As part of our celebration of America 250, MLB's content team has created 25 top 10 lists that capture the plays, people, rituals and moments that make baseball America’s game. We’ll be revealing five lists per week over the course of five weeks.
1. José Bautista
2015 ALDS Game 5 vs. Rangers
It's a bit funny that one of the most iconic bat flips was really more of a throw, but it was well earned either way. José Bautista's towering three-run blast functionally completed a comeback for the Blue Jays, who'd dropped the first two games of the ALDS and had to win three consecutive elimination games to get past the Rangers in their first postseason series since the 1993 Fall Classic.
2. Tom Lawless, the first bat flip
1987 World Series Game 4 vs. Twins
When he came to the plate in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series -- facing prime Frank Viola in a 1-1 game -- Tom Lawless had one Major League home run to his name, hit three years earlier. For someone with so little experience in a time before the bat flip had become so prevalent, he certainly made the opportunity count after hitting a three-run shot to make it 4-1 (in an eventual 7-2 victory.)
3. Junior Caminero LIDOM Final
2024-25 LIDOM Championship Game 7
Have you ever seen a 40-foot bat flip? LIDOM is a haven for exuberant baseball, but even by its standards, Junior Caminero's celebration after hitting what would be the game-winning moonshot for the Leones del Escogido in the final game of the 2024-25 championship series was epic. (Not to be outdone, his resulting trot around the bases also took a full minute. Think he was having fun?)
4. Rhys Hoskins bat spike in 2023
2022 NLDS Game 3 vs. Braves
A pivotal Game 3 with the NLDS tied at a game apiece, facing a rival in the Braves (and phenom Spencer Strider) in the first postseason game at Citizens Bank Park since 2011, emotions were running pretty high in Philly. Then Rhys Hoskins hit a rocket of a three-run homer in the 3rd and punctuated it with a max-effort spike of his bat. It's a minor miracle CBP is still standing four years later.
5. Yordan Alvarez walk-off
2022 ALDS Game 1 vs. Mariners
Walk-offs in the postseason obviously hit different. That this one came against a division rival to complete a massive comeback (the Astros had fallen behind 4-0 early) only made it a bigger moment, hence Yordan Alvarez's bat flip into his own dugout. Getting off to such a good start probably isn't why the Astros won the 2022 World Series, but it definitely didn't hurt.
6. Manny Ramirez 2007 ALDS
2007 ALDS Game 2 vs. Angels
Manny Ramirez basically hit his walk-off three-run homer in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS into space. In the moment, it felt a bit like his bat, which was gone almost on contact in one smooth motion, had to have sailed about as far. After over four hours of baseball (in a nine-inning game, how times have changed), nothing could have been more cathartic for the Fenway faithful.
7. Yoenis Cespedes in Game 3 of 2015 NLDS
2015 NLDS Game 3 vs. Dodgers
After unloading on a massive swing, sometimes a quiet bat flip makes the biggest impact. It would seem that Yoenis Cespedes knew that -- or, perhaps, after giving the Mets a 10-3 lead in the 4th, anything more would have felt gaudy. This home run actually ended up being the real difference -- it helped keep the Mets out of reach even as the Dodgers fought back through the end of a 13-7 win.
8. Wilyer Abreu in the 2026 WBC
2026 WBC Quarterfinal Game, Venezuela vs. Japan
Wilyer Abreu hit his tide-turning three-run home run in the quarterfinal round of the 2026 WBC so recently, both the ball and his bat are probably still airborne. The possibility of Team Venezuela taking home their first championship truly took shape with Abreu's second-deck bomb against a then-undefeated Team Japan, and nothing could have captured the thrill quite like the height on this toss.
9. Willson Contreras
Sept. 25, 2020 at White Sox
A critical moment? Maybe not -- it was a regular season game in late 2020 between teams that had already clinched. But you had to make your own fun in those empty stadiums, and Willson Contreras may well be the only player whose tossed bat and home run ball were caught soaring through the air in the same frame, so powerful were the flip and the swing, respectively.
10. Lotte's Jung Hoon
Aug. 10, 2022, Lotte Giants at Kiwoom Heroes (KBO)
Jung Hoon spent 16 years playing for the Lotte Giants of the KBO, a league that has long celebrated the bat flip and made it an art form all its own. That artistry is evident here, not least because Jung was apparently knocked badly off-balance by the pitch. Down to one knee -- invoking Reggie Jackson, to the American eye -- the veteran still sent his bat perfectly tumbling off-screen.
Honorable Mentions
• Fernando Tatis Jr. had an epic bat flip after he hit a three-run homer for Team Dominican Republic against Team Venezuela in the 2026 WBC. Watch >>
• Shohei Ohtani walked off the D-backs in 2025 with a three-run home run and capped it with the best bat flip of the season. Watch >>
• Barry Bonds tied Mark McGwire's then-single-season home run record with his 70th homer in 2001 and had a great bat flip, to boot. Watch >>
• Albert Pujols had a great bat flip after he walked off the Nationals with his 41st homer of the season in 2009. Watch >>
• Bryce Harper had fantastic bat flip after he crushed a ball to the second deck in his homecoming to Nationals Park in 2019. Watch >>
• Cody Bellinger delivered a fantastic bat flip after he crushed a go-ahead (and eventual game-winning) solo homer in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS. Watch >>
• Asdrubal Cabrera hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 11th inning and followed with an epic bat flip for the Mets in a crucial game in the stretch run in 2016. Watch >>
• Hung-Chih Kuo only had five MLB hits and one career homer as a pitcher, but he had a bat flip on that homer in 2007 that even drew admiration from Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully (who had been broadcasting Dodgers games since 1950) ... and it was third of back-to-back-to-back homers on three straight pitches. Watch >>