Who won baseball's 1997 World Series, beating the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 3?

Florida Marlins won baseball’s 1997 World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians four games to three.

The championship was the Marlins’ first, coming only their fifth season as a franchise. Florida entered the postseason as the National League’s first wild-card team to reach the World Series, while Cleveland returned to the Fall Classic after losing to Atlanta in 1995.

The decisive Game 7 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami was tied 2–2 after nine innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Edgar Renteria hit a walk-off single that scored Craig Counsell, giving Florida a 3–2 victory. Livan Hernandez, who won the Series MVP award, anchored the Marlins’ pitching staff, and Jim Leyland managed the club.

A common mix-up is the franchise’s name: the team was called the Florida Marlins in 1997 and later became the Miami Marlins in 2012. Florida also won the World Series again in 2003, defeating the New York Yankees, but the 1997 title was the franchise’s first.