The New York Yankees have the most storied winning history in Major League Baseball.
The result that might take the cake, though? The Yankees once won a game that they were outscored 7-5. At the end of that night against the Washington Senators, the Yankees trailed — if you’ll forgive the awkward ordering here — 5-7. But they won.
It’s a line that recently trended on social media and had fans wondering what happened:
One of my favorite line scores of all time: the Yankees won, 5 to 7. https://t.co/gapKSHSJP1
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) October 13, 2026
We’re here to help you understand what happened on the bizarre night of Sept. 30, 1971 in Washington, D.C.
How Did Yankees Win 5-7?
The Yankees won by that score due to a late-game forfeit by the Senators.
There were two outs in the ninth inning when the home fans at RFK Stadium stormed the field and began to vandalize it.
The Senators were leaving the city and moving to Texas after the season — they eventually became the Rangers.
Fans weren’t pleased, though, and in what seemed to be a planned maneuver, they took over the playing surface with the Yankees batting in the top of the ninth, down to their last out, trailing 7-5.
The umpires determined that it was a forfeit, and so the Yankees won.
A forfeit that happens before a game goes in the books as a 9-0 win. This, though, happened after 50 outs of baseball had been played — eight full innings plus two outs in the ninth.
Rather than erase those stats from the books, they stick around.
Which means that the final box really does show that the Yankees scored five, the Senators scored seven, and yet the Yankees won.
Box Score Details
It’s always fun to break down old baseball box scores, so let’s dig in.
The Yankees made five errors, which will sound painfully familiar to fans of the 2026 team.
Rusty Torres, Bobby Murcer and Roy White all homered for the Yankees. Torres, White, John Ellis and Thurman Munson all notched two hits apiece.
Pitching for the Yankees were Mike Kekich and Jack Aker — and no winning pitcher was awarded, a box score rarity.
The Senators’ most notable name was the big slugger Frank Howard, who hit their lone home run in this game. Dick Billings led the Washington offense with three hits, and Dave Nelson added two.
It was the final game of the year, and the win gave the Yankees an 82-80 record, while the Senators finished 63-96.
The best stats for that season for the Yanks belonged to Murcer, who ended the year hitting .331 with a .969 OPS.
That was Rusty Torres’ MLB debut season, and he ended hitting .385 in a nine-game sample size. He never lived up to that fast start again. But he and his teammates can always say they won a game 5-7.
How Yankees Once Won a Game 5-7