History Main / DownToTheLastPlay

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Last Man", Kembleford is playing a vital cricket match for ownership of the local cricket ground. With three balls left and six runs needed to win, the opposing team engages in some UnnecessaryRoughness to knock out Kembleford's star player with a cricket ball to the head. Kembleford already being a man down, Lady Felecia goes in as last man, and hits a six on the final ball.

** In the 1998 UsefulNotes/WorldRallyChampionship season's final rally at Great Britain, Mitsubishi's Tommi Mäkinen had his championship hopes seemingly dashed when he retired on the first lap of the rally. Toyota driver Carlos Sainz Sr. was about to lock the championship after arriving in the final stage of the rally in fourth place and he was still in fourth in the final kilometer of the rally when the engine of his Toyota Corolla WRC failed with just ''300 meters to go'', automatically handing the title to Mäkinen.
** At the 2020 Super GT season finale at Fuji Speedway, the [=KeePer=] TOM'S Toyota Supra team were dominating the race and was on track to secure the title for both them and driver Ryo Hirakawa when they ran out of fuel ''on the last corner of the last lap of the race''. This allowed championship rival Team Kunimitsu's Raybrig NSX to steal the title on the final stretch to the line, giving them the perfect BittersweetEnding for their long-time sponsor Raybrig who exited the series at the conclusion of the 2020 season after sponsoring the team for [[LongRunners 24 consecutive seasons]].

* 2007 Russian Premier League season had Zenit St. Petersburg being ahead of Spartak Moscow in a hot race (Spartak had last won title in 2001, while Zenit was the champion only once, '''in 1984'''). While Spartak was beating Dynamo Moscow (their cross-city rivals), Zenit had one-ball lead in match versus Saturn Ramenskoye. Then, Zenit has their goal saved by Alejandro Dominguez, '''attacking midfielder''' (he flicked the ball with his head), narrowly averting said trope and making St. Petersburg side the champions. It became the first of many Russian titles for Zenit. For Dominguez, it was the most memorable play for St. Petersburg team (while he is the legend for other Russian team - Rubin Kazan).

* 2007 Russian Premier League season had Zenit St. Petersburg being ahead of Spartak Moscow in a hot race (Spartak had last won title in 2001, while Zenit was the champion only once, '''in 1984'''). While Spartak was beating their Dynamo Moscow (their cross-city rivals), Zenit had one-ball lead in match versus Saturn Ramenskoye. Then, Zenit has their goal saved by Alejandro Dominguez, '''attacking midfielder''' (he flicked the ball with his head), narrowly averting said trope and making St. Petersburg side the champions. It became the first of many Russian titles for Zenit. For Dominguez, it was the most memorable play for St. Petersburg team (while he is the legend for other Russian team - Rubin Kazan).

* An infamous example is the basketball final at the 1972 Olympics. When the time expired, the USA had a 50–49 lead against the Soviet Union. However, the referees added three seconds back to the clock on the direct order of the head of FIBA, who had no authority to do so (the FIBA head claimed the Soviets had attempted to call time out prior to the last free throw). After the Soviet shot failed, the referees added three MORE seconds back to the clock due to an error in restarting the clock. In this three seconds--on their third chance to win the game--Soviet center Alexander "Sasha" Belov scored a basket, winning the team the gold medal. The Americans refused to accept the silver and filed a protest, but it was denied. It was the first loss ''ever'' for the US Olympic basketball team. To this day, the American players from that game still refuse to accept the silver medals, and at least one has left it in his will that his family can never accept the medal after he dies.

* In what may be the most shining example, the 1983 NC State Wolfpack's improbable run that earned them the nickname "Cardiac Pack".[[note]]Because they put fans into cardiac arrest before finally winning.[[/note]] Ranked 5th in the ACC (which consisted of 9 teams at the time), they had to win the conference tournament to even ''qualify'' for the [=NCAAs=]. They proceeded to win against Duke 71–70 on free throws with time expired. Forced double overtime on last-second shots each time against North Carolina before finally winning 91–84, and again on a last second shot against Virginia 81–78. They then proceeded to the NCAA Championship game by winning 4 of their 5 games by 2 points or less. In the championship game, against heavily-favored Houston, they once again went down to the absolute wire, with Derrick Whittenburg heaving a desperation 30-footer as time was running out, which seemed like it would fall short until Lorenzo Charles caught it and dunked it with :01 left, giving the Wolfpack the 54–52 upset and the title. This remains the only pre-64-team NCAA tournament image still shown as part of 'great moments' intros. Last second shots in 7 of 9 games to win a title!

* In what may be the most shining example, the 1983 NC State Wolfpack's improbable run that earned them the nickname "Cardiac Pack".[[note]]Because they put fans into cardiac arrest before finally winning.[[/note]] Ranked 5th in the ACC (which consisted of 9 teams at the time), they had to win the conference tournament to even ''qualify'' for the [=NCAAs=]. They proceeded to win against Duke 71–70 on free throws with time expired. Forced double overtime on last-second shots each time against North Carolina before finally winning 91–84, and again on a last second shot against Virginia 81–78. They then proceeded to the NCAA Championship game by winning 4 of their 5 games by 2 points or less. In the final game, they managed a 30-foot heave as time was running out, that was caught and dunked for a win as time ran out. This remains the only pre-64-team NCAA tournament image still shown as part of 'great moments' intros. Last second shots in 7 of 9 games to win a title!

* An infamous example is the basketball final at the 1972 Olympics. When the time expired, the USA had an 50–49 lead against the Soviets. However, the referees added three seconds back to the clock on the direct order of the head of FIBA, who had no authority to do so (the FIBA head claimed the Soviets had attempted to call time out prior to the last free throw). After the Soviet shot failed, the referees added three MORE seconds back to the clock due to an error in restarting the clock. In this three seconds--on their third chance to win the game--a Soviet player scored, winning the team the gold medal. The Americans refused to accept the silver and filed a protest, but it was denied. It was the first loss ''ever'' for the US Olympic basketball team. To this day, the American players from that game still refuse to accept the silver medals, and at least one has left it in his will that his family can never accept the medal after he dies.

* The 1994 NCAA D-I Women's championship game was a close, back-and-forth battle between North Carolina and Louisiana Tech. Tech took a 59–57 lead on a jumper with :15.5 remaining. North Carolina inbounded the ball afterwards but took way too long to get downcourt and take a shot (something the announcers even mentioned), missing a potential game-tying shot with :04 left. However, both teams had their hands on the ensuing rebound, leading the referees to call a jump ball, which, since the possession arrow was pointing to North Carolina, gave the Tar Heels the ball back with a mere :00.7 left on the clock, leaving them time to just inbound the ball to one player, who would have to immediately shoot. Louisiana Tech swarmed the baseline, to prevent an easy layup to send the game to overtime, but in doing so they left UNC forward Charlotte Smith wide open behind the three-point line. Smith caught the inbounds pass, quickly launched a three-pointer, and it went in as the buzzer sounded, giving UNC the championship with a 60–59 win.

* The 1994 NCAA D-I Women's championship game was a close, back-and-forth battle between North Carolina and Louisiana Tech. Tech took a 59–57 lead on a jumper with :15.5 remaining. North Carolina inbounded the ball afterwards but took way too long to get downcourt and take a shot (something the announcers even mentioned), missing a potential game tying shot with :04 left. However, both teams had their hands on the ensuing rebound, leading the referees to call a jump ball, which, since the possession arrow was pointing to North Carolina, gave the Tar Heels the ball back with a mere :00.7 left on the clock, basically leaving UNC only the option of quickly inbounding the ball and whoever got the pass taking a shot. But on the throw-in, Louisiana Tech blew their defensive assignments and left UNC forward Charlotte Smith wide open behind the three-point line. Smith took the inbounds pass, quickly launched a three-pointer, and it went in as the buzzer sounded, giving UNC the championship with a 60–59 win.

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* This happens in the first [[spoiler:and only]] school championship water polo match in ''My Heart is Beating''. The team [[spoiler:does score and win, but they're disqualified for other reasons]].

* In ''[[Music/WarrenZevon Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)]]'', there's thirty seconds left in the game when the main character, Buddy, gets the puck and successfully shoots a goal. There's no indication given that it was game winning, but it's still important because it's Buddy's final game before retirement and he's dreamed of shooting a goal his entire career.

* One stage of ''VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBusterBustsLoose'' is the last few minutes of a football game, in which the player must score a touchdown to win.

* In ''VideoGame/FZeroGX''[='s=] second story map (a 1-on-1 against Samurai Goroh) your opponent has infinite boost, so if you try to boost past them they quickly retake the lead. But if you zoom past him at the last moment you win before they can catch up, and it's certainly easier than trying to knock him off-course.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In a ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' flashback scene, David Jackson (a baseballer, the pitcher for Barry Coleson's team) remembers a triple play the team made at the eleventh hour to seal the championship - perfectly exhibiting this trope, though whether David got lucky with the first part of the play and rolled from there or he was just that good is left ambiguous.
* Related to the Pokémon example above, users of ''Website/{{Smogon}}'' typically write "war stories" which are glorified logs of their battles. The logs are often extremely close matches where both fighters get down to their last Pokémon. You can find the best ones in a "Warstory Archive" [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=57 here]].
* Many of ''Creator/RoosterTeeth'''s "Achievement Hunter" videos, especially "LetsPlay ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''" and "Vs." will easily come down to this, especially if it's a game where two players are incredibly close.

* In the ''WebAnimation/{{brewstew}}'' episode "Little League", the narrator's team is down 2 runs on two outs, and Josh is up at bat. He hits the ball fall enough to score a Triple. Instead of staying at third as everyone the team told him, Josh tries to convert it into an Inside-the-Park Home Run. Unfortunately, his team loses, causing everyone to hate him for the rest of his life. The End.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer at the Bat". In the final inning of the softball game, Homer comes up to the plate with the bases loaded, and is hit by the pitch while he's distracted by Mr. Burns's needlessly complicated HandSignals, forcing in the winning run.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Wing It Like Witches", the outcome of both Grudgby games is open with equal scores until the very last moment.
* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
** Averted in the short, "Bleacher Bummer" from the episode, "The Wacko World of Sports". Said short had a baseball game that didn't come down to the final play... but only because there ''was'' no climactic final play to speak of, as the other team, Perfecto Prep, was [[DisqualificationInducedVictory forced to forfeit (with a big lead) over illegal equipment]].
** In the episode, "The Acme Bowl", the show did do a football game which does come down to the final play. Again, Acme Looniversity faced off against Perfecto Prep.
** The short, "Buster at the Bat" from the episode, "Son of the Wacko World of Sports" was a direct parody of "Casey at the Bat". Buster, however, hits a home run, to the surprise of the narrator.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Skips Strikes", Skips just needs to get a bowling strike to win while the other team gets ready to sabotage him. Despite their efforts to stop the ball, the Magical Elements lose and the Park Strikers wins.

* Lampshaded so much in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Stanleys Cup"; the subversion at the end could be seen a mile away.
** This was actually inverted in "The Losing Edge", when the team was ''this close'' to winning the state championships, which they did not want, since they only played Little League because their parents wanted them to. They got out of it [[TakeAThirdOption instead by getting Stan's dad to continue a fight against another parent and get them disqualified]].
** Played Straight and subverted in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride." Stan, elementary star quarterback [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse (for an episode)]] shows up just in time to make a [[MiracleRally last second touchdown]]... and lose the game. Played straight again in that the score came out slightly less than the expected point spread, so the townsfolk's bets with the bookie paid off.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In the BaseballEpisode, "Hit The Diamond", the game comes down to "Humans" down by one with Sapphire at bat and one runner on base.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode "Night Game," Winston hits the winning home run in a baseball game between teams of good and evil ghosts. This trope is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because [[spoiler:there was a SecretTestOfCharacter to see if the Ghostbusters would cheat, and, presumably, the temptation was greatest with this situation.]] Also, the teams were so evenly matched that they were still tied zero-to-zero for the first eight innings.
* Disney Studios adapted ''Casey at the Bat'' in 1946, as part of ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'', and did a sequel in 1954 ("Casey Bats Again") where he ends up having enough daughters to field a very good baseball team.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' episode "Ranger Games", the kickball game comes down to Grizzly having to score a home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'': Season 2's first episode opens with this trope, as the only goal we're shown in the soccer match is the winning one, scored by Jean, of course.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy wishes to be the best basketball player ever in order to help a basketball team. He does great until the last play, in which Wanda explains that "Everybody knows that the last two minutes are the real competitive part of any professional basketball game!" and they can't help Timmy win a competition.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' episode "The Unnatural" has B.J.'s New Yuck Prankees in a grudge baseball game against Scuzzo the Clown's Jokeland Laugh-letics, with the losing team relegated to a hell hole called "The Loser's Circle." With the score tied, the final inning comes down to a play at the plate with B.J. waiting to tag out Scuzzo, obscured by a cloud of dust. When the dust clears, the two opponents are demanding the umpire call it, but Lydia interrupts and [[ShamingTheMob brings everyone to tears]] with an impassioned treatise on sportsmanship and the simple joys of baseball. [[EverybodyCries The crowd watching the game cries so hard,]] in fact, that the game is called off on account of rain.
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny takes on the Gas House Gorillas in "WesternAnimation/BaseballBugs". With the score 96-95 in Bugs' favor and two out in the bottom of the ninth, the Gorillas have a runner on base and the batter uses a freshly chopped-down tree as a bat. He wallops Bugs' pitch so far that Bugs has to traverse the top of the [[{{Pun}} Umpire State Building]] to catch it. The Gorillas batter is called out by the umpire ''and'' the Statue of Liberty.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', the Scare Games score is all tied up before the last duel between Mike and Johnny Worthington.
* WesternAnimation/TheBeatles enter a donkey in a Madrid horse race as it runs very fast in panic when it hears loud music (episode "Tell Me Why"). It comes down to a photo finish between the donkey and another horse. The donkey appears to have won by a nose, but he didn't...he won by the jockey's (Ringo) nose.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonsRidersOfBerk'' special "Dawn of the Dragon Races", there are three races in which the dragonriders compete to catch the most sheep. ''Every'' race has them get the same number of sheep and all go after the black sheep as a tiebreaker. (Although, since the black sheep is worth 25 points once the rules get formalised, it's a GoldenSnitch anyway.)
* WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts:
** ''WesternAnimation/CaseyBatsAgain'': Bottom of the ninth, the Caseyettes are one point behind and all hopes are on mighty Patsy to win the game. Suddenly, a desperate Casey drags her off and takes her place in disguise. He gets two strikes, and just like his last game, it's up to him to hit a homerun. [[spoiler:He strikes out, just like before; fortunately, Patsy is just behind him and hits the ball, leaving Casey to believe he won the game.]]

* [[Creator/SteveMcQueenActor Steve McQueen]]'s ''Film/LeMans'' ends with the 24 hour race as a three car shootout on the last lap, and that is after the previous lead car retires on the penultimate lap. This was nearly TruthInTelevision though since the movie was made in 1970 and the 1969 race was a two car last lap shootout (see RealLife examples below).

* ''Literature/ModernVillainess: It's Not Easy Building a Corporate Empire Before the Crash'' uses this as a metaphor for Runa's first financial coup. When she invests in Silicon Valley and in U.S. foreign exchange right before the dot-com boom and pulls her family's collapsing bank out of a hole, the business world refers to it as Far Eastern Bank's clutch home run; bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes.
* The Creator/JohnGrisham novel ''Literature/PlayingForPizza'' opens with the main character, a journeyman 3rd string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, blowing a colossal lead in the AFC Championship Game and being knocked unconscious-costing his team a chance at the Super Bowl. He's so disgraced he has to play in Italy.

* ''Literature/TheBoyInTheDress'' has the main protagonist Dennis reclaim a football game his school's team was losing after he was expelled by the headmaster Mr. Hawtrey [[DisproportionateRetribution for crossdressing]], which was disastrous to his team since he was the star player, and now they're losing as 6-0. The whole team rebels after half time by all wearing dresses to prevent the headmaster from expelling all of them, with Dennis back on play. He manages to outright overturn the game and his team wins by 6-'''''7'''''.
* Jason from ''Literature/HoverCarRacer'' wins or loses several races by just a few centimeters.
* ''Literature/LoveOverGold'' features this trope during the final game at the Tokyo Olympics between the British and Dutch field hockey teams, which ends with the score at 2-2. [[spoiler:During the ensuing penalty shoot-out, each side takes four shots without anyone scoring a goal. Then the British team scores a goal, meaning that if British goalie Diane can fend off one more shot from Dutch forward Katrien, the British will get the gold. Diane just barely deflects the ball before it goes into the goal. It hits one post, then bounces off the other, then goes in almost exactly as the buzzer sounds. The video referee concludes that the buzzer sounded just before the ball went in, making the British the winners.]]
* In the second ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' novel, ''Blue Adept'', protagonist Stile is pitted against former [[TournamentArc Great Tournament]] champion [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Rifleman]] in a game of American Football. At the end of the game, Stile is down by only two points, but Rifleman was guarding against the surprise drop kicks Stile had been using to stay in contention[[note]]Stile, only vaguely familiar with the sport, had loaded up on bruisers when assembling his team of androids, neglecting offensive skill players or a kicker, forcing him to take take both roles. Stile lacked the size to operate in short yardage situations and the skill to make kicks at long range, forcing to go for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_kick drop kicks]] as soon as he got in range[[/note]]. Stile was in the middle of a run when the game clock hit all zeros. Stile slowed to a dejected walk, thinking he had lost. Until he heard his robot companion Sheen yell "Run, you dummy" from the stands. He then remembered that the game didn't end until this final play ended. The play ended in a wild scramble down the field, ending in [[spoiler: a fumble into the endzone and a dogpile on top of the ball, which one of Stile's players ended up with]].
* In ''Literature/TheCricketMatch'' by John Parker, the eponymous match comes down to the final over, with the last two batsmen in and needing six runs to win.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/FullHouse'' did this thrice, with hockey in "Nice Guys Finish First", boxcar racing in "Michelle a la Cart," and with baseball and a twist in "Stephanie Plays the Field".

* Averted in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' baseball episode, "Take Me Out To The Holosuite". The main characters lose the game 10-1 (with their single run being scored on an accidental bunt).
* ''Series/{{Glee}}''. In two separate games, at the start of the Superbowl Shuffle episode, they lose a game by making a moronic play call in a situation where all they need to do is have Finn just take a knee. Then at the end of the episode they win another game when the other team ignores the same basic game ending strategy and and do the exact same error as Finn did in the first. There is a lengthy analysis of this at the Glee JBM for season 2 page.
** Though the first was the result of the center being a dick with an intentionally low snap and the second was the result of the opposing center being frightened by their zombie makeup and snapping it high.
* In one episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', Will is shown to be a very good basketball player, making all sorts of trick shots throughout the game. With his team down at the end, however, he's about to take a shot... when his cousin Carlton, wanting some glory himself, starts grappling with him for the ball, takes it, shoots, [[spoiler:and misses horribly]].

* In the made for TV movie Film/SecondString every playoff game the Buffalo Bills play comes down to the last play with just seconds on the clock.

* Several individual legs of ''Series/TheAmazingRace'' have been decided by footrace, with the eliminated team in sight of the mat when the second-to-last team checks in. Season 7 had three legs decided this way. However, the only finale to be decided this way was in Season 2, with a footrace from the cabs to the Finish Line. Tara and Wil were in the lead when they jumped out of the cabs, but Tara was asthmatic and could not keep up, allowing more physically fit Chris and Alex to race past her and win the million dollars.
* In ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm, Dewey and Reese are playing a basketball game with the foul-happy Hal, with the game tied, one move left and Hal on the offense. The boys realize they have no choice but to use "The Play". [[GroinAttack It does not go well for Hal.]]
* Game show examples:
** ''Series/FamilyFeud'' has seen countless Fast Money rounds come down to the final question, with the score in the 180-199 range and the final answer being ''just'' enough to win the grand prize (200 is needed to win). Made even more dramatic if there is a string of zero- or low-scoring answers with the second player. Made heartbreaking if the final answer's score is zero or falls just short of the winning 200 score. In either case, the moment will be made more dramatic. In addition, the scoring is structured such that, most of the time, whoever wins the final round wins the game (the game is played to 300 points, and the final round usually nets upwards of [[GoldenSnitch 250]]). As it's rare for a team to get all the answers, the game often rides on whether the opposing team can steal those final-round points. Extra drama points if it's a family's fifth day, and they're playing for the car.
** ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares'': A five-square win, only after each of the contestants have filled in four boxes (none of which leads to TabletopGame/TicTacToe).
** ''Series/PressYourLuck'' (and even its precursor, ''Series/SecondChance'' and revival ''Series/{{Whammy}}!'') will often have its outcome determined based on a contestant's final spin.
** ''Series/WheelOfFortune'': When a contestant solves the bonus round puzzle (or begins the correct answer) a split second before the buzzer. Sometimes, it's been so close that they've had to stop and check the tape, and not declare the contestant a winner until returning from commercial.
** A few times, the Winner's Circle on ''Series/{{Pyramid}}'' was cleared only at the last second.
** ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'': While there were numerous close games through the years, one of the best "down to the last play" games came in the midst of Ken Jennings' incredible 74-game run in 2004. The game where he became champion was decided on Final Jeopardy! (he had the lead and bet liberally). On his 49th day, he had a mere $5,000 ($19,700 to $14,800) lead over the second place contestant and had to have the right answer (his opponent was incorrect) to win, which he did. Another of his games saw one of his opponents wager everything on a Daily Double late in Double Jeopardy! and guess correctly, and that opponent briefly took the lead before Jennings reclaimed the lead just before the end of the round; with Jennings leading by less than $2,000, both he and his opponent engaged in a truly dramatic Final Jeopardy! ... with Jennings winning. Finally, Jennings last game saw him hold a slim lead over the woman that finally beat him (thanks to Jennings giving a wrong answer).
** ''Series/TicTacDough'': The use of the special "red" categories frequently led to a showdown for a box that could give either contestant the win upon a correct answer. (In other words, both contestants have two of their mark in a line, and the box both are going for could give either one a tic-tac-toe.)
** This happens a lot on ''Series/{{The Chase|GameShow}}'', usually with the Final Chase ending at a ridiculously low time or the main chase ending with a 'one question shootout' (aka one right answer and the contestant goes through, one wrong one and they get caught and lose everything). Indeed, some of the winning/losing times in the Final Chase are just insane, with players having won/lost games with anything from ten seconds remaining, to two seconds remaining... to even ZERO seconds remaining (as in, they get caught and lose or win right '''as''' the clock hits zero at the end).
** ''Series/AmericanGladiators'' had a big one in the Season Three Finals. Mark Ortega and Joseph "Bam-Bam" Mauro were pretty neck and neck coming into the Eliminator, with Mark given a 4-second penalty for trailing Joseph by eight points. In the Eliminator, Mark caught up to Joseph as the latter failed to climb the first wall, then fell as he made it over. The two are dead even as they fight past the medicine balls and Mark makes a dive across the line as Joe tears through the ribbon, leading to a photo finish. After reviewing the video, they determined that Mark crossed the finish line first when he threw his arm out over the line with a time of 48.86 compared to Joseph's 48.88, meaning Mark beat Joseph by ''two hundredths of a second''.
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' episode "The Boar's Nest Bears" had such a match with a young prodigy player that was kept out from part of the match by machinations from the OpposingSportsTeam's sponsor.
* Arino the ''Series/RetroGameMaster'' often conquers games on his last few lives, when he's run out of time to play. They even named a song "Last Continue" because of this.
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Last Man", Kembleford is playing a vital cricket match for ownership of the local cricket ground. With three balls left and six runs needed to win, the opposing team engages in some UnnecessaryRoughness to knock out Kembleford's star player with a cricket ball to the head. Kembleford already being a man down, Lady Felecia goes in as last man, and hits a six on the final ball.
* On ''Series/HellsKitchen'' they usually have some kind of preliminary competition between the two teams. The winners are rewarded, the losers are punished. Many of these contests are extremely subjective and they usually go back and forth until they end with a one-point victory.
* In the ''Series/EnemyAtTheDoor'' episode "War Game", the format for the chess championship final match is for two games (with players alternating colours), with provision for a third tie-breaking game if one is required. Naturally, it is.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "[[ecap/MidsomerMurdersS19E3 Last Man Out]]", an undercover Jones wins the cricket match for his team by hitting a six off the last ball, despite having been [[BatterUp knocked unconscious with a cricket bat]] earlier in the game.
* In ''Series/TedLasso'':
** The first season ends with a stoppage-time trick play that scores the tying goal that will save AFC Richmond from relegation. [[spoiler:And then Man City rallies in the dying seconds to score another goal to relegate them.]]
** The second season ends with a [[spoiler:stoppage-time penalty that gives Richmond the tying goal to win promotion back to the Premier League]].
* Two simultaneous examples in the season four premier of ''Series/StrangerThings''. Lucas' basketball final only has enough time for one more play before the clock runs out, and Lucas is brought in from the bench for the first time in the season. Meanwhile, the D&D Club is down to only two surviving players in their battle against Vecna - Dustin and Erica, who can kill him if they manage to hit before his turn but will certainly die if he gets his own attack off. Both events are cut together with equal weight, both of them ending on a final throw. [[spoiler:Lucas gets his shot in to just beat the other team, and Erica rolls a natural 20 to obliterate Vecna.]]

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Last Man Out", an undercover Jones wins the cricket match for his team by hitting a six off the last ball, despite having been [[BatterUp knocked unconscious with a cricket bat]] earlier in the game.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/StrangerThings https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/last_play.png]]]]

* In the Divisional Playoffs of the 2021-22 Season, '''all four''' games were decided by the final play. Three games (49ers at Packers, Rams at Buccaneers, Bengals at Titans) ended with tie-breaking field goals by the visiting team, with the fourth (Bills at Chiefs) ending with a tie-setting field goal by the home team. The Chiefs-Bills game in particular saw several plays in the dying three minutes that could have been potential game-winners, before the Chiefs marched down the field from their own 25-yard-line ''within 13 seconds'' just to send the game to overtime, meaning it was down to the last play to even continue the game. The Chiefs then won the game by scoring a touchdown in the opening drive of overtime, which, since that is an instant win condition, made the scoring play the last play of the game.

** Super Bowl LVIII, between the San Fransisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, ended up being the second Super Bowl to go to overtime, and the first since the aforementioned rule change... which ended up being completely moot as the 49ers, the first team to possess the ball in overtime, were only able to come away with a field goal on their first possession[[note]]although there's always the possibility that the rule change did play a role in the sense of affecting the 49ers' overtime decisions; for instance, a touchdown being an automatic game-winner might have tipped the scales towards going for it rather than taking the 3[[/note]]. The Chiefs ultimately won on a touchdown on the ensuing drive.