The Dodgers played the Giants in a best-of-three tie-breaker series at the end of the year, and Maglie started the deciding third game on October 3. He allowed a run in the first but settled down after that, retiring 11 batters in a row at one point. He allowed three more runs in the eighth and was pinch-hit for by Hank Thompson in the bottom of the inning with the Giants trailing 4–1. However, the Giants rallied in the ninth, ultimately winning on Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard 'Round the World home run. The Giants faced the New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series, and Maglie started Game 4 but took the loss after giving up four runs in five innings, including a fifth-inning home run to Joe DiMaggio that reporter James Hirsch called "the turning point of the game." The Giants lost the series in six games.