touchdowns and a safety to take a 23–20 lead with only two and a half minutes left. Just when it seemed that this was Underdogs Never Lose at its finest, the Pittsburgh Steelers mounted a single-drive Miracle Rally capped off by an amazing catch by Santonio Holmes for the game-winning TD.
• The 2006 Monday Night Football game where the Chicago Bears beat the Arizona Cardinals after being behind by 20 points when the second quarter started. And all of the Bears' touchdowns were earned entirely by the defense and the special teams because Rex Grossman had a horrible performance during the game. The Bears finalized their win when the Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers (who, we might add, before this was known for being a damn good kicker) missed a 40-yard field goal that would have given them the lead. The final score was 24–23 for the Chicago Bears, and it was #6 on NFL.coms top 10 comebacks of all time. It also resulted in Dennis Green's epic "They are who we thought they were" meltdown. It was such an epic collapse by a team with a reputation for disappointment that even if you were a fan of the winning team, you couldn't help feeling a bit bummed.
• 1994 Texas State High School Football Playoffs. John Tyler HS has a 41–17 lead over Plano East with 3 minutes left. Plano then throws 4 straight touchdown passes after recovering three straight onside kicks to take the lead. The Announcers get crazier by the minute and this wild comeback plays out. Then subverted at the end, as John Tyler comes back with a mini Miracle Rally of their own, returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to win.
• Subverted in the January 2010 NFL wild-card game between the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals, where the Packers rallied from deficits of 17–0 and 31–10 to tie the game at 38, and then again at 45, only to lose, on all things, a touchdown scored by Arizona's defense.
• During the 2006 NFL season, the Tennessee Titans were at their lowest point. Their record was 3–7, and by the end of the 3rd quarter against the NY Giants, they were down 21–0. All hope for a decent season (let alone a playoff appearance) seemed lost. But in the 4th quarter, the tide shift was so sudden, even the disenchanted fans were thrown back. By the last minute of regulation, The Titans scored three touchdowns total to tie the game. By the 0:30 mark, Adam "Pacman" Jones made an amazing interception to give the Titans possession again. Around the 0:07 mark, 61 yards away, the punter made a perfect kick across the field, and the ball barely crossed the field goal marker. Even Titans coach Jeff Fisher sounded surprised by the comeback during the post-game interview. Even more amazingly, that game launched a second Miracle Rally of its own, with the team winning FOUR more games, gaining them a positive win-loss record. Unfortunately, despite the results of various AFC-centered games working in the Titans' favor for the wild card slot, the New England Patriots ended their playoffs chances early in game 16. Interestingly enough, the 2009 season hearkened back to that year. After a 0–6 deficit (with game six against the Patriots ending with a brutal 59–0 score), the Titans won the next five games straight, and ended their season at 8–8; just out of playoffs reach.
• The Miracle at the New Meadowlands. The Philadelphia Eagles, after trailing the New York Giants 31–10 with 8:17 left in the 4th quarter, orchestrate an incredible comeback to tie it at 31 with 1:16 left. The Eagles' defense then forces a 3-and-out by the Giants, who drain the clock down to 14 seconds before calling time out. On the ensuing punt, the ball is snapped high to rookie punter Matt Dodge. This forces him to rush the punt and is unable to direct the ball away from returner DeSean Jackson, who takes the punt 65 yards for the game-winning touchdown with no time remaining. Final score: Eagles 38 Giants 31. This is, without question, the greatest 4th quarter comeback victory in Eagles history. Jackson's touchdown is the first of its kind in the history of the NFL (game-winning punt return walk-off TD).
• October 8, 2011, Nebraska vs. Ohio State: Nebraska was down 27–6 midway through the third quarter when Nebraska physically took the ball away from Braxton Miller, and Taylor Martinez ran it in on the very next play, and Nebraska scored 28 unanswered points to win 34–27.
• The Monday Night Miracle. On October 23, 2000, fierce rivals New York Jets and Miami Dolphins played on Monday Night Football. At the end of the third quarter with the score 30–7 in Miami's favor, Jets broadcaster Howard David announced, "And with a whole quarter to go, this game is over." The Jets proceeded to stage a furious rally in the fourth quarter, scoring 23 unanswered points to tie the game at 30. The Dolphins went on to score again to go up 37–30. Improbably, the Jets tied it again with a touchdown pass caught by offensive tackle Jumbo Elliott, playing as a tackle-eligible. Jets kicker John Hall then won the game with a field goal in overtime to complete the miracle with a 40–37 victory. This was the second-largest comeback in NFL history and was voted the greatest Monday Night Football game of all time.
• On October 12, 2002, the Furman Paladins visited the Appalachian State Mountaineers in a key Southern Conference game. In a low-scoring game, the Apps took a 14–9 lead with less than 6 minutes to go, only to see Furman score the go-ahead TD with 7 seconds left, giving them a 15–14 lead. Paladins coach Bobby Lamb made the decision to go for two, even though with the time remaining, the Apps were extremely unlikely to get into field goal position. That came back to bite the Paladins, as QB Billy Napier^note now the head coach of the Florida Gators threw a hurried pass that was intercepted by DE Josh Jefferies, who ran it back about 15 yards before lateraling to CB Derrick Black, who ran it the rest of the way to the other end zone to give the Apps an improbable 16–15 lead. The Mountaineers recovered the ensuing onside kick to seal the win. The play went down in App State lore as the Miracle on the Mountain.
• Division II Lone Star Conference Football Championship 2012 Edition. West Texas A&M is up 48–38 with 2:55 left in the game. Midwestern State scores a touchdown in 49 seconds to make the score 48–45. They kick it onside, but West Texas recovers it. However, MSU has a time out to burn, so WTAMU tries to push, but they are forced to punt. The punt snap is over the head of the punter, and MSU return it for a touchdown with 55 seconds left, and it's now 52–48. A field goal will do nothing; WTAMU must score a touchdown. WTAMU takes it to the 28-yard line. The first pass is deflected, the second play, the quarterback is sacked, the third pass is intercepted with 8 seconds left, and a knee is taken to seal the victory.
• Auburn 2013, facing heated rival Georgia at home, down 38–37 with less than a minute to play, quarterback Nick Marshall heaves up a Hail Mary throw to sprinting Tigers receiver Ricardo Louis who couldn't see where the ball was, only for the ball to come within reach of two Bulldog defenders. Instead of knocking it down - what players are taught to do with Hail Marys - both Georgia players jump for the ball for a possible interception... only for each other to knock it up in the air. The ball literally floats over into Louis' face, who reaches up for an easy catch without breaking stride and races into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
  • Topped two weeks later with the 2013 Iron Bowl, one of college football's most storied rivalries as the Alabama Crimson Tide came in undefeated, atop the BCS standings, expected to win out and play for a third straight BCS title game. The Tigers play their rivals close up into the 4th quarter, tying it up 28-all. Alabama gets the ball back with little time left but gets the ball within questionable field goal range as time expires. However, refs note the Tide running back stepped out with 1 second left, so they put the second back up. Coach Nick Saban sends out the kicking unit - which for the night had missed three field goal tries - with a freshman kicker for one more try to win the game. Auburn does the math - the kick would be 57 yards and can possibly fall short - and sends out a return unit in case that happens. The kick does fall short, Auburn's return man Chris Davis is able to outrun Alabama's kicking unit, and the entire nation goes crazy as the "Kick Six" gives Auburn the win and the division title, and knocks hated rival Alabama out of the BCS title outright.
• In the final quarter of the 2013 regular-season game between the New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints, the Patriots are down by four points with two and a half minutes to go. This would be plenty of time for the Patriots to score, only Tom Brady throws an interception. It seems like the game is over and the Saints' defense is celebrating on the sideline. The Patriots hold the Saints to a three-and-out, giving possession back to the Patriots with 1:13 left and no time-outs left. Tom Brady systematically marches the Patriots down the field with pass after pass, even converting a fourth down along the way, culminating in a touchdown to rookie WR Kenbrell Thompkins with five seconds to spare.
• In the 2013 AFC Wild Card Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts, the Chiefs dominated the game early on, taking a 31–10 lead at halftime despite losing several players to injuries during the game, most notably running back Jamaal Charles. They extended the lead to 38–10 early in the third quarter with a touchdown after Colts QB Andrew Luck threw an interception on the first play of the quarter, and the Chiefs' lead looked insurmountable. But after that touchdown, Luck, who had been fairly inconsistent up to that point, turned his day around and the Colts got 3 touchdowns in the third quarter. Meanwhile, The Chiefs' offense, which had dominated in the first half, was unable to do much- in the third quarter, after that first touchdown, they only managed to get a field goal on another interception. Still, they led 41–31 at the end of the third quarter- then in the fourth, after another Colts touchdown and a Chiefs' field goal made it 44–38, and then with a bit more than 4 minutes left, Luck completed a 64-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. The game wasn't over yet, though, with Kansas City having plenty of time to score and only needing a field goal, but their drive was stopped near the Colts' 40-yard line, a bit outside of field goal range, and the Colts won 45–44. The 28-point comeback made it the second-biggest comeback in NFL playoff history, behind only the Bills-Oilers game mentioned above. And unlike that game, the Chiefs–Colts game ended in regulation.
• The 2014 Cleveland Browns vs. Tennessee Titans game saw the record set for largest road game comeback: the Browns, losing 28–3 during the second quarter, went on to rally and score 26 unanswered points, winning 29–28.
• Super Bowl XLIX: Heading into the fourth quarter, the Seattle Seahawks led the New England Patriots 24–14. Only two other teams had ever won the Lombardi Trophy after being down 10 points in the game, but both of those deficits came in the first quarter. Tom Brady led the Patriots on two touchdown drives, giving New England the lead with just over 2 minutes left. Their defense had to hold, however, and after a miraculous catch by Seattle receiver Jermaine Kearse put the Seahawks at the 5-yard line, and a 4-yard run by star running back Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch moved them to the 1, it was all but certain New England's comeback would be wasted. But on the next play, undrafted rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass at the goal line, preserving a win for the Patriots.
• Super Bowl LI: Halfway through the third quarter, everything looked to be going perfectly for the Atlanta Falcons, who were up 28–3 against the New England Patriots. However, the Falcons had only scored twice on standard possessions, with the other two coming off turnovers, one of which was a pick-six^note an interception immediately run back for a touchdown, and their defense had been on the field for an incredibly long time, and it began to show (they ended up playing 93 defensive snaps, 99 when you count the six which were replayed because of penalties, which is the equivalent of a game and a half's worth of snaps). They were forced to abandon the man-to-man coverage that had been working so well, and adopt the much less effective zone defense, which the Patriots immediately took advantage of, and began moving the ball almost at will, further exhausting the Falcons' defense. Meanwhile, Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan made the bizarre decision to not stick to run plays during the Falcons' offensive possessions and burn the remaining game time, but instead try passing the ball, which resulted in several incompletions that stopped the clock and gave the Patriots ample time to stage a comeback. They scored 31 unanswered points, including two touchdowns with a two-point conversion^note The overall success rate of a two-point conversion attempt is only 50–55%. While the Falcons had a few chances to put the game away, they were unable to do so, most especially toward the end of the fourth quarter, with only a little over three minutes left, when they were at the Patriots' twenty-yard line. Instead of running three times and kicking a field goal, putting them up by two scores, they attempted to pass after a 1-yard loss on a first-down run, and quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked for a huge 12-yard loss, compounded by a holding penalty on the next play that moved them back another 10 yards, putting them at about the 50-yard line and thoroughly out of field goal range, with no choice but to punt after their final pass attempt fell incomplete. New England tied the score, won the coin toss in overtime, and drove for a sudden-death touchdown to seal the comeback, 34–28.
• The 2018 Week 1 "Miracle at Lambeau" is remarkable not just for the deficit overcome but for the sheer degree of turnaround it took to overcome it. In the first 40 minutes of playing time, the Green Bay Packers had an absolutely abysmal game, putting up zero points while the visiting Chicago Bears put up 20. Packers fans thought all hope was lost...only for the struggling Packers offense to suddenly roar to life and score three touchdowns and a field goal in the final twenty minutes of the game, while the defense finally came together to hold the Bears to only a single field goal. Final score: Packers 24, Bears 23.
• In the 2018 NFL Playoffs match-up between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, January 14th, 2018. After a wild fourth quarter that saw three lead changes, with the Saints going up 24–23 on a 43-yard field goal by Will Lutz with 25 seconds left. With Minnesota trying desperately to get into field goal range themselves for a last-second try at home, and with 10 seconds left and no timeouts, Case Keenum - a quarterback other NFL teams kept cutting off their rosters, but having a career year with the Vikings - threw a sideline pass to Stefon Diggs. All the Saints secondary had to do was tackle him in-bounds to run out the clock. But they went to knock Diggs' legs out from under him, letting him stay upright and in-bounds... with nobody between him and the end zone. He rushes in for the surefire touchdown, driving 66,000 Vikings fans crazy and instantly becoming the greatest moment in Minnesota football history.^note Making it worse for the Saints, by rule even with the clock expired and the Vikings clearly winning the game, they had to attempt the extra point. It took ten minutes to clear the field and for eleven weary Saints players to come back out for a meaningless play since the Vikings simply went with a Victory snap. This led to an Obvious Rule Patch the following season where, if a team scores a go-ahead touchdown on the last play of regulation, the game immediately ends.
• The 1980 Holiday Bowl between Brigham Young and Southern Methodist was billed as a battle between a great passer, BYU's Jim McMahon, and two great running backs, SMU's Eric Dickerson and Craig James (all three went on to NFL success). But the SMU Mustangs dominated the game and seemed to finish off BYU with a 42-yard touchdown run by Craig James that made it 45–25 with just 3:58 left. Even TV play-by-play announcer Ray Scott declared the game over at that point. Then McMahon went to work. BYU scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick, then scored another TD and a two-point conversion (they unsuccessfully attempted one on their first touchdown, which was completely unnecessary) to cut the lead to 45–39 with 1:58 left. SMU tried to run the clock out after that but were forced to punt. BYU blocked it with 13 seconds left, then McMahon threw two incomplete passes from the SMU 41-yard line. Now that they were (literally) Down to the Last Play, BYU called a play that had been titled "Save the Game" in their playbook: all eligible receivers run to the end zone and McMahon throws the ball as far as he can. Tight end Clay Brown leaps in-between several SMU defenders in the end zone and snags the ball; Kurt Gunther makes the PAT to win it 46–45. The Cougars scored three touchdowns in the last 2:33 of the game.
• The college football record for largest comeback is 35 points, which has been achieved twice:
  • In 1991, Nevada trailed Weber State 49–14 with 12:16 left in the third quarter. They won 55–49. A prime example of Put Me In, Coach!, as Nevada backup quarterback Chris Vargas led the rally after starter Fred Gatlin was benched. The game was immediately dubbed "The Miracle on Virginia Street" (which is the Reno street where the stadium is located).
  • In 2006, Michigan State trailed Northwestern 38–3 with 9:54 left in the third quarter. They won 41–38. All the more impressive since Michigan State had two quarterbacks knocked out of the game in the second half (starter Drew Stanton decided that I Can Still Fight! and came back in to finish the comeback).
  • UCLA missed the record by one point in their 2017 win over Texas A&M, but they had even less time to accomplish it than the above teams. Texas A&M took a 44–10 lead with 4:08 left in the third before UCLA pulled it out 45–44, thanks to some puzzling play calls by A&M (who stuck to their basic game plan even as UCLA rallied, then started panicking) and a virtuoso performance by Bruin QB Josh Rosen, who went 24 of 33 for 366 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions in his passing on UCLA's final six drives of the game.
  • Central Michigan nearly pulled off the same feat in a bowl game in 2014. After three quarters, they trailed Western Kentucky 49-14, but they scored five unanswered touchdowns, the last with no time remaining. However, on the final play, they opted to go for the 2-point conversion and the win rather than kicking the extra point to send it to overtime, and Western Kentucky stopped it to hang on for a 49-48 win.
• In 2018, a regular season game between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins saw one of the wildest finishes to an NFL game. Miami trailed 28-33; with 7 seconds left in the 4th quarter, they would have to mount a 69-yard touchdown drive. The Patriots, expecting a Hail Mary, played a prevent coverage, putting tight end Rob Gronkowski in the safety position so that he could bat down any deep balls. The Dolphins didn't run a Hail Mary; instead, quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a short pass to WR Kenny Stills, who then immediately shoveled it to DeVante Parker. Parker lateraled the ball to running back Kenyan Drake; Drake received the ball at the Miami 45-yard line, then managed to weave his way through Pats defenders for the game-winning touchdown, while a trailing Gronkowski failed to make the game-saving tackle.
• Going into the 2018 season, things were dire for Cleveland Browns. They finished the 2017 season 0-16, the second team since the 2008 Detroit Lions to go a whole season without any wins or ties. In week 1, they only tied their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers 21-21, which technically ended their losing streak but prolonged their winless streak, anyway. In week 2, they narrowly lost to the New Orleans Saints 21-18, thanks to failed field goal attempts. On September 20, 2018, during their week 3 Thursday Night Football game against the New York Jets, the Browns were behind 14-3 going into halftime. During the second half, rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, stepping in for Tyrod Taylor after he'd suffered a concussion, rallied the Browns to tie up the game at 14 in the third quarter, before leading them to a 21-17 win, their first since December 24, 2016. And the city of Cleveland celebrated like they'd won the Super Bowl.
• Happened throughout the 2019-20 NFL playoffs:
  • January 4, 2020: Almost 27 years to the day of "The Comeback" game (see above), the Buffalo Bills faced the Houston Texans (the team that replaced the Oilers after moving to Tennessee and becoming the Tennessee Titans) in the wildcard round. This time, it was the Bills that blew their lead, going from leading 16-0 in the third quarter to losing 22-19 in overtime.
  • January 12, 2020: The Texans traveled to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in the AFC divisional round. And with the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens being beaten by the Titans the night before, the Texans and Chiefs were also fighting for the prospect of hosting the conference championship. The Texans leaped to a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to the Chiefs' clumsy play, extending their lead to 24-0 early in the second quarter. However, the Chiefs rebounded quickly, scoring 28 points in under 10 minutes before halftime and ultimately winning 51-31, making this the fourth-biggest comeback in NFL postseason history (tying the 2002-03 wildcard game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers).
  • January 19, 2020: The Chiefs hosted the Titans in the AFC championship game. After falling behind 17-7, the Chiefs rallied and won 35-24 and advanced to Super Bowl LIV, their first appearance since Super Bowl IV, which was the last game before the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
  • February 2, 2020: Super Bowl LIV pitted the San Francisco 49ers against the Chiefs. The first half had been evenly matched, with the teams entering halftime tied 10-10. In the third quarter, the 49ers moved to a 20-10 lead, but during the last 10 minutes in the 4th quarter, the Chiefs ended up scoring 21 unanswered points to win 31-20, winning their first Super Bowl in 50 years (and Andy Reid's first as head coach).
• In 2021, in a high school game against Hamilton High School (AZ) and Bishop Gorman High School (NV), Hamilton, despite being down 7-24 with less than 1:10 remaining in regulation, managed to score 18 points in that time to win the game 25-24. Now down 10-24 after a successful field goal, Hamilton recovered the onside kick to cut Bishop Gorman's lead to 24-17 with 30 seconds remaining. Then Hamilton successfully recovers another onside kick, bringing the score to 24-23 with 8 seconds left. Rather than going for a kick for the tie and overtime, Hamilton runs the ball in for the eventual game-winning 2-point conversion. Bishop Gorman had one last opportunity to get a game-winning touchdown in their favor, but a failed lateral pitch allowed Hamilton to recover the fumble, sealing their victory.
• One of the first prominent college football examples was in 1935. Undefeated Ohio State hosted undefeated Notre Dame in what was billed as the "game of the century". With their potent, wide-open offense, masterminded by maverick coach Francis Schmidt, OSU was a solid favorite to win, and controlled most of the game, leading 13-0 after three quarters. But then the Buckeyes started making miscues that Notre Dame took advantage of. First cutting the lead to 13-6, Notre Dame's Mike Layden (the brother of their coach Elmer Layden) caught a TD pass with under 2:00 left, reducing the OSU lead to 13-12. But the luck of the Fighting Irish appeared to run out, as they missed the PAT. Some of the odd rules of early football come into play here. After a team scored, the other team could elect to either receive a kickoff or kick the ball back to the scoring team (with the object of pinning them deep in their own territory). Schmidt chose to have Notre Dame kick to Ohio State. Notre Dame tried an onside kick but didn't recover. Ohio State just needed to run out the clock, but there was enough time on the clock that they still had to run plays from scrimmage. Ohio State fumbled the ball out of bounds, but Notre Dame was the last team to touch it, and at the time, the last team to touch the ball on an out-of-bounds fumble got possession. The Irish took over and steadily moved the ball downfield, then with :32 left, Bill Shakespeare (not him) threw a TD pass to Wayne Millner to give them the lead. They missed the PAT again. Ohio State had time to run one final play, but it resulted in a sack, and Notre Dame won 18-13, scoring twice in the final two minutes.
• December 17, 2022: The Minnesota Vikings enter their Saturday afternoon game against the Indianapolis Colts needing a win (or tie) to clinch the NFC North title and came out looking abysmal, trailing 33-0 at halftime following a dismal first half performance that included the Colts scoring a touchdown off a blocked punt and a Kirk Cousins pass being intercepted and returned for a touchdown. The Vikings later got a touchdown but the Colts answered with a field goal to make the score 36-7. Then Minnesota scored 29 unanswered points to send the game into overtime 36-36 before kicker Greg Joseph hit the game-winning field goal with just seconds remaining in overtime to give the Vikings a 39-36 victory that - in addition to marking the Vikings' first division title since 2017 - was also the biggest comeback victory in NFL history; surpassing the 32-point comeback victory in the Buffalo Bills-Houston Oilers playoff game engineered by the aforementioned Frank Reich (who incidentally had been fired as the Indianapolis Colts head coach on November 7, 2022) and also meaning that Colts quarterback Matt Ryan had now been on the wrong end of both the biggest overall comeback in NFL history in this game and the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history in Super Bowl LI with the Atlanta Falcons.
• January 2, 2023: In the Cotton Bowl Classic, the solidly favored USC Trojans looked to have the game well in hand against the Tulane Green Wave, leading 45–30 with 4:30 to play. Then came the following:
  • On the Green Wave's first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Michael Pratt hit Duece Watts on a slant route, resulting in a 60-yard catch-and-run. Before this, Pratt had only completed two passes all game. Tyjae Spears ran it in for his fourth TD of the night, and the extra point made it 45–37.
  • On the ensuing kickoff, Mario Williams ran toward the sideline to field the kick, but bobbled the ball, which went out of bounds on the Trojans' 1-yard line.
  • Two plays later, running back Austin Jones was stuffed in the end zone for a safety, narrowing the margin to 45–39 with 3:20 left. This was especially damaging to USC because by rule, the team giving up a safety has to kick to the scoring team.
  • 1:25 left: With the Green Wave facing a fourth-and-6 from its own 38, Pratt scrambled for 8 yards to keep the drive alive.
  • 34 seconds: Tulane faced its second fourth down of the drive, this time fourth-and-10. Cue Pratt connecting with Luke Besh on a 24-yard pass play.
  • On the very next play, Pratt hit Watts for 23 yards, bringing Tulane to the USC 6. Watts collided helmet-to-helmet with a USC defender, knocking both players out. (On review, it was ruled not to be targeting because (1) Watts was not "defenseless" and (2) neither hit with the crown of the helmet.)
  • 12 seconds: After an incompletion, Pratt found Alex Bauman in the end zone. The official ruled the pass incomplete, but replay review found that the ball never touched the ground, giving the Green Wave the game-tying TD. The ensuing extra point gave them an improbable 46–45 lead.
  • After the ensuing kickoff, USC tried a play right out of Cal–Stanford 1982, using multiple laterals, but one of the laterals went awry before USC came anywhere near midfield, giving Tulane a stunning win. The win capped off the biggest single-season turnaround in FBS football history, with the Green Wave going 12–2 after having finished the 2021 season 2–10.
• January 14, 2023: The Jacksonville Jaguars host the Los Angeles Chargers in a Wild Card playoff game. The first quarter and a half is an utter disaster for the Jaguars, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing four interceptions leading to a 27-0 deficit, cut to 27-7 after a touchdown at the end of the half. Cue the Jaguars outscoring the Chargers 24-3 in the second half, kicking a game-winning field goal with no time left to win 31-30. This was the third-largest comeback in NFL playoff history, behind the Colts-Chiefs game and Bills-Oilers game above. It was the largest comeback in Jacksonville Jaguars history. It was, somehow, the biggest blown lead in a long history of blown Chargers leads. And last, and perhaps most embarrassing for the Chargers, it was the only time in NFL playoff history that a team with a +5 turnover differential had lost. Many of the above comebacks relied on big-time turnovers. Not this one.
• The rollercoaster first season of NFL legend Deion Sanders in his first major college head coaching job at Colorado in 2023 reached its peak craziness on, appropriately enough, Friday the 13th (of October), as the Buffaloes hosted the Stanford Cardinal, only for Stanford (who entered the game with just one win, plus an embarrassing loss to Sacramento State) to mount three different rallies en route to an upset win. Colorado dominated the first half and racked up a commanding 29–0 halftime lead, and seemingly still had the game under control for the first part of the third quarter, but their quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Deion's son) suddenly went cold, while Stanford's offense started clicking, and the Cardinal rolled up 26 unanswered points to cut the Colorado lead to 3 with 12:29 left in the 4th quarter. Colorado responded with a quick scoring drive to pad out the lead to 36–26. But Stanford scored twice in the final six minutes of regulation to tie the score at 36 and send the game to overtime. Colorado scored first in overtime, taking a 43–36 lead, but Stanford rallied to tie things at 43 and send the game to a second overtime. There, Stanford intercepted a Colorado pass and kicked a field goal to secure the unlikely 46–43 victory, with the 29-point comeback win setting a school record.

Association Football

• The 2005 UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan, a.k.a. 'The Miracle of Istanbul' takes the cake. AC Milan were considered one of the best teams in the world, having multiple FIFA 100 players, a future World Player of the Year and Ballon d'Or winner in Brazilian attacking midfielder Kaká and former Champions League winners in their lineup (in the case of Clarence Seedorf, a player who'd won it three times with three different clubs), and had won the competition in 2003. Liverpool, despite their rich European history, had no FIFA 100 players, no former Champions League winners, etc., and had dragged themselves to the final through sheer determination, a healthy dollop of luck, and some extraordinary performances by their captain and one world-class player, Steven Gerrard, who was at the time on the point of a move to Chelsea. They weren't even going to qualify for the next season's competition. Liverpool went a goal down in less than 40 seconds and were trailing 0–3 at the break. Liverpool responded with a second half performance that shocked the world, scoring three goals in six minutes, holding out under Milan's onslaught for a whole hour of normal and extra time, something that included a double save from Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek that was later voted the greatest Champions League moment of all time, before going on to win 3–2 on penalties. Gerrard stayed at Liverpool for another ten years, becoming a club legend, and Jerzy Dudek and Xabi Alonso (another member of that side, and the scorer of the equaliser) became fan favourites at Liverpool and then at Real Madrid, while Milan got their revenge in the 2007 final, winning 2–1. Even over a decade later, players on both sides still have no idea how it happened.
  • In the 2015-16 Europa League Quarter Final Second Leg against Borussia Dortmund, as with Milan, Liverpool were outside the Champions League spots and had few players of real top class. Dortmund, meanwhile, had comfortably qualified for the Champions League and were challenging Bayern Munich for the German title and had top players throughout their team, including one of the best front threes in Europe. The only reason Dortmund were in the Europa League at all was that they'd had a bad start to the previous season. Liverpool had contained an out-of-sorts Dortmund in Germany and were level at 1–1 on aggregate, with a slight advantage thanks to the away goals rule. Then, they conceded two goals in the first 8 minutes to put them 3–1 down on aggregate, meaning that thanks to the away goals rule, they needed to win outright to go through. They pulled one back in the second half to make it 3–2 (2–1 on the night), then promptly another goal down 4–2 (3–1 on the night). With less than 30 minutes to go, they needed three goals. They promptly got those goals, winning 4–3 on the night and 5–4 on aggregate.
  • They did it again, this time against Barcelona, in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League semi-final that was quickly referred to by the papers as 'the Miracle of Anfield'/'the Miracle on the Mersey'. Losing 0-3 at Camp Nou (Barcelona's first home win against Liverpool; their previous two wins were away at Anfield) with Lionel Messi scoring his first goals against them, they promptly won 4-0 at Anfield with a makeshift front three that they had had to field due to injuries to two of their starters. For context of just how makeshift this was, one of the two replacements was an attacking midfielder, Xherdan Shaqiri, who hadn't played since January, and the other was Divock Origi, who'd spent most of the last two years injured, had never previously scored in the Champions League, and had only scored four goals all season (albeit one of them three days before the match). Oh, and to add insult to injury, just before half-time, their star left-back Andy Robertson was injured (in somewhat suspicious circumstances), forcing James Milner, a right-footed midfielder (albeit one with experience of the position) to move back to replace him. None of this stopped Liverpool from annihilating Barcelona 4-0 to win 4-3 on aggregate. Indeed, it arguably helped, since Origi scored two of the goals, and Gini Wijnaldum, who came on for Robertson and took Milner's place in midfield, scored the other two - in the space of almost exactly two minutes, no less - with Shaqiri chipping in an assist for one of them.
  • Liverpool have a penchant for this, especially in European matches, with the always-noisy Anfield becoming a positive cauldron capable of rattling even the best players. They're known for bringing their A-Game in Europe, even (especially) when technically speaking they are completely outclassed, thriving on ridiculous odds. This is a club that tends to regard a three-goal deficit against a technically superior team as a challenge, as the above three cases show. And these are just three of the more recent examples. Going back in time, in 1976-77 Liverpool were 1–0 down against French champions St. Étienne going into the second leg at Anfield and were consequently written off. Liverpool levelled the tie early, but St. Étienne regained the lead with a vital away goal. Liverpool had to score twice without reply to go through and promptly did, winning 3–1 (3–2 on aggregate), going on to win their first European Cup (later known as the Champions League). And on the way to the 2005 triumph, they needed to win by 2 clear goals against Greek champions Olympiacos to progress from the group stage. Going 1–0 down at halftime, they needed 3 goals. With the score at 2–1, captain Steven Gerrard, after having a spectacular volley ruled out earlier, thundered in a goal ranked as one of the Champions League's best. Because of this, they're sometimes known as Europe's Comeback Kings; after the against-the-odds victory over Borussia Dortmund in 2016, #ComeBackKings was trending on Twitter. In short, Liverpool are not a team you want chasing a game in Europe, nor is Anfield a place where you want to make them do it.
• When a similar event occurred in the Premier League nine years later, between a title-chasing Liverpool and Crystal Palace, (Palace were 0–3 down, scored three goals to equalise in the last ten minutes), game was referred to as "The Miracle of Crystanbul".
• Chelsea vs Stoke City, FA Premier League, 17 January 2009. Chelsea were 1–0 down with two minutes left, however they equalised, then with seconds remaining they scored the winner.
• Manchester United vs Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final, United 1–0 down in injury time, score 2 goals to win the competition.
• Tottenham Hotspur have been on the receiving end of these a few times in recent years. In 2001, they were 3–0 ahead at halftime against Manchester United in a Premiership match and went on to lose 5–3. Two years later, and they led 3–0 at halftime again, against Manchester City, with one of Man City's players having been sent off, and they lost 4–3. Two years ago, they were leading 3–1 away at Chelsea in an FA Cup match with 15 minutes left (although they hadn't led 3–0 this time), before Chelsea scored twice in twelve minutes to salvage a 3–3 draw. Chelsea won the replay and went on to win the competition.
  • In 2018/19, they handed one out in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final (the night after Liverpool's own above-mentioned case of this against Barcelona, which the Spurs manager later admitted they'd used as inspiration) against Ajax - who had dumped reigning champions Real Madrid and favourites Juventus out of the competition in previous rounds. They had lost 0-1 at home, then promptly went 2-0 down on the night, meaning that in the second half, they had to score 3 unanswered goals (which would take them through on the away goals rule). Oh, and star striker Harry Kane was out injured. They responded in style, with striker Lucas Moura getting a hat-trick, including a very late third goal that took them to their first Champions League final.
• San Lorenzo vs River Plate, Copa Libertadores, 8 May 2008. San Lorenzo were 0–2 with two players sent off and only 20 minutes to go and managed to make a comeback and tie the game. Since they had won the first match, they qualified for the quarterfinals.
• A UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie between Chelsea and Liverpool was full of these. Chelsea had won the first leg 3–1 at Anfield, leaving Liverpool needing to win by three goals (or win by two goals scoring more than three). Liverpool had managed to turn over the two-goal aggregate deficit by racing into a 2–0 lead in the first half, needing to score just one more to progress. However, Chelsea came back to lead 3–2 with just fifteen minutes to go and seemingly book their place in the last four. Then Liverpool scored twice in two minutes to lead 4–3 and need just one more goal to go through on away goals. Chelsea then equalised with one minute left to secure a 4–4 draw and progress 7–5 on aggregate.
• In a Second Division match in December 1957, Charlton Athletic were playing hosts to Huddersfield Town (then managed by future Liverpool manager Bill Shankly), and after losing their captain Derek Ufton to injury (at a time when there were no substitutes) after 17 minutes, they were trailing 5–1 with only 27 minutes left, with spectators leaving in droves. Then, in the space of 18 minutes, Johnny Summers scored four goals for Charlton and set Buck Ryan up for a fifth to give Charlton a 6–5 lead; Stan Howard equalised for Huddersfield with four minutes left, but Summers set Ryan up for a second goal with a minute left to give Charlton an astonishing 7–6 win. Huddersfield became the only team in professional football to score six goals in a match and still lose.
• West Bromwich Albion were 3–0 at halftime against West Ham United in the 2010/11 season. The game ended in a 3–3 draw.
• The 2011 League Cup Semi-Final between Birmingham City and West Ham United. After the first half of the second leg had been played, Birmingham were 3–1 down on aggregate, 1-0 down on the night. They pulled it back to 3–3 in the second half and then scored the winning goal in extra time to progress to the final.
• The FA Cup final, 2006, Liverpool vs West Ham. West Ham went 2–0 up thanks to Dean Ashton and a Jamie Carragher own goal. Liverpool striker Djibril Cissé made it 2–1 at half-time, and captain Steven Gerrard equalised shortly after the restart. Then, West Ham left back Paul Konchesky scored a freak goal with a cross-shot (he probably meant it as a cross, but it ended up going straight in the back of the net). The match went into injury time and both teams could barely move. Cue Steven Gerrard, who had looked injured just before that, getting the ball 35 yards out and promptly drilling it into the bottom corner to make it 3–3. As with the Champions League final the previous year, Liverpool won on penalties.
• December 21, 1983. European Championship qualifying match. Spain's only option to enter was to beat Malta by 11 or more goals. By half-time, they were winning 3–1. What happened after? Call it perseverance, determination, or as we like to call it, COJONES, but Spain managed to win 12–1 and reach the final (which they lost to France). This is how national TV broadcasted the twelfth goal by Juan Señor. Possibly the only time a Curb-Stomp Battle could be considered a Miracle Rally.
• February 5, 2011. Newcastle vs Arsenal at St James' Park. Arsenal take an early lead and are 4–0 up after 26 minutes. With less than 25 minutes left, Arsenal are still 4–0 up. Newcastle pulled back to 4–4.
• September 7, 2011. Philadelphia Union trail New England Revolution 4–1 in an MLS game. Philadelphia comes back to tie the game 4–4, with the game-tying goal scored during stoppage time.
• 13 May 2012, the final day of the Premier League season. Manchester City vs. Queens Park Rangers. City has a chance to clinch their first title since 1968 with a win. QPR leads 2–1 going into five minutes of stoppage time. Edin Džeko scores the equaliser in minute 92, but meanwhile, City's crosstown rivals United beat Sunderland to apparently snatch the trophy. Cue Sergio Agüero scoring the winner for City, on the very last kick of the season, to win the championship.
• In the last 16 of the 2012 Champions League, Chelsea were trailing Napoli 3–1 from the first leg, only to win 4–1 in extra time. Then, in the semifinals, they were 2–0 down against Barcelona and down to ten men, and they salvaged a 2–2 draw with a dramatic stoppage time equalizer. (Although a 2–1 loss would still have seen them through on away goals.)
• Arsenal-Reading, October 30, 2012, in the Fourth Round of the League Cup. Reading puts in four goals in thirty-seven minutes to take a 4–0 lead. At the end of the first half, Walcott puts in a goal to send it to halftime at 4–1. In the 65th, Olivier Giroud puts one in, 4–2. Things look over, but in the 89th, Laurent Koscielny puts one in. 4–3 at 90. Four minutes of injury time are signaled. Two minutes of extra injury time are allowed, due to Reading taking their sweet time on a sub. This causes some controversy, but at 90+6, Theo Walcott equalizes at literally the last minute, 4–4 and Full Time is blown. The game is sent to extra time. At 103, Marouane Chamakh puts in Arsenal's first lead of the day at 4-5. Pavel Pogrebnyak manages to equalize for Reading at 115. However, at 120, Walcott puts in his hat trick, putting it up 6–5 for Arsenal. Two minutes of injury time signaled. Then, at 120+2, Chamakh puts in another. Full time blown. Final score, 7–5 Arsenal.
• Teams escaping relegation in the English Premier League sometimes pull one off. In particular, pulling this off having been bottom on Christmas is termed 'The Great Escape', having survived the 'Curse of Christmas' where a Premier League club that was bottom on Christmas would be relegated at the end of the season:
  • West Bromwich Albion in 2004/05 not only became the first team since Sheffield United in 1990/91 to stay up after being bottom on Christmas, they also remain the only team in the Premier League era to be bottom both on Christmas and going into the final day, and still survive. While they were never more than 5 points adrift of safety (which they were during Christmas and as late as March 18), they were still the first to break the curse. Going into the final day, none of the relegation places were decided in the closest relegation dogfight since 1927/28. West Brom were the only team from the bottom four to win, leapfrogging the other three teams and surviving with the lowest-ever points tally (34) in the 3 points for a win era.
  • Sunderland in 2013/14 were bottom, 7 points from safety with 6 games to go. Gus Poyet commented that he needed a miracle in order to survive. Well, there then followed a 2–2 draw with Man City and then wins against Man Utd and Chelsea (at Stamford Bridge!). End result, 13 points scored in those 6 games! As a result, Sunderland stayed up, becoming only the second club to survive the curse. Fittingly, the last team that lost against them during this streak was West Brom. Poyet later remarked that he had "found his miracle."
  • In the 2014/15 season, Leicester City began the month of April 2015 with 19 points from 29 games and 7 points away from safety. They won 7 and drew 1 of their remaining 9 games, roaring back to take 14th in the table and ensure survival for the next season; prior to this, no team with fewer than 20 points after 29 games survived (West Brom had 21 and Sunderland had 25 during their escapes). A few news sources also couldn't help noticing that Leicester's remarkable turnaround began right after the reburial of Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. Incredibly, the team kept the momentum going and went on to surprise virtually everyone by winning the 2015/16 league title ahead of traditional powers Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United. It was one of the most dramatic dark horse victories in English sporting history. This is demonstrated by a strange statistic: Leicester City are the first team since Norwich in 1987–88 and 1988–89, and the first in the Premier League era to be bottom of the table one Christmas, and top of it the next.
• In the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain thumped Barcelona 4-0 at home in the first leg of a last 16 tie. No team had ever recovered from a four-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League. In the second leg, Barcelona scored three goals before PSG hit back to make it 3–1, with an away goal that meant Barcelona now needed to win by five to progress. The next Barcelona goal came in the 88th minute, with two more in injury time to make it 6–1, and a 6–5 win on aggregate.
• In Italy's Serie A for the first time in its history in 2016–17, Crotone, from Calabria, were in the bottom 3 from the 2nd round of the season to the last - they earned only 2 points from their first 10 games, and at the 29th game, they had only 3 wins and 14 points. However, their last 9 games saw 6 wins and 2 draws, and a last-game win over Lazio was accompanied by Empoli losing their final game to already-relegated Palermo, allowing Crotone to overtake them at the last and leave the bottom 3 for the first time since the opening game. Their manager Davide Nicola cycled the length of Italy to celebrate, and in tribute to his teenage son, who was killed in an accident when cycling 3 years earlier.
  • Davide Nicola managed to outdo himself in the 2021/22 season at the helm of Salernitana. When he first came to Salerno as a manager, the Granata were sitting at just 13 points in 23 games with the worst defense of the league, and 8 points adrift from safety. What followed was a string of miraculous results which started with a 2-2 draw against Milan, and a relegation escape that came on the very final matchday: despite getting thrashed 4-0 at home against Udinese, Cagliari's goalless draw against already relegated Venezia meant that Salernitana ended the season just above the drop zone, with 24 points won in 20 matches.
• Atlético-MG had already broken decades as either almost-there or Butt-Monkey in a nailbiting 2013 Copa Libertadores, winning the quarterfinals on away goals and both semifinals and finals on penalties after 0-2 and 2-0 games (the one in last game at the 87th minute!). Then the 2014 Brazil Cup was even more demanding of the supporters, as both the quarterfinals and semifinals went 0-2 in the first game, and 4-1 in the second, with the opponent scoring first and the clinching goal in the last 6 minutes. Perhaps to compensate, the final over Arch-Enemy Cruzeiro was won easily.
• Mexican football had some of them:
  • In 1985, during the PRODE 85 Tournament (the Primera Division season was cancelled due to preparations to 1986 World Cup), Tampico Madero stunned Club America 4-1 in the game in Tampico, while some expected Tampico Madero to raise its first National tournament, Club America made the comeback in Estadio Azteca winning 4-0 and getting 5-4 in aggregate to win the tournament.
  • In 1998, during the Verano 98 tournament, Necaxa had won the game in Estadio Azteca 2-1 to Toluca FC, in the first minutes of the game they put two more goals that could ensure them three championships in a row with an aggregate lead of 4-1, but the Red Devils, abridged by the "Si se Puede" chants of their public make the miracle and scored 5 straight goals to win the game and the tournament with an aggregate of 6-4.
  • In 2013, during the Clausura tournament Club America hosted fellow city rivals Cruz Azul in Estadio Azteca trailing 1-0. Cruz Azul was able to score another goal to put their advantage 2-0 and try to win their first championship since 1999, but a few minutes before the game ends, Arquivaldo Mosquera scored a goal that trailed America one goal to reach the draw, and then, Moises Muñoz a veteran goalkeeper went into the last minutes to score the second goal for Club America. The game went into extra time and finally into penalty shots were Club America managed to beat Cruz Azul and win the championship. The coach of Club America, Miguel Herrera, was promoted to coach the Mexico National Squad the next year.

Baseball

• The all-time record for biggest deficit overcome in a Major League Baseball game is 12 runs, occurring on August 5, 2001. The Cleveland Indians trailed the Seattle Mariners 14–2 in the seventh inning before coming back to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th and win 15–14 in 11 innings. And this was a Mariners team that won 116 games that year, good enough to tie the all-time Major League record. Hear the Indians' radio broadcaster's calls here.
  • The Philadelphia (now Oakland) Athletics also pulled off a 12-run comeback, way back in 1925. Trailing 14–2 and then 15–3, they scored one run in the seventh and 13 in the eighth to beat the Cleveland Indians 17–15.
• The all-time record for biggest ninth-inning deficit overcome is believed to be nine runs, done by the Detroit Tigers in, amazingly, their very first game as a major-league franchise. On April 25, 1901, the Tigers scored ten runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Milwaukee Brewers (not the modern-day Brewers, but the franchise that eventually became the St. Louis Browns and then the Baltimore Orioles), 14–13. The biggest 9th inning comeback in the live ball era (post-1920) occurred on August 21, 1990, when the Philadelphia Phillies scored nine in the top of the ninth to beat the Dodgers 12–11.
• The year before the aforementioned nine-run comeback against the Dodgers in 1990, the Phillies were involved in another rally in a June 8, 1989 regular season game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. After the Pirates started things off by scoring ten unanswered runs at the top of the first, team announcer Jim Rooker predicted that "if we lose this game, I'll walk back to Pittsburgh." Cue the Phillies slowly chipping away at the Pirates' lead over the next eight innings, including two multi-run home runs from the notoriously bad-hitting^note For a bit of context, outside of this game, Jeltz only hit three other homers over his entire career backup second baseman Steve Jeltz to give the Phillies a come-from-behind 15-11 victory and forcing Rooker to participate in a charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh near the end of the season.
• The 2007 Colorado Rockies won 13 of their last 14 regular-season games just to force a tie with San Diego for the wild card lead, made even more unbelievable by the fact that the Padres were one strike away from clinching a playoff spot with one game to spare before Trevor Hoffman, then the all-time saves leader,^note since surpassed by Mariano Rivera gave up a game-tying triple to Tony Gwynn Jr. (for those who don't know, Tony Gwynn Sr. was "Mr. Padre"). Then the Padres took an 8–6 lead in the top of the 13th inning of the one-game playoff. The Rockies won (on an extremely controversial run from Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday; review appeared to show that he never touched home plate and even Holliday had his doubts that he did – Padres fans are still pissed about this and it had fueled the fire of their rivalry). Then they swept their first two playoff opponents for an overall 21–1 run from September 16th to October 15th. Repeat: from the middle of September to the middle of October, the Rockies had 21 wins and only 1 loss. Then subverted in the World Series, where the Rockies were blown away by the Boston Red Sox in 4 games by an aggregate score of 29–10.
• The 2004 ALCS. The Boston Red Sox became the first and only team in baseball history (and only the third team in any North American professional sport) to overcome a three games to none deficit to win a best-of-seven series. To add to the drama, after being thrashed 19–8 in Game 3 to go down 3–0 in the series, the Red Sox were three outs away from being swept in Game 4, and the New York Yankees had on the mound arguably the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history, Mariano Rivera. The Red Sox managed to tie and eventually win Game 4, outlasted the Yankees in a 14-inning marathon in Game 5, then went to New York to take Games 6 and 7 and the series. And as if that wasn't brilliant enough, they did this on their way to Boston's first World Series victory since 1918. Why hasn't this movie been made yet?
  • And then the city of Boston comprehensively and quite spectacularly lost its collective shit. Heck, the entire New England region started whooping and hollering. That series made the actual World Series that year (where the Sox easily swept the St. Louis Cardinals) look anticlimactic. In no small part because in addition to making MLB history, the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry is one of the oldest and fiercest in American sports and they had faced off in the ALCS the year before, where the Red Sox lost in seven games.
  • They pull this again 3 years later in ALCS against Cleveland Indians after winning the first game in Boston the Red Sox then lose the next three games, prompting the Indians to play "It Ends Tonight". It only manages to piss off The Red Sox as they then won the remaining three games (including 12-2 and 11-2 blow out in the last two games) and returning the favor by playing the exact same song for game seven in Fenway Park.
  • The 2013 season was similar. The Red Sox were last in the American League at the beginning of the season. But then, a terrorist bombing occurred during the Boston Marathon, killing three people and maiming dozens. The Sox were instrumental in helping the city rally together, and Boston not only won the World Series (strangely enough, against the St. Louis Cardinals yet again), but it was their first World Series clincher on home turf at Fenway Park since 1918.
• The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" — the 1951 N.Y. Giants may have had the longest Miracle Rally in all of sports, lasting several weeks. On August 11 they were 13½ games back of the Brooklyn Dodgers. They then won 16 straight games from August 12–27, cutting their deficit to just six games. By September 20, it was just 4½ games. Over the season's last 10 days, they won their last seven games to pull into a tie when the season ended, while the Dodgers lost six of their last ten over the same point. Then, in the bottom of the 9th, in the last game of a three-game tiebreaker series, Bobby Thomson hits a walk-off home run to win the pennant. Considered one of the most dramatic moments in all of Baseball history.
• The 1995 Mariners, despite not even winning the ALCS, have two comeback stories to their name endemic to their history as a professional baseball team:
  • In their nearly 20-year-long franchise history up to that point, the Seattle Mariners had had only two seasons above .500 to their name, had never made the postseason, and by August 21st were 13 games behind the American League West-leading California Angels; in other words, an unimpressive record where the most you could typically hope for is to scrape together a winning season. Nonetheless, a colossal Angels collapse (including two 0-9 losing stretches in the span of a month) coupled with a 16-2 Mariners rally allowed for the M's to end the regular season in a tie. The Mariners won the one-game tiebreaker to clinch the division title and advance to the playoffs, a result that looked utterly unrealistic just a little over a month ago.
  • Despite turning a superb comeback in the late season into their first postseason appearance, the team's owners were threatening to sell and move the team elsewhere unless they got a new publicly-financed ballpark, and the Mariners' performance in the playoffs seemed the only means to sway Washington state politicians to intervene with the funds to keep them in Seattle. Playing against the Yankees^note Which had had the best win/loss record in the American League during the strike-shortened previous season and were only one year away from their dominating World Series run of 4 rings in 5 years in a best-of-5 ALDS, the Mariners again found themselves in a deep hole after falling behind 0-2 in the series. Backs against the wall, they won the last three games in a row to defeat the Yankees, including overcoming a 5-run deficit in game 4 and hitting the most clutch walkoff ever batted in the history of the Mariners (if not the entire history of the ALDS) to win game 5 while trailing by a run in the bottom of the 11th. Edgar Martínez's decisive 2-RBI base hit, and play-by-play announcer Dave Niehaus' legendary call, may be the reason the Seattle Mariners still exist today, as shortly after their victory the state legislature held a special session to pass a measure providing funds for a new ballpark. It's known as "The Double."
• On July 14, 1978, the New York Yankees were 14 games behind Boston with a 47–42 record and in fourth place in the division. They then went to take a lead in the division, but Boston didn't just go away. Holding a one-game lead with seven games left, the Yankees proceeded to go 6–1. The Red Sox won all seven, forcing a tie on the final day of the season. The one-game playoff that followed was representative of the season as a whole, with the Red Sox taking an early 2–0 lead, the Yankees bouncing back late to go up 5–2 on home runs by Bucky Dent and Reggie Jackson, and the Red Sox making a rally of their own, but falling just short, 5–4.
• 2008 ALCS Game 5. Up three games to one, the Tampa Bay Rays scored two runs in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 7–0. Book them for the World Series, right? Not so fast! With two outs and a runner on second, the Boston Red Sox got back-to-back singles, followed by a home run. 7–4. Next inning, another home run cuts it to 7–6 with none out, but the next two get out. Double, then single after a 13 pitch at bat. 7–7 game after eight innings. After a double play allowed the Red Sox to escape the top of the ninth without allowing a run, they again proceeded to end up with two out and none on, before a single and an error put a runner on second. After an intentional walk to set up the force, they single in the run to win 8–7 after trailing 7–0 with only seven outs left. They then won Game 6 before finally losing in seven games.
• On September 28, 2011, the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays became two of the most improbable examples ever of teams rallying their way into a playoff spot (and beyond):
  • On August 25th, 2011, the Cardinals were 10½ games back in the NL Wild Card race. In just a month's time, they managed to go 22–8 and, thanks to a 9–17 September collapse by the Atlanta Braves (and a good luck necklace given to manager Tony La Russa by Carlos Santana), they drew even with one game to play. The Cards took care of business against the Houston Astros. The Braves squandered a 3–1 lead with the Phillies plugging single-run innings in the 7th, 9th, and 13th. Cards advance without needing extra innings or a tiebreaker!
    • And then, they went on to beat the heavily-favored Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers to reach the World Series against the Texas Rangers, who had been in the World Series the previous year. In Game 6, the Rangers were one out away from winning the series four games to two, when David Freese hit a triple that tied the game at 7. Then, in the 10th inning, Lance Berkman tied up the game at 9 when the Rangers again needed only one out to win, before Freese homered in the 11th for St. Louis to win the game 10–9. The Cards went on to win the World Series the next day, capping off the Miracle Rally that began just over two months ago.
    • Altogether, the Cardinals had a .006% chance of winning the World Series. And yet they won.
  • At the same time, the Rays, who were 9 games back of the then-division-leading Boston Red Sox on September 1st, won 6 out of 7 games against the Red Sox that month (they went 10–9 otherwise) which, along with the Red Sox's 7–19 (Tampa Bay games included) collapse, resulting in the two AL East rivals being tied for the Wild Card spot heading in to the final day. Tampa Bay rallied from a 7–0 deficit against the New York Yankees to win 8–7 (scoring six runs in the 8th inning and 1 in the 9th before winning in extra innings), while the Sox squandered a 3–2 lead against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the ninth and lost 4–3. The Rays advanced, and Boston's season ended.
  • In 1 hour and 40 minutes, the Red Sox and Braves were out of the playoffs, and the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays were in. A short timeline is below:
    • 8:52 pm Eastern in Tampa Bay: Andruw Jones hits a home run to put the Yankees up 7–0 on the Rays in the fifth inning.
    • 9:34 pm Eastern in Baltimore: The Baltimore-Boston game goes into a rain delay in the seventh inning. The score is Boston 3, Baltimore 2, and if the game cannot resume, it will be declared a rain-shortened Boston victory and the Red Sox will at least get an additional game and would win the wild card outright if Tampa is unable to come back from their 7-run deficit.
    • 9:56 pm Eastern in Atlanta: Philadelphia's Chase Utley hits a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game at 3.
    • 10:17 pm Eastern in Tampa Bay: Yankees' reliever Luis Ayala walks Sam Fuld with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 8th, ending the shutout. The Rays still trail 7–1.
    • 10:23 pm Eastern in Tampa Bay: Rays' third baseman Evan Longoria hits a home run in the bottom of the 8th; the score is now Yankees 7, Rays 6.
    • 10:26 pm Eastern in Houston: Cardinals defeat the hapless Astros 8–0. At this point, they'd need the Braves to lose to have the wild card outright. If the Braves won, they'd have to play an additional game to determine the National League wild-card seed.
    • 10:47 pm Eastern in Tampa Bay: Dan Johnson, pinch-hitting for the Rays, hits a home run to tie the game. That was Johnson's first hit since the first month of the season.
    • 10:58 pm Eastern in Baltimore: Play resumes.
    • 11:28 pm Eastern in Atlanta: Hunter Pence scores in the 13th inning for the Philadelphia Phillies to take a 4–3 lead.
    • 11:40 pm Eastern in Atlanta: Game over. Braves are out, Cardinals are in.
    • 11:59 pm Eastern in Baltimore: The Orioles' Nolan Reimold ties the game, and it's now 3–3.
    • 12:02 am Eastern in Baltimore: Robert Andino hits a game-winning single, Orioles win 4–3; it's the backup shortstop's 7th RBI against Boston in the last eight days. The Red Sox now need Rays to lose to force an additional game for the American League wild-card seed.
    • Just three minutes later...12:05 am Eastern in Tampa Bay: Longoria hits a game-winning home run: Rays 8, Yankees 7. Rays are in, the Red Sox are out.
    • Remember: Tampa Bay was losing 7–0 with six outs to go in Game 162 against the juggernaut Yankees. They had to pull a Miracle Rally just to pull off their September Miracle Rally! It was like a Major League movie come to life (and no team before had ever rallied from such a deficit in the season's final game to get into the playoffs).
    • The Sox, meanwhile, were 89–0 when leading after 8 innings that year, with closer Jonathan Papelbon facing the bottom of the hapless O's lineup with two outs and no one on.
    • This whole ordeal was Harsher in Hindsight for the Rays and Yankees. Both teams lost in the AL Division Series to the Rangers and Tigers, respectively. "Game 162" was meaningless for the Yankees; they had already won the AL East and were in the playoffs win or lose.
    • It's also this for the Braves when you remember that the Cardinals ended up winning the title.
    • And the historical capper: Both Boston and Atlanta set the mark for biggest blown September leads in baseball history. The Red Sox led the Rays for the AL Wild Card by 9 games on September 3rd, the Braves led the Cardinals for the NL wild card by 8.5, and no team had ever squandered such a commanding lead in September, with their mathematical odds of reaching the playoffs each being over 99%. Since the Red Sox are the more famous franchise and were the favorites to win it all after adding superstar Carl Crawford, they grabbed most of the headlines, much to the small consolation of the Braves, who have been one of the main victims in MLB of this trope since the '90s.
• Similar to the 2011 examples, the 2002 Anaheim Angels had a remarkable comeback. In Game 6 of the World Series that year, the Angels were facing elimination. They were down 5–0 to the San Francisco Giants going into the bottom of the 7th inning with San Francisco leading the series, 3–2. Then, Giants manager Dusty Baker removed starting pitcher Russ Ortiz after he gave up back-to-back hits to Troy Glaus and Brad Fullmer. During the pitching change, the fans went into a frenzy when the Rally Monkey appeared on the JumboTron.
  • Believing that the Giants would hold onto their lead, Baker replaced Ortiz with his setup man, Felix Rodriguez, to have him pitch to Scott Spiezio. Spiezio fouled off one pitch right after another before he hit a three-run home run that barely cleared the wall in right field.
  • The rally continued into the bottom of the eighth inning. After Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly held San Francisco scoreless in the top of the eighth, Baker decided to use one of his most effective relievers, Tim Worrell. On his third pitch of the inning, Worrell surrendered a solo home run to leadoff batter Darin Erstad to make it a one-run game. Worrell then proceeded to give up a single to Tim Salmon, and then one to Garret Anderson. After Barry Bonds made an error on the latter hit, Anderson took second while Chone Figgins (who pinch-ran for Salmon) went to third. With nobody out, two runners in scoring position, and their lead now down to 5–4, Baker removed Worrell and brought in his closer, Robb Nen, to pitch to Troy Glaus, hoping that Nen could somehow find a way to preserve the Giants’ slim lead. But, on a 2–1 pitch, Glaus hit a fly ball over Bonds' head for a double, which drove in the tying and go ahead runs.
  • Finally, the comeback was completed when Angels closer Troy Percival retired the first three batters in the top of the ninth to preserve the victory with the final score of 6–5. The Angels then went on to win game 7 the following night, and with it, the World Series.
• Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS saw the Boston Red Sox trailing the California Angels 3 games to 1 and entering the ninth inning trailing 5-2. Veteran first baseman Bill Buckner led off with a single and was removed for his backup, Dave Stapleton, as a pinch runner, which ultimately didn't matter in this game as Don Baylor drove him in with a 1-out homer, but it'll be important later. With two outs and still up by one, the Angels went to Gary Lucas instead of their closer, Donnie Moore, and Lucas put the tying run on, at which point Moore was summoned and promptly gave up a go-ahead home run to Dave Henderson. Yes, go-ahead; California was the home team, and they scored one in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras, where Henderson would again be the hero in the eleventh. The Sox won the series in seven games and Moore, quite sadly, was never the same.
  • Fast forward to game six of the World Series against the New York Mets, and the Red Sox lead 3 games to 2. The game is tied 3-3 after nine innings, but Henderson leads off the top of the tenth with a home run and the Red Sox add another run to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the tenth. The first two Mets batters make outs, leading the scoreboard operator at Shea Stadium to flash a congratulatory message to the Red Sox, but three straight singles make it 5-4 and brings the Red Sox' closer, Bob Stanley, into the game to face Mookie Wilson. Stanley throws a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score, and then Wilson hits a grounder to first base... except Buckner, who is still in the game (asked about why he didn't put Stapleton in after the game, the Sox' manager said he "wanted Buckner to be on the field to celebrate the championship"), can't get his glove down in time and the ball trickles right through his legs, allowing the Mets to win the game. The Mets would then win Game 7 as well to take the championship.
• The 2012 San Francisco Giants pulled this off twice in the playoffs, echoing back to the 2004 Boston Red Sox, although they didn't quite match them. First, in the National League Division Series, the Giants fell behind two games to none against the Cincinnati Reds, with the final three games on the road; no team had fallen behind 0-2 and come back to win in such a scenario. Well, cue the Giants doing it. In the National League Championship Series, the Giants started well, with a 1–1 tie going to St. Louis. However, St. Louis took a 3–1 lead at home. But the Giants rose to the occasion again, winning another three games in a row to clinch a berth to the World Series, where they swept the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series for the second time in three years.
• In the 2012 regular season, the Oakland A's pulled one off. They were down by more than five games with a little more than a month left to play in the AL West, behind the defending division and league champs, the Texas Rangers. Partly due to the Rangers failing, and the A's rising to the occasion, they managed to tie the Rangers in the division race on the second-to-last day (after being down 4 games with 6 to play a week earlier), making the game in Oakland against the Rangers the next day the Division Title game, which they won. However, in their playoff run, they were defeated by the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS.
• It was the second to last game of the 2011 and the Arizona Diamondbacks were down 6–1 to the Dodgers with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 10th. Through the sheer luck of an infield single, the snakes managed to string together hits until the bases were loaded on a 6–3 score. Third baseman Ryan Roberts managed to deposit the first pitch he saw into the stands for a walk-off grand slam. Subverted in that they lost the #2 spot in the playoffs the following night (but not without another near rally).
• In a Minor League game (The A-ball Midwest League, specifically) between the Clinton Lumberkings and Burlington Bees had Burlington take a 17–1 lead in the bottom of the 5th, only for Clinton to score 6 runs in the 6th, 5 in the 8th, and 5 in the 9th to tie the game at 17 and send it to extra innings, with Clinton eventually winning 20–17.
• The 2015 Kansas City Royals were all about this trope. Following a heartbreaking World Series loss in the previous season, they showed utter resilience in fighting back when trailing.
  • In the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros, they fell behind in the series 2–1 going into game 4 in Houston. Following a series of RBIs (including 2 home runs) from Carlos Correa, as well as a solo shot from Colby Rasmus, the Royals faced a 6–2 deficit. The Royals then opened the top of the eighth with five straight base hits off of relievers Will Harris and Tony Sipp, with Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer having RBIs to make it 6–4. The game was tied following an error by Correa, and an Alex Gordon groundout scored the go-ahead run. Hosmer added a two-run home run in the top of the ninth for insurance, and the Royals held on to force Game 5, (which they ultimately won).
    • Next, they took on the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. After winning Game 1, the Royals fell behind Toronto 3–0 in Game 2 but scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings to win 6–3. The Royals eventually won the series in six games to capture their second consecutive pennant.
    • Then, facing off against the New York Mets in the World Series, Kansas City had several big rallies. After a tightly contested game 1, the Royals trailed in the ninth inning 4–3 and were facing dominant Mets closer, Jeurys Familia. With the Mets only 2 outs from winning game 1, Familia surrendered a game-tying home run to Alex Gordon, handing the closer his first blown save since July 30th. The game went on for 14 innings until Eric Hosmer won it with a sacrifice fly.
    • After the teams split the next two games, Game 4 had the Royals doing more of their comeback magic. In the top of the eighth, with New York leading 3–2, Mets pitcher Tyler Clippard got the first out, then walked two straight batters to force manager Terry Collins to bring Familia in early. Eric Hosmer proceeded to hit a ground ball that was misplayed by Mets second basemen Daniel Murphy, which allowed the tying run to score. Mike Moustakas immediately followed with a single that scored another run to put Kansas City up 4–3, and then another run scored on a hit by Salvador Perez. The Royals held the Mets scoreless to win Game 4, putting them only one game away from taking the series. In Game 5, the Royals were held scoreless to a dominant performance from Mets pitcher Matt Harvey. In the top of the ninth, with the Mets up 2–0, Harvey argued with Terry Collins to be allowed to finish the game, despite that he had thrown over 100 pitches. Harvey then gave up a leadoff walk to Lorenzo Cain, who stole second, then scored on a double by Eric Hosmer. Jeurys Familia came in again and retired Mike Moustakas on a groundout that advanced Hosmer to third. The next batter, Salvador Perez hit a ground ball to Mets third baseman David Wright, who threw to first to retire Perez. But Hosmer broke for home the minute Wright threw the ball and scored on a throwing error from first baseman Lucas Duda. Sent into extra innings, the Royals held the Mets scoreless. In the top of the twelfth, Kansas City blew the game open with 5 runs to make it 7–2. The Royals won Game 5, and their first World Series since 1985.
• In the 2016 regular season, the San Diego Padres led the Seattle Mariners 12–2 after scoring 7 runs in the bottom of the 5th... only to watch that lead immediately evaporate as the Mariners scored 5 in the 6th to bring it to 12–7, then 9 in the 7th, at one point stringing together 7 consecutive hits with two outs in the inning. The Mariners ultimately won 16–13.
• In the 2016 World Series, the Cleveland Indians managed to create a 3–1 series lead against the Chicago Cubs. But the Cubs fought back forcing the Series into Game 7, with the Cubs winning 8–7 ending their 108-year drought.

Basketball

• The NC State basketball team that won the 1983 NCAA men's championship was nicknamed "The Cardiac Pack" because they staged a miracle rally with a last-second score almost every single game. At the end of an injury-riddled regular season (though with their entire lineup finally healthy), it was widely believed that the Wolfpack would have to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. They won their three ACC tournament games by the following margins: 1, 7^note overtime, 3, and followed it up with this in the NCAA tournament: 2^note double-overtime, 1, 19^note Though they only led by 4 at halftime, 1, 7, and 2. That's an average margin of victory of fewer than five points.
• March 2, 1974. #4 North Carolina trails Duke 86–78 with 17 seconds left. They end up forcing overtime with a buzzer-beater by Walter Davis. And this was a decade before the three-point line was introduced to college basketball.
• March 6, 2005. #2 North Carolina met #6 Duke at home with a chance to win their first outright ACC regular-season title since 1993, the last time they won the NCAA title. However, they trailed Duke 73–64 with 3:04 left. Offensive rebounds and subsequent put-backs by Carolina's Jawad Williams and Marvin Williams, the latter set up by a Duke turnover, cut the lead to five with two minutes to go. Duke's DeMarcus Nelson then missed the front end of a one-and-one. Sean May then rebounded a miss of his own and was fouled on the put-back. He hit the free throw to make it 73–71 with 1:44 left. Missed jumpers by Lee Melchionni and JJ Redick gave the ball back to the Tar Heels, but Duke's Shelden Williams came up with a huge block to regain possession for the Blue Devils with less than a minute left. Duke inbounded the ball, but David Noel chased Daniel Ewing down from behind and knocked the ball away before he could get a pass off. Raymond Felton came up with it and called time-out, setting up a game-tying possession for the Tar Heels. Unlike what he did a month before on the road against Duke, he went to the hoop and got fouled with 19.4 seconds left. He went to the line with a chance to tie it up. He hit the first free throw, but not the second. He still managed to tip the rebound to teammate Marvin Williams, who took it straight back up and was fouled with 17 seconds left. His shot banked in to put North Carolina ahead; it also set off one of, if not the, loudest reactions in Smith Center history. He hit the free throw to make it 75–73; Duke called time to set up a final play. Redick got the ball, but his 3-pointer rimmed out with 6.7 seconds left. Ewing's desperation jumper with 4 seconds left was an airball; May grabbed the rebound to run out the clock and seal it.
• In Game 4 of the 2008 Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, the Lakers were trailing the Celtics 2–1 in the best-of-seven series after winning Game 3. In Game 4, the Lakers jumped to a high and early lead, going up by 24 at one point in the first half (45–21) and leading by 20 points in the third quarter. Celtics coach Doc Rivers made defensive adjustments, he told his team to play defense, and the Lakers, who'd had trouble completing third quarters, didn't play with the energy they'd brought to the first half. The Celtics chipped away at the Lakers' lead, despite the Lakers' attempts to keep it back up, and Boston won 97–91 to take a 3–1 series lead, which was practically a death sentence for the Lakers' season; only eight teams had come back from that deficit at the time, none of which had done so in the NBA Finals.^note  Here's the complete list, if you're wondering: The Celtics in 1968 and 1981, against the Philadelphia 76ers both times, the Lakers against the Suns in 1970, the Bullets over the Spurs in 1979, the Rockets against the Suns in 1995, the Heat against the Knicks in 1997, the Pistons over the Magic in 2003, the Suns over the Lakers in 2006, and the Rockets over the Clippers in 2015.
• Series comeback for 2016: The Cleveland Cavaliers were down 2–0 and later 3–1 in the NBA Finals. Only 3 teams had come back from a 2–0 deficit to win the NBA Finals (1969 Celtics, 1977 Trail Blazers, 2006 Heat); none had rallied from a 3–1 deficit in the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers were facing the defending champion Golden State Warriors, a team that went 73–9 to set a new record for most regular season wins by one game, had blitzed to a new record of 24 straight wins to open the season, had recovered from their own 3–1 deficit in the previous round (against the OKC Thunder) and had the first unanimous MVP in NBA history, with Stephen Curry capturing his second MVP in as many years. Naturally, as is the nature of this page, the Cavaliers captured all three of the remaining games, with Games 5 and 7 taking place in Golden State's Oracle Arena.
• How could anyone forget Tracy McGrady's miracle 13 points in 35 seconds? With Houston down 76–68, everyone (even the Rockets fans at the arena) assumed that the Spurs would win simply by making their free throws. They did, but McGrady did a lot more. He made a three to make it 76–71 with 35 seconds left. The next trip up, down 78–71, he faked a 3 and got Tim Duncan (a great, intelligent defender) to foul him and HIT THE SHOT as well as the resulting free throw, making it 78–75 with 24.3 seconds left. The next trip up, in true climactic fashion, the Rockets were just barely able to get the ball inbounds to McGrady (with no timeouts and 16.2 seconds left). He drained a highly contested three over Bruce Bowen to make it 80–78 with 11.2 seconds left. On the next trip up for the Spurs, Devin Brown lost the ball; Tracy was (conveniently to almost an uncanny degree) right there to pick the ball up, travel the length of the court, and hit the game-winning three with 1.7 seconds left. Unarguably the quintessential example of this trope. Seems like something out of a movie, doesn't it? Each 3-pointer he hit was tougher and/or more heavily contested than the last, then you throw in the drama of the Rockets having to throw him a jump-ball on the inbound AND the highly improbable occurrence of Devin Brown losing the ball and Tracy being the closest player to it, coming up and burying the game-winner like a cold-blooded assassin. The only thing that could have made it more cinema-like was if McGrady's last shot was at the buzzer.
• In the 2001 NCAA College Basketball contest between Duke and the University of Maryland, Duke was down 90–80 with 54 seconds left and came back to win in what is known as the Miracle Minute.
• Syracuse rallies not once, not twice, not three times, not four, but five times to send the game into another overtime before pulling away in the sixth. The Orange actually led at multiple points during regulation (heck, it was Connecticut that scored the final points of regulation), but each of the first five overtimes had UConn take the lead and Cuse unable to do anything but answer.
• May 7, 1995. The Indiana Pacers are trailing the New York Knicks 105–99 in the final moments of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Then Reggie Miller scores 8 points in 8.9 seconds. Three-pointer, steal, another three, and two free throws. This is a bafflingly incredible feat in and of itself, but teammates, opposing players, coaches, and analysts alike were especially amazed that Reggie had the presence of mind to take two steps back and go for a 3 to tie the game after getting the steal.
• Sacramento Kings @ Chicago Bulls (2009/12/21) This game. Sacramento is down 79–44 with 8:50 left in the third quarter. They execute a 68–19 run to win 102–98. This is the biggest road game comeback in NBA history.
• November 25, 1977: Milwaukee Bucks at Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta leads 111–82 with 8:43 left when Milwaukee goes on a 35–4 run to win 117–115. This is the largest 4th quarter deficit overcome in NBA history.
• November 27, 1996: the Utah Jazz trailed the Denver Nuggets 70–34 at home with 20 seconds left in the 1st half, but outscored Denver 73–33 during the rest of the game to win 107–103. This is the largest overall deficit overcome in NBA history.
• Israeli basketball state cup, 2007–08: European and local juggernaut, Maccabi Tel Aviv (then five-time Euroleague champion, 9-time finalist, 49-times Israeli champion, 39-times Israeli cup holder, with general dominance over the entire league), coming off a ten-win streak (both local league and Euroleague), faced off against Hapoel Jerusalem - who, at the time, was 3rd place in the Israeli league. Like most people had expected, by the end of the 3rd quarter, Maccabi was leading comfortably - about 20 points in her favor. But then, as the 4th quarter began, Hapoel started to score, again and again, stealing every other ball, doing amazing feats (such as a 5'11" point guard stealing the ball from over a 6'9" center) putting up an incredible defense and slicing through the points gap. By the end of the fourth quarter, Hapoel had done a 38–16 run and won the cup, 93–89.
• February 16, 2012. Duke vs. NC State. Duke trailed NC State 61–41 with 11:30 left but came back to win 78–73.
• December 30, 1950. Tulane leads Duke 54–22. Duke then commences the (second-)greatest comeback in NCAA history to win 74–72.
• February 15, 1994. Kentucky at LSU. Kentucky trails 68–37 with 15:34 left. Remember, this was in Baton Rouge. Then, the Wildcats start hitting from three-point land and outscore the Tigers 62–27 the rest of the way to win 99–95.
• February 9, 1999. Princeton at Penn. Princeton opens the game with a 3... and Penn responds with 29 unanswered points. The Quakers are up 33–9 at the half, and 40–13 with 15 minutes left. Then the Tigers started hitting everything and the Quakers became unglued, a little more than 8 minutes later, it's 42–36. And then, with less than a minute left, 50–49 Princeton. Penn had one last chance to win, but a baseline jumper clanged off the rim. While in points it might not match Kentucky's 1994 comeback against LSU, this was in a much lower-scoring game... UK scored more points in its comeback than either Princeton or Penn scored in the entire game.
• February 22, 2018. Drexel trails Delaware 53–19 with 2:34 left in the first half. Drexel then commences the greatest comeback in NCAA history, outscoring Delaware 66–30 to win 85–83.
• Game 1 of the Clippers/Grizzlies playoff series in 2012. The Clippers were down as by much as 27 points (82–55). Coach Vinnie Del Negro almost decided to bench Chris Paul and the other starters and give up the game^note They were still down 95–71 with 8:00 left, but Paul convinced Del Negro to give them a chance to win the game. This was the result. Of special note is Nick Young, who hit three 3 pointers in a row.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder seemed to make a habit out of this during the 2012 NBA Playoffs:
  • Game 1, First Round vs. Dallas Mavericks: Thunder trail 94–87 with 2:16 left, win 99–98.
  • Game 2, Western Conference Semifinals vs. Lakers: Thunder trail 75–70 with 1:47 left, win 77–75.
  • Game 4, Western Conference Semifinals vs. Lakers: Thunder trail 62–49, win 103–100.
  • Game 6, Western Conference Finals vs. Spurs: Thunder trail by as much as 18 and are still behind 63–48 at halftime before winning 107–99.
  • Game 1, NBA Finals vs. Heat: Thunder trail 39–26, win 105–94.
• On April 22, 2012, the Thunder were the victims of a big comeback. They led the Los Angeles Lakers by 16 points entering the fourth quarter before the Lakers rallied to tie it, eventually winning in double overtime.
• The then-recently-added 4-game first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament (don't call them "play-in games"), now known as the First Four, hosted some major dramatics to begin the 2012 tournament, with BYU setting a tournament record for largest deficit ever overcome, beating Iona 78–72 in the second game of the first day after trailing 49–24 at one point in the first half. It wasn't even the most miraculous comeback of the night. In the opener of the tournament, after a rather evenly-played first half, Mississippi Valley State started to pull away, a layup with just over 5 minutes left gave them their largest lead of the game, 53–37. Western Kentucky then held them scoreless for the next three minutes and rallied to win 59–58, the losing team's final two points coming as time expired.
• On January 24, 2013, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) basketball team^*which changed its athletic brand name to "Little Rock" in 2015 was hosting Florida Atlantic University. FAU, at one point, led by as much as 22 points and was still ahead 37–19 at the half, but UALR rallied to win 65–62.
• During Game 3 of the 2002 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics trailed the New Jersey Nets 74–53 at the end of the 3rd quarter (they trailed 65–39 at one point). After getting a very stern (and apparently colorful) talking-to from point guard Antoine Walker, Boston rallied to complete the biggest 4th quarter comeback in NBA playoff history at the time, outscoring the Nets 41–16 to win 94–90. The win gave them a 2–1 lead in the series. The Nets then won the next 3 games, advancing to the Finals and eventual defeat at the hands of the L.A. Lakers.
• In the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Northern Iowa seemed to have Texas A&M dead to rights, leading by 12 with under 45 seconds left. Many teams in the Aggies' situation would accept that their season was over and call off the dogs, but Texas A&M didn't and, with the help of four Northern Iowa turnovers, managed to tie the game and win in OT. The craziest thing? Northern Iowa actually made a basket of their own during this blitz, meaning that A&M actually had to score 14 points to complete the comeback! March Madness indeed.
  • The next weekend, Syracuse did this in the Elite Eight. They were a 10 seed some commentators thought shouldn't even be in the tournament.^note Louisville likely would've been in instead of them, but they self-imposed a postseason ban because of a recruiting scandal. Taking on 1 seed Virginia (a team in the same conference, who had beaten them in the last three regular-season meetings), Syracuse was down fourteen points at halftime. Then the Orange used a full-court press to derail the Cavaliers, and win by six.
• March 2, 2018. #1 Virginia is trailing Louisville 66–62 with a few seconds left in the game. Then things got weird. Virginia’s Ty Jerome was fouled by Louisville's Darius Perry on a 3-pointer with 9 tenths left. He made two shots to make it 66–64. Then, a Virginia player (Mamadi Diakite) committed a lane violation, which made it Louisville's ball. However, Deng Adel committed a travel while trying to inbound the ball, which gave it right back to Virginia. Ty Jerome then inbounded the ball to De'Andre Hunter, who proceeded to bank in the game-winning three at the buzzer to give Virginia an absolutely stunning 67–66 victory.
• In the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, 7 seed Nevada was trailing 2 seed Cincinnati 65–43 with 11:34 left. The Wolf Pack rallied, taking their only lead on Josh Hall's shot with 9.1 seconds left. The 75–73 victory has the second-biggest deficit overcome in NCAA tournament history.
• During a regular season game on Dec 22, 2019, the Dallas Mavericks held a lead of 85-55 over their hosts, the Toronto Raptors, with 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter. After a time-out called by Toronto, the Raptors proceeded to outscore the Mavericks 55-22 in the last 14 minutes of the game to win the game with a score of 110-107, the largest comeback in franchise history and the first 30-point comeback in the regular season^note The L.A. Clippers had a 31 point comeback against the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 playoffs since 2009.
• The 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game is a recent example as North Carolina led 40-25 over Kansas at the half. But the Jayhawks outscored the Tar Heels 47-29 in the second half and defeated North Carolina 72-69.

Ice Hockey

• The famed "Miracle on Ice", the medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics Men's Ice Hockey, where an underdog American team of amateurs and college players took on the reigning Soviet champions (some of whom were active-duty military), coming back from a 3–2 deficit with two goals in the final period, winning 4–3. Why yes, we DO believe in miracles! They went on to do this again in the final match for gold, beating Finland 4–2 after being down 2–1 at the start of the third period.
• The feat of overturning a 3–0 deficit in a seven-game series has been achieved five times in North American sport, and the remaining four have all been in the playoffs for The Stanley Cup, ice hockey's top prize:
  • In 1942, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost the first three games of the Stanley Cup final series against the Detroit Red Wings, only to turn things around in the remaining four games, making the Maple Leafs the only team to overturn a 3–0 deficit in the final series for any major North American sport.
  • In 1975, in only their third year as an NHL franchise, and having finished stone dead last in their first two years, the New York Islanders reached their first seven-game playoff series, playing the Pittsburgh Penguins in their conference semi-final series. The Islanders did not so much as take the lead in their first three games, but then turned the tables and prevented the Penguins from so much as taking the lead in the following four games. (They very nearly repeated the feat against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Conference Finals, losing the first three games but winning the next three before losing the decider.)
  • In the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Philadelphia Flyers lost the first three games to the Boston Bruins. The Flyers proceeded to rally back and win the next three games (with their backup goalie, no less, because the regular starter was injured in Game 4) to force a Game 7. The Bruins struck quickly and rallied to a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game 7, but then the Flyers' coach called a timeout to rally the troops. The Flyers scored a goal before the end of the first period, and then two more in the second to tie the game. In the third period, Boston took a penalty for having too many men on the ice, putting the Flyers on the power play. The Flyers proceeded to score on the power play and hold onto the 4–3 lead, making them not only the third team to win a playoff series after losing the first three games, but also the third team to rally back from a three-goal deficit in Game 7.
  • The 2014 Pacific Division Semifinals pitted the San Jose Sharks against their California rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks romped to a 3–0 series lead with emphatic wins in Games 1 and 2 and an overtime victory in Game 3, but then the Kings came back to win the remaining four games by a combined score of 18–5.
• The Miracle on Manchester. In Game 3 of their best-of-5 division semi-final against the Los Angeles Kings in 1982, the Edmonton Oilers, who were the No.1 seed and were led by such rising stars as Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, rocketed to a 5–0 lead (including two short-handed goals) by the end of the second period. In the final twenty minutes, the Kings pulled level, with three goals coming in the last five and a half minutes and the equalising goal coming with just five seconds left. In overtime, Messier nearly scored a winning goal for the Oilers within seconds thanks to an error of judgment by Kings goaltender Mario Lessard, but it was Daryl Evans who scored the winner for Los Angeles after two and a half minutes. The Kings won the series 3–2 to advance to the division final, where they lost to the Vancouver Canucks in 5 games.
• In the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Boston Bruins had blown a 3–1 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs. In game seven, they were down 4–1 with just over ten minutes left. They scored three goals, including two in the last minute and a half with the goalie pulled, to tie it and won in OT.
• In the national championship game of the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four, Boston University was playing against Miami (the one from Ohio, not Florida...).^note The Ohio school gets its name from its location in the watershed of the Great Miami River, also locally called the Miami Valley. BU had won every game so far that season and was doing flawlessly until that game, when they were down 1-3 in the last period. They scored two goals in the last minute of the game to tie it; they won the game in overtime.
• In the 2016-17 NHL Playoffs' Pacific Division finals, the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks found themselves up against the second-seeded Edmonton Oilers. Going into Game 5, the series was tied 2-2, with both teams winning both away matches. Game 5 started off poorly for Anaheim, who found themselves down 3-0 in the Third Period. Then, with 3:16 left, Anaheim pulled their goalie, and Getzlaf scored one goal to end the shutout. 34 seconds later, Anaheim pulled their goalie again, and Cam Fowler scored from distance to make it 3-2, with 2:41 left to play. Anaheim had a chance. And then, with 15 seconds left to play, a sequence resulted in a mad scramble in front of goal in which Rickard Rakell threw a puck backhanded on goal which slipped through Cam Talbot's legs (in no small part due to Edmonton player Darnell Nurse having inadvertently shoved Anaheim center Ryan Kesler onto Talbot to get him out of the play). The game went to 2OT, in which Ryan Getzlaf found Corey Perry, who buried the game-winner and Anaheim ultimately took the series.
• At the halfway point of the 2018-19 season, the St. Louis Blues were literally dead last in the NHL. As the 2019 calendar year began, they were 15-18-4 and 34 points with the odds of making the playoffs roughly 400-1. Incredibly, the Blues began an astounding comeback, which included a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and finished the season 45-28-9. In the playoffs, the Blues managed to upset the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks then defeat the Boston Bruins to win their first-ever Stanley Cup, playing "Gloria" all the way through. This marks one of the greatest "from cellar to championship" single-season turnarounds in any sport.
• And speaking of the Sharks, they needed a rally to beat Vegas in the first round. They were down 3-1 in the series, before winning games 5 and 6. Then they were down 3-0 halfway through the third period of game 7 when they get a five-minute power play. By the time that power play ended, San Jose led 4-3 (goals scored by Logan Couture six seconds in, Tomas Hertl deflecting an Eric Karlsson shot less than a minute later, Couture again after a further two-and-a-half, and Kevin Labanc). Vegas managed to get a late goal to tie, but then Barclay Goodrow struck gold late in the overtime period to take the defending conference champs out.

Tennis

• At the 1989 French Open, Ivan Lendl, the World No. 1 who was one of the heavy favorites to win the title and had breezed through the competition so far, quickly built up a two-set lead against his fourth-round opponent, the 17-year-old Michael Chang. Chang, however, broke Lendl right back in the third set and proceeded to moonball his way to victory in the final three sets, in spite of suffering severe leg cramps from the fourth set onward. At one key time in the match, Chang went so far as to serve underhand, which threw Lendl off enough for him to win the point. He went on to win the whole tournament as the youngest-ever man to win a Grand Slam.
• The Wimbledon 2011 Quarter Final pitched Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against 6-time winner and arguably the greatest player of all time, Roger Federer. Federer had beaten Tsonga before and built up a convincing 2-set lead. The commentators were already talking as though Federer had won. Then Tsonga took the third set. And the fourth. And then he finished it off, 3–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 6–4. This was the first time that Federer had ever lost a match after going two sets up. It was the shock of the tournament.
• Federer has had his fair share of miracle rallies too, coming back from two sets to love 10 times in his career, most notably during Wimbledon 2016 where he also had to save three match points against Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals.
• Novak Djokovic has become well-known for his ability to pull stunning comebacks out of nowhere just when things look hopeless for him. The best example of this is his 2011 US Open semifinal against none other than Roger Federer: Federer won the first two sets only for Djokovic to win the next two sets with relative ease. Federer wasn't quite finished yet, however, and he surged to a 5–3 lead in the fifth set with two match points lined up... only for Djokovic to save both match points — the first one with an outrageous, go-for-broke return winner that left Federer in complete disbelief — and proceed to reel off four straight games to clinch a spot in the final. The real kicker? This was essentially a more dramatic repeat of his 2010 US Open semifinal heroics, where he also saved two match points against Federer to make the final.
  • History repeated again for Djokovic and Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final where Federer served for the championship at 8-7 in the fifth set and reached 40-15 to give himself two match points. When Djokovic saved these two match points, pretty much every Federer fan watching went, "Oh, Crap!, is Djokovic really going to do this again?" He did.
• At the 2017 US Open, Juan Martín del Potro was visibly ill with the flu in his fourth-round match against Dominic Thiem and went down 1-6 2-6 in the blink of an eye. It looked like he wouldn't last 20 more minutes on the court, and he even admitted in his post-match presser that he had been planning to retire after the second set... but then the crowd, who was almost universally in support of him, began rooting even harder for him to stay in the match and he did — all the way to a fifth set where he saved two match points to ultimately win.
• In women's tennis, Serena Williams is well-known for this, the most impressive example probably being the match against Victoria Azarenka in the 2010 Australian Open quarter-final, where she went on to win having trailed 4-6, 0-4 at one point. In fact, Serena Williams is the only tennis player other than Djokovic who has won multiple majors after saving match points in the Open Era.
• In the 2020 Olympic Games, Luisa Stefani and Laura Pigossi got to a medal against all expectations running on many of those. After a tough but straightforward round 1, round 2 had them losing the first set and having to deny 4 match points in the tiebreak. The quarterfinals started off wrong with 1-6, but a full-on comeback put them in the semifinals. There they were on the opposite side, opening 4-0 in the first set but losing it all. And then the duo repeated round 2, coming from a 5-9 tiebreak to an 11-9 win and the bronze.

Other Sports

• Julio César Chávez, having been badly outboxed by Meldrick Taylor and needing a knockout to win their bout, manages to knock Taylor down with 15 seconds left in the final round. Taylor gets up but stares blankly at the ref when asked twice if he was ok and could continue, so the ref stops the bout... with two seconds left.
• You want to see a real-life equivalent of the Racing Game examples in The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard? Watch the 2008 Olympic Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay. This was thought to be the toughest obstacle to Michael Phelps's quest for eight gold medals, as the French were favored over the US. While the US had Phelps lead off the race, France saved their best swimmer, world record-holder^note Official individual world records can only be set in the first leg of a relay or in a non-relay. Bernard held the 100m record as of the start of the race, though it was broken in the first leg of this relay by Australia's Eamon Sullivan. Bernard took back the record in the semifinals of the 100m free a few days later only to immediately have Sullivan best him again—with a time of 47.05 seconds Alain Bernard, for the anchor. The French also had a solid lead as Bernard entered the pool. Jason Lezak then put up a performance for the ages, finishing his split in just 46.06 seconds, more than a full second better than the 100m world record at the time, to get the USA the win by a mere .08 seconds. France would have their revenge in the 2012 Olympics, with USA's Ryan Lochte being handed a lead much like Bernard's and France pulling off the win.
• State of Origin is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between teams representing the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. Queensland have managed at least two miracle rallies in the tournament's history:
  • In Game II in 1989, Queensland lost players to a broken leg, a fractured eye socket, an elbow injury, and a bruised shoulder to completely use up their substitutes for the match; a fifth player, Bob Lindner, played on with a fractured ankle until five minutes before the end, leaving Queensland with 12 men. They still held on for a win.
  • In Game I in 1994, New South Wales led 12–4 with five minutes remaining. Willie Carne scored a try for Queensland, and the successful conversion made it 12-10; New South Wales kept Queensland pinned in their own half until an unlikely series of passes on the final set of the game led to a try by Mark Coyne with just 32 seconds left on the clock. Watch Coyne's try here. (New South Wales recovered from their loss by winning Games II and III to win the series.)
• In Cricket, Michael Bevan of Australia made his reputation by doing this repeatedly. The most famous instances were:
  • The New Years Day One Day International at the Sydney Cricket Ground against the West Indies in 1996. With the Australians at one stage 6 for 38 chasing 173, his unbeaten 150-minute 78 got the Australians over the line with a four on the last ball of the innings.
  • Two matches in the 2003 World Cup: In the final group game against England, he came in with Australia struggling at 48 for 4. He then was joined by Andy Bichel at 135 for 8 with 70 runs still required to win. Bevan finished on 74 not out and Bichel 34 not out as Australia managed to win in the final over. In the Super 6 stage, he made 56 against New Zealand helping Australia recover from 84 for 7, again batting with Bichel, to help Australia win.
  • The emergence of Afghanistan as a cricketing nation surely qualifies. In 2008, they were in Division 5 of the World Cricket League and fought their way up the ranks to compete in the qualifier for the 2011 World Cup. They didn't make it then, but they did gain ODI status in 2013 and qualified for the next World Cup in 2015. In 2017, they were granted Test Match status, qualifying for the highest level of the game in less than a decade.
  • Ben Stokes almost singlehandedly rescued England in the third Ashes test of 2019 - after it seemed as though the team might collectively rally. Having bowled Australia out for 179 in just over fifty overs in the first innings England seemed to have totally blown it with a disastrous reply of 67 all out. Australia returned to bat piling on 246, leaving England needing either 359 to win - their highest chase ever in a Test match (dating back to the 1870s) or to bat for the remaining two a half days to draw. Stokes came in at number five, with England 141 for 3. He and Joe Root batted out the rest of the third day, barely scoring and simply defending. On the fourth day England reached 245 for 4 before Stokes lost five partners in quick succession leaving him with last man Jack Leach and another 73 runs still to get. With the draw completely ruled out the only option was a Death or Glory Attack, slogging everything to the boundary, while Leach desperately farmed the strike to Stokes whenever possible - including a crucial single at the start of an over. After six sixes, one dropped catch, one missed run out and one law decision Australia could not overturn because they had used all their reviews, England won. Stokes 135 not out and Leach taking one of the most famous 1 not out scores in Cricket history.
• In forms of cricket where each team bats twice, such as in Test cricket, they would normally alternate batting and fielding. However, if the team that bats second falls significantly behind in runs after the first innings, to prevent it from playing for a draw by stalling out its second innings, the opposing captain may have it follow on (take its second innings after the first, thus batting first for the second innings). This trope comes into play when a team that was made to follow on goes on to win the match by performing much better than the opposing team in the second innings, which has so far only happened four times in Test cricket, most recently in February 2023 when New Zealand edged out England by one run.
• 2013 America's Cup sailing, first to nine wins. Oracle Team USA starts with a two-race penalty for rules violations in a warmup event. Team New Zealand win eight of the first eleven races for a score of 8–1 and need one win to take the Cup. Oracle win eight straight races to claim a 9–8 victory.
• Australian Rules Football:
  • Most famously, the 1970 Grand Final, where Carlton came back from 44 points down at half-time (73-29) to beat Collingwood by 10 points (111-101). The game is something of a legend in Australian Rules circles, mainly thanks to Ted Hopkins' performance in the second half, plus Carlton's use of handpassing (rather than kicking) to move the ball during their comeback.
  • Essendon against North Melbourne in 2001, where the Bombers trailed by 69 points early in the second quarter (91-22), but clawed back to take the lead in the fourth quarter, ultimately winning by 12 (171-159). It's the single biggest comeback in VFL/AFL history.
  • While only the eighth-largest comeback at the time, when the Brisbane Lions came back from 52 points to beat the Geelong Cats 103-98 in 2013, they got the go-ahead goal after the siren — prompting the commentator to immediately dub it the "Miracle on Grass".
  • In 2014, Richmond were at one point on 3 wins and 10 losses. They won their last nine games of the regular season to gain entry into the finals with a record of 12–10. They ultimately won the 2017 Grand Final against heavy favorites Adelaide, leading to their golden age with two further premierships in 2019 and 2020 before fizzing out in 2021 (while Adelaide never recovered and later got a Wooden Spoon).
  • The halfway point of 2021 Grand Final between the Melbourne Demons and Western Bulldogs was at 39.47, and everyone assumed the Bulldogs would win given the supposed "Curse of Norm Smith" that kept Melbourne from winning a premiership since 1964. As the third quarter began, the Bulldogs kicked several goals to get a 19-point lead, only for Melbourne to gain the upper hand, and kick eight goals to end the third quarter on 83.59, and then another nine goals in the fourth quarter to win the match at 140.66 and score their first premiership in 57 years, breaking the curse in the process.
• In the 2009 Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird went from a distant last at the backstretch to winning by over six lengths.
• The United States Men's curling team started off the 2018 Winter Olympics with a 2–4 record and on the brink of elimination. They would go on to win their next five games, including two games against Canada, to win the United States' first gold medal in curling.
• In rugby union, New Zealand are prone to pulling this off against other teams often due to their replacement bench usually being far superior to that of their opponents. However, this is turned on their head at times, such as against the British and Irish Lions during the latter's 2017 tour to New Zealand. Having lost the first match of the series, the Lions rallied to win the second match after trailing for much of it, being as many as 9 points behind with 22 minutes remaining, and after trailing the third match 6-12 at the break similarly rallied to salvage a draw, thus tying a series that they had led for just three minutes. Both of France's wins against New Zealand in the World Cup also count; in the 1999 semi-final, New Zealand were leading 17-10 at the break and had scored another try after the break before France shocked them with 33 points (New Zealand's consolation try at the end was just a footnote) to ultimately win 43-31, and in the 2007 quarter-final, they'd trailed 3-13 at the break (with the 3 points being right at the end of the first half, so they'd trailed 0-13 before then) and came back to win 20-18, resulting in New Zealand being knocked out of the quarter-finals for the first (and so far only) time.
• The 2018 Vista Ridge HS marching band that won the UIL 6A state championship (Texas's most prestigious band competition). When the season began, they were out of finals (top 12) consideration, but they started to appear on radars when they won their area convincingly. At the Bands of America San Antonio superregional, a competition with a similar lineup as the state championship taking place a couple of days beforehand, they placed 7th in prelims and jumped to 4th in finals. At the state championship prelims, they placed 2nd, 2 points behind Flower Mound HS, the defending champion that also won both rounds at BOA. Then, after a finals performance that apparently had multiple people in the judge's box in tears, they won the competition, ending a two-decade-long streak of a handful of DFW area bands holding the title in the top caption.
• The 2022 MotoGP season shown one of the biggest Miracle Rallies in the history of motorsport, with Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia coming back from a 91-point deficit at the season's halfway point on defending champion Fabio Quartararo to win his first championship in the top class of motorcycle racing and the first all-Italian world championship since 1972.

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