Underdog stories are all over sports history, but some upsets are so epic they make history. When a match that was supposed to be a stitch-up ends with an unexpected result, the outcome can become a story that gets retold for decades.

The Shot Heard Round the World

A tight 1951 NL season has ended in a tie between the Dodgers and the Giants and gone to a three-game playoff the Brooklyn Dodgers are favored to win. Game 3 would decide the pennant, and the Dodgers spent most of the game winning. The Giants were all but finished.

That's when Alvin Dark managed a single, followed by Don Mueller. Whitey Lockman followed with a double to left-center field, bringing Dark home and making the score 4-2. When Bobby Thompson came up to bat, Ralph Branca tried a straight fastball that Thompson drove deep left for a walk-off homer. The Giants were 5-4, the game was over, and the Shot Heard Round the World moved the Giants into the World Series.

The Miracle on Ice

Hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics wasn't supposed to be exciting. The United States had cobbled together a team of college kids and sent them to Lake Placid against a Soviet team that hadn't lost a single game in 12 years. Shockingly, the first period tied with a last-second goal the Soviets actually protested.

The Soviets came to the second period swinging and made the score 3-2. An American penalty shot tied the game in the third, followed by Mike Eruzione pulling a 25-foot wrist shot to take the lead. The last 10 minutes were all about American defense, and the game ended with spectators pouring onto the ice to congratulate both teams for arguably the greatest hockey upset ever.