The 2020 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays is in full swing. That's the focus of the baseball world.

As we watch the 116th Fall Classic unfold, let's gaze back at the past two decades and rank the 10 most epic World Series moments, with "epic" defined for our purposes as something unforgettable that helped seal or turn the tide of the series in question.

This was a highly subjective exercise, both in terms of narrowing it down to 10 moments and subsequently ranking them. We left out plenty of highlights, possibly including your personal favorite.

But the following pivotal hits, gutsy pitching performances and inspirational speeches will live forever in October lore.

No. 10: Alex Bregman's Game 5 Walk-off

The Houston Astros' World Series win over the Dodgers in 2017 will always be tainted by the sign-stealing scandal.

Setting that aside, the seven-game tussle was one of the more entertaining Fall Classics in recent memory.

The most memorable contest was probably Game 5.

Houston and Los Angeles combined for seven home runs, an all-time World Series record, and each team came back from at least three runs down. The Dodgers tied the game in the ninth inning with a three-run rally that included a home run by Yasiel Puig, and the fence-clearing marathon went to extra innings.

In the end, it wasn't a homer, but rather a walk-off single by third baseman Alex Bregman in the 10th that sealed Houston's 13-12 victory.

Bregman's arms-spread, tongue-out celebration perfectly encapsulated the moment and the defiant, come-at-me-bro swagger that continues to define the Astros.

No. 9: Josh Beckett Tags out Jorge Posada to Seal Game 6 Shutout

The Florida Marlins made the playoffs as a wild card in 2003 and pushed their way to the World Series. There, they faced the heavily favored New York Yankees.

The Yanks had claimed three titles and four American League pennants in the previous five seasons and were coming off a 101-win campaign. But the brash young Marlins were unimpressed and carried a 3-2 series edge into Game 6.

Playing at the old Yankee Stadium in what would turn out to be the final World Series contest in the House that Ruth Built, Florida handed the ball to 23-year-old Josh Beckett.

Against a deep and dangerous New York lineup headlined by Alfonso Soriano, Jason Giambi and Derek Jeter, Beckett twirled nine shutout innings with nine strikeouts and was named World Series MVP.

Fittingly, the final out of the Marlins' 2-0 series-clinching win was recorded by Beckett, who fielded a slow chopper off the bat of Jorge Posada and tagged the Yankees catcher on his way up the first-base line before throwing up his arms in jubilation. 

No. 8: Madison Bumgarner Trots in from the Bullpen in Game 7

In almost every gunslinger movie, there is a scene in which the hero emerges—through the saloon doors or the dust of a wild-west street—with a hand on his six-shooter.

San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner recreated that iconic trope in the 2014 World Series.

Bumgarner was already enjoying a postseason for the ages, having almost single-handedly pitched the 88-win Giants to their third Fall Classic appearance in five years.

After throwing a complete-game shutout in Game 5, Bumgarner was in the bullpen for Game 7 against the Kansas City Royals, theoretically available on two days' rest.

Theory became reality in the fifth inning. With the Giants clinging to a 3-2 lead, manager Bruce Bochy summoned his ace, who trotted to the mound with his customary stone-faced expression. You could almost hear the Ennio Morricone score playing over the Kauffman Stadium speakers.

Bumgarner was in control until the ninth inning when Alex Gordon hit a bloop single past center fielder Gregor Blanco that rolled to the wall. With Gordon on third base and representing the tying run, Bumgarner got Salvador Perez to hit a game-ending pop-up.

For our money, though, it was over the moment MadBum made his gunslinger entrance.

No. 7: Howie Kendrick's Game 7 Homer off the Foul Pole

The 2019 World Series between the Astros and Washington Nationals went the distance, with the road team winning every game for the first time in best-of-seven postseason history (including MLB, the NBA and the NHL).

In Game 7 at Minute Maid Park, the Astros carried a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning. Zack Greinke was cruising, and ace Gerrit Cole was available in the pen.

The Nats cut the lead in half on an Anthony Rendon solo homer in the seventh before veteran Howie Kendrick dug in with the go-ahead run aboard. 

Kendrick smacked a pitch from Astros reliever Will Harris the other way. It appeared to have the distance...but would it stay fair?

It did, glancing off the foul pole. Kendrick rounded the bases to the murmurs of stunned 'Stros fans and shouts of joy from the visiting dugout. He gave Washington a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 6-2 victory and the franchise's first title. 

No. 6: David Ortiz's Inspirational Game 4 Speech

The Boston Red Sox have won four championships in the past 20 years, including in 2004 when they swept the St. Louis Cardinals and broke the Curse of the Bambino.

But we'll highlight a moment from the emotional 2013 season when Boston won its third title of the 2000s.

It came in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing when a devastated city rallied around its team, led by franchise anchor David Ortiz.

Ortiz delivered an ad-libbed, inspirational speech after the bombing in April. And he did so again during Game 4 of the '13 World Series.

With Boston trailing in the series 2-1 to St. Louis, Ortiz offered an impassioned dugout admonishment.

"Let's relax and play the game the way we know how," the slugger told his teammates in remarks captured by TV cameras. "We're better than this. Let's loosen up. Let's play the game the way we do."

The Red Sox won the game and took the series in six. And Big Papi put his lumber where his mouth was by hitting .688 and winning World Series MVP honors.

No. 5: Jason Heyward's Inspirational Game 7 Speech

Speaking of inspirational speeches, Jason Heyward delivered one during a 17-minute rain delay in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

After Cleveland's Rajai Davis tied the score with a two-run homer in the eighth (more on that in a moment), the game went to extra innings. Then the skies opened up.

The Cubs were this close to their first Commissioner's Trophy since 1908, but it seemed as though even Mother Nature wanted to stand in their way. Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci described the scene in his book, The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse:

"The Cubs began walking back to the clubhouse, their heads dropped and their faces blank. It was the look of a team that knew something bad had happened to it...

"'Guys, weight room! Won't take long!'

"The strong voice that pierced the quiet belonged to Heyward, who had struggled to hit all year after signing a $184 million contract, who began the World Series on the bench and who was hitting .106 for the postseason. Heyward was calling a players-only meeting."

Whether because of Heyward's words or because fate simply had mercy on a historically unlucky franchise, the Cubbies went on to win, 8-7, and brought a title to the North Side after a 118-year delay.

No. 4: Scott Podsednik's Game 2 Walk-off Homer

The Chicago White Sox broke their own long-standing title drought in 2005 when they swept the Astros and won it all for the first time since 1917.

As sweeps go, it was an exceedingly tight series. Every game was decided by two runs or fewer, and Game 3 lasted 14 innings. There were many notable turning points, but none were bigger than Scott Podsednik's walk-off homer in Game 2.

In the top of the ninth, the Astros plated a pair of runs to tie the score 6-6. The momentum had shifted, and the South Side crowd was suddenly pensive. 

A speedy leadoff hitter who stole 59 bases that year but didn't hit a single regular-season home run, Podsednik wasn't the most likely man for the moment. 

But as so often happens in the postseason, he rose to the occasion unexpectedly and launched one over the right-center field wall to send the fans home happy and give Chicago a commanding 2-0 series lead.

No. 3: Rajai Davis' Game-Tying Game 7 Home Run

The 2016 World Series is, rightly, best remembered as the year the Cubs buried the billy goat. But it was nearly a magical finish for Cleveland.

The AL Central champs hadn't won a title since 1948. Game 7 was a historic opportunity for them, too.

In the eighth, after Brandon Guyer doubled home a run to trim the Cubs' lead to 6-4, outfielder Rajai Davis stepped in against flame-throwing Chicago reliever Aroldis Chapman.

Like Podsednik, Davis was known more for his wheels than his pop. But with two outs and a runner on second, he fouled off a couple of tough pitches and, with the count 2-2, punched a 98 mph Chapman heater into the left field stands to tie the game and send the Progressive Field faithful into hysterics.

Their joy would be short-lived. Cleveland is still searching for its first championship in more than 70 years. 

But what a moment that was.

No. 2: Luis Gonzalez's Game 7 Walk-off

In 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks rode dominant co-aces Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to a World Series showdown with the Yankees.

New York was seeking a fourth straight championship and was playing for a city that was still mourning the events of Sept. 11.

The series went seven hard-fought games, with Games 4 and 5 both going to extra innings.

In Game 7, New York led 2-1 heading to the bottom of the ninth and handed it over to Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera, who had nailed down an MLB-leading 50 saves during the regular season.

The D-backs scratched across a run against Rivera to make it 2-1 before Luis Gonzalez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, one out and the infield drawn in.

Gonzalez hit 57 home runs that season for Arizona, but his biggest knock was the single he floated into shallow center field to win Arizona its first and only title.

No. 1: David Freese's Game 6 Heroics

We're cheating here and combining two moments, but you really can't have one without the other.

Coming into Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, the Texas Rangers needed one victory to secure their first championship. To which David Freese and the St. Louis Cardinals replied, "Not so fast."

With the score tied 9-9 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Freese blasted a walk-off home run over the center field wall to send the series to a seventh game.  That came after the Cardinals third baseman hit a game-tying triple in the ninth, which was arguably an even more epic moment.

Freese hit a key two-run double in the first inning of Game 7 as the Cardinals came back to win their second title of the 2000s. Overall, he hit .348 with seven RBI and won World Series MVP honors.

But his double-dip heroics in Game 6 are what will always make him an October legend.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference.