Throughout the history of baseball, many great and memorable best of seven World Series contests have been played. However, it's been awhile since baseball fans have witnessed anything that could be associated with greatness. In fact, the last fall classic to go the distance to a seventh game was the 2002 match-up between the then Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants.

Three of the last four World Series have resulted in sweeps. The Boston Red Sox knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals in '04, the Colorado Rockies won in four straight in '07, and the Chicago White Sox defeated the Houston Astros without surrendering a game in '05. The only Series that wasn't a sweep was the Cardinals against Detroit in '06, which was won by St. Louis in five games.

Unless you're a fan of one of the teams that won it all, it's doubtful there's much of anything worth remembering from the last four years. If you're a baseball fan and your team is not in the big show, and that's most of us, the one thing you're rooting for is an exciting, competitive series filled with drama.

Will the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies provide that? Time will tell. In the meantime, here's a look back at some of the better World Series and spectacular moments from recent years.

1991 Atlanta Braves versus Minnesota Twins

The 1991 World Series between the Braves and Twins has been a hard act to follow. There are many who believe this was the greatest of all World Series to be played. Five of the games were decided by a single run, four in the final at-bat, and three games went into extra innings including Game 6 and the clinching Game 7.

The Twins won the first two games at home to go up 2-0, but the Braves would battle back, winning the next three games at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Games 3 and 4 were tight, intense contests that ended with the Braves scoring the winning runs on close plays at the plate in each game.

When the series moved back to Minnesota, the Twins were the ones doing the dramatics. Kirby Pucket hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th to tie the Series up.

Then in Game 7, an absolute classic pitchers' duel took place between John Smoltz and Jack Morris. The hurlers matched each other goose egg for goose egg, wriggling their way out of repeated jams until the 8th inning when Smoltz was relieved. Morris, however, pitched through the top of the 10th, and in the bottom half of the inning the Twins finally broke through with the game and Series clinching run.

1993 Philadelphia Phillies versus Toronto Blue Jays

Here's one Phillies fans are sure to remember and are sure to be hoping their beloved team doesn't repeat this year.

This series certainly had its moments, but will always be remembered for Joe Carter's walk-off homerun. Besides Carter's heroics there were other noteworthy games, especially Game 4, which might have been one of the wildest World Series games ever played.

There was plenty of offense in that game, as the two teams duked it out over the course of nine innings. Philadelphia had opened up a 14-9 lead as they headed into the top of the eighth with the game apparently well in hand. But Toronto stunned the Phillies and their fans with six runs in the inning at the expense of reliever Mitch Williams. The game ended as the highest scoring World Series game in history, 15-14.

William's meltdown in Game 4 was a foreshadowing of things to come. The Phillies would rally back behind a tremendous pitching performance from Curt Schilling in Game 5, which forced the series back to Toronto.

In Game 6, the Phillies provided some late-inning thunder erasing a 5-1 Toronto advantage by scoring five runs in the seventh. Once again Mitch Williams found himself in a save situation with his team up 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. With one out and two men on, Williams gave up a Series clinching walk-off homerun to Carter. It was only the second time in history that a World Series ended on a homerun.

2001 New York Yankees versus Arizona Diamondbacks

This is one I'm sure everyone remembers, baseball and non-baseball fans alike. It's remembered because of the context in which it was played, only weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The drama that unfolded was fairy tale-like, as the New York Yankees called upon "mystique and aura" to help them pull out victories in Games 4 and 5. In both instances, the Yankees were trailing in the bottom of the ninth and down to their last out.

Then, the impossible happened, first in Game 4 when Tino Martinez tied the game with a homerun, and then in Game 5, when Scott Brosius did the same. The Yankees won both games in extra innings and took a 3-2 lead in the series.

In Arizona, however, the Diamondbacks regained the momentum by routing the Yanks in Game 6, 15-2, setting up a classic showdown between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling in Game 7.

The pitchers shut each others offenses down throughout the game, but in the top of the eighth Alfonso Soriano put New York in front with a solo homerun. The best of the drama, however, was yet to come.

With the greatest post season closer in Mariano Rivera on the mound in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees figured to have their fourth straight World Series title in row all locked up. But Arizona rallied to load the bases with one out. With the infield drawn in, Luis Gonzalez blooped a soft line drive over the head of Derek Jeter and the rest was history.

There haven't been many moments like these since the 2001 World Series. The Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants put on a good show in 2002, and the Yankees and Florida Marlins did okay with a Series that went six in '03. But, since then there's been hardly anything to speak of.

So, for all baseball fans, our hope lies with the Rays and Phillies, who are now tied 1-1 in this year's World Series. Let's hope we witness something fun and inspirational, and something we'll be able to talk about for years to come.