As the Mets and Cardinals prepare for game seven of the National League Championship Series, I am left to wonder if we will get more magic game seven moments like Aaron Boone's 11th inning home run in the 2003 ALCS, two balls skipping over Fred Lindstrom's head—one in the twelfth inning that lost the game—in the 1924 World Series, Jack Morris's ten-inning shutout in the 1991 World Series, Snodgrass's muff in the 1912 World Series, Maz's homer in the bottom of the ninth in the 1960 Series, and Francisco Cabrera's two-out game-winner in the ninth in the 1992 ALCS.

Great moments all, but no one ever mentions the Braves 15-0 drubbing of the Cards in the seventh game of 1996 NLCS or the Royals anticlimactic 11-0 game seven win over the Cards in the 1985 Series. How about Johnny Kucks and the Yankees pummeling Don Newcombe and the Dodgers 9-0 in the 1956 World Series, the Bums last playoff game in Brooklyn? Nope, it never gets a mention even with Yogi Berra hitting two homers and Moose Skowron hitting the first grand slam in World Series history.

So does Game Seven live up to its billing or is it just another playoff game that gets over-hyped? I know the "winner takes all" quality adds another layer to the game, but does game seven actually live up to those expectations? Let's call it the Chuck D theory. You know, "Don't believe the hype."

Well, how does game seven compare to other playoff games? Does it produce closer, and therefore, more exciting baseball games? One would assume that the teams are more closely matched given that they have to go to the full slate of games to determine a winner. They should be the closest games of a series, at least on average, right?

Let's put it to the test. Below are the average scores for each game in a five-, seven-, and nine-game playoff series. For each the average margin of victory and number of games are also listed. At the bottom are the overall averages, the average in the final game of series in which the full slate were played (i.e., 5 games in a 5-game series, 7 in a 7-game series), and finally the average in deciding game in all series:

(Note: * = includes two tie ballgames, **=includes three ties)

Apparently, game seven has produced the largest margin of victory on average (3.57 runs) of any game in a seven-game series. It's the only game of the seven in which the losing team scores less than two runs on average.

The average margin of victory in a "full slate" game is slightly closer overall than the average deciding game (3.14 runs vs. 3.21 runs), but that is largely due to game five numbers in a five-game series. In those games on average, the winning team just nudges past the loser by 2.38 runs (5.19-2.81). That's the lowest average margin of victory for any game in a five- or seven-game series.

So Game Seven has created some great moments, but there's no reason to expect anything more than any other playoff game. That might especially be the case when Oliver Perez and Jeff Suppan constitute the pitching matchup.

Also, the Mets should be happy to have the homefield advantage for game seven, but if history means anything, again, homefield means nothing more in game seven than in any other game. Actually, game one has been the one most dominated by the home team:

Finally, I leave you with the all the one-run wins in a game seven. Let's hope tonight's game is good enough to join the list: